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Posted by Ralph Moore on June 15, 2024, 9:25 pm, in reply to "Moore / Butterfly / Santini"
I completely understand your reasoning; Victoria de los Angeles will never be my favourite, either, but I clearly like her more than you. There are indeed other good recordings and Bergonzi makes an appealing (perhaps the wrong word) Pinkerton. I am a big Sinopoli fan but I think Freni sounds far less fresh for him than for Karajan. The Pappano recording is something of a dud, with a poor tenor and baritone - and the supporting cast are no great shakes. It's still Karajan all the way for me - but it is far from being one of my favourite Puccini operas as it is so depressing; I much prefer almost all the others - and at least La fanciulla has a rare happy ending... 
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I was glad to be prompted to listen to Santini's Butterfly again. Bjorling is the star; I really like Santini's conducting; but not de los Angeles. That's a problem with so many Butterly recordings. Scotto, Callas, Tebaldi. As a non-expert, I still prefer Sinopoli, who is disregarded by so many, and not only for his Puccini. I think Freni's voice is better there than with Karajan but I'm certainly in a minority there. Her voice is the ideal for Butterfly, I think, and I'd play the Georghiu more were it not for Kaufmann. And the other three Sinopoli principals are as good or better than most. I still think Bergonzi in Serafin is the best Pinkerton, and man! I can't believe I'm writing this, but there is more of a frisson between Tebaldi and Bergonzi than I get in any other recording in the love duet. Bergonzi is the star there. Bjorling comes close but I'm not getting anything from his duet with de los Angeles.
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Moore / Butterfly / Santini - Terence June 15, 2024, 4:46 pm
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