Puccini: Madama Butterfly

Pappano is particularly alert to Puccini borrowing traditional Japanese melodies; at times he makes you hear this score, as well as the drama on stage, as a tug of war between East and West…It’s... — BBC Music Magazine, Christmas Issue 2018, 4 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 28th Sep 2018
Catalogue No: OA1268D
Label: Opus Arte
Series: Royal Opera House Collection

Gramophone Magazine

December 2018

DVD/Blu-ray of the Month

Puccini: Madama Butterfly

Ermonela Jaho (Cio-Cio San), Marcelo Puente (Pinkerton), Scott Hendricks (Sharpless), Carlo Bosi (Goro), Elizabeth DeShong (Suzuki), Jeremy White (Bonze), Emily Edmonds (Kate Pinkerton), Gyula Nagy (Imperial Commissioner), Yuriy Yurchuk (Prince Yamadori)
Orchestra of The Royal Opera House, Royal Opera Chorus
Antonio Pappano & Moshe Leiser/Patrice Caurier

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Puccini’s Japanese tragedy Madama Butterfly is given a ravishing production by The Royal Opera. Its alluring imagery of Japan from the 19th-century European Imagination heightens the intense clash of East and West.

When the American naval officer Pinkerton seduces the young ‘Butterfly’ Cio-Cio-San, he seems to promise every happiness – but his cruel abandonment leads to her tragic self-sacrifice. Antonio Pappano, Music Director of The Royal Opera and renowned for his interpretations of Puccini, conducts an exceptionally fine cast with the Royal Opera Chorus and the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House. Powerful performances show why Madama Butterfly remains one of the all-time operatic favourites.

Subtitles: EN/FR/DE/JA/KO

Running time: 149 minutes

Sound format: Dolby 2.0, DTS Digital Surround

Reviews

Christmas Issue 2018

Pappano is particularly alert to Puccini borrowing traditional Japanese melodies; at times he makes you hear this score, as well as the drama on stage, as a tug of war between East and West…It’s Sharpless and Suzuki who steal the show – a consul with a tender conscience from Scott Hendricks and Elizabeth DeShong as a maid who could melt the stoniest of hearts.

April 2019

Cast, set and musical performance, together with superb acted and sung realisations, make this one of the finest realisations of this work on film.

July 2019

The production itself is broadly traditional…The show centres on a remarkable performance by Ermonela Jaho, whose strongly flavoured soprano is the foundation of a searching examination of the title role that is artful yet impassioned, and equally encompasses delicacy within its considerable variety of tone…Puente’s Pinkerton possesses an authentic Latin quality…DeShong’s Suzuki is fully engaged and businesslike, her tone arm, expressive and substantial.

Opera Now December 2018

[Jaho] lives and dies her role without distorting her vocal prowess and gives an incredibly detailed physical and vocal performance.

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Puccini: Madama Butterfly

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