The most notable thing about this recording of Madama Butterfly is the conducting of Antonio Pappano. His reading emphasizes the opera's dramatic intensity, and has a sinewy, sometimes brutal power that never lets the listener forget the cruelty and arrogance that are at its core. Pappano highlights the modernist elements in Puccini's score -- its harsh dissonances, sometime startling orchestration, and astonishing harmonically unresolved conclusion -- that tend to be glossed over in more conventionally romantic ...
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The most notable thing about this recording of Madama Butterfly is the conducting of Antonio Pappano. His reading emphasizes the opera's dramatic intensity, and has a sinewy, sometimes brutal power that never lets the listener forget the cruelty and arrogance that are at its core. Pappano highlights the modernist elements in Puccini's score -- its harsh dissonances, sometime startling orchestration, and astonishing harmonically unresolved conclusion -- that tend to be glossed over in more conventionally romantic performances. His approach throws the irony of the love scene into harsh relief and makes Cio-Cio-San's naïve devotion all the more poignant. The rhythmic fluidity he brings to the score creates a terrific sense of spontaneity and vitality, and his attention to detail, such as having the strings subtly bend the tone in the pentatonic sections, creates a lovingly nuanced performance. Altogether, it's a revelatory version of the opera. Having a uniformly outstanding cast and two stars at the top...
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Add this copy of Puccini: Madama Butterfly to cart. $10.29, fair condition, Sold by Prime Goods Outlet rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Troy, OH, UNITED STATES, published 2009 by EMI Classics.
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