‘When I was twenty-one, it was a very good year.’ The line comes
from Frank Sinatra’s concept album ‘September of my years’ but
adding a decade to the age it could just as well have been sung
by Victoria de los Angeles. 1954, when this Madama Butterfly
was recorded, was a very good year for her and it is hard to imagine
the role more lovingly performed. Not only is the beauty of the
voice so striking but the whole personification is so endearing.
For once we also encounter a Cio-Cio-San who might be fifteen
– as she should be in the first act – with the possible exception
of Toti Dal Monte, who recorded the role, also in Rome, in 1939
with Beniamino Gigli as Pinkerton. Just listen to her first entrance
together with the chorus (CD 1 tr. 4) or her solo Ieri son
salita (a couple of minutes into CD 1 tr.7). No one, to my
mind, has ever been so lovely, not even Mirella Freni on the strongly
recommendable Decca recording with Karajan. She is superb in the
long duet that ends act I and, when three years older in act II,
Un bel di vedremo is unsurpassed on records. Her Flower
Duet with Suzuki is also lovely, even though it is marred by some
distortion, and the finale goes directly to the heart. She re-recorded
the opera in stereo five years later with Björling as Pinkerton
but it is this first version that is the supreme achievement.
And she is not the
only reason to acquire the set. 1954 was a very good year also
for Giuseppe Di Stefano. I have listened to a lot of him lately,
both in isolated arias and complete recordings and he has often
been very good but here he surpasses himself. He is vital and
expressive, as always, and he is light and warm-toned. In fact
I fully understand why poor Cio-Cio-San gets trapped. He can’t
quite erase the memory of Bergonzi in the act I finale on either
of his recordings – with Tebaldi/Serafin and Scotto/Barbirolli
– but he runs him fairly close. Tito Gobbi as Sharpless is luxury
casting but he manages to make a personality of this stuffed
shirt and Anna Maria Canali is an excellent Suzuki. Renato Ercolani
is a vivid and expressive Goro and the rest of the cast is fully
up to the requirements.
A further asset
is the vital conducting by Gianandrea Gavazzeni in his first
opera recording. There is rhythmic resilience in his reading
and he is far preferable to the dull Santini on Los Angeles’s
later recording. What lets this production down is the recording.
Besides some distortion there are extraneous noises and some
clumsy edits, all of it emanating from the original master tapes.
But none of these defects should deter readers from acquiring
this set. For more modern sound and singing of comparable quality,
choose Serafin with Tebaldi and Bergonzi (Decca), Barbirolli
with Scotto and Bergonzi (EMI) or Karajan with Freni and Pavarotti
(also Decca) but the present set, especially at its super budget
price, should also be in every decent Puccini collection. Good
notes by Malcolm Walker and a very detailed synopsis by Keith
Anderson.
Göran Forsling