Puccini: Madama Butterfly / Basile, Scotto, Cioni, et al by Renata Scotto (CD, Feb-1998, 2 Discs, Opera D'Oro)

If you are looking at this review, you are probably a Renata Scotto fan. I found none of the other castmember names provided me with any incentive to purchase this set. They were totally unknown to me.
The Peformance:
Overall, I found the performance to be excellent and energetic on all fronts. Scotto was, not surprisingly, very much in command of Cio Cio San vocally and dramatically. I would say that her performance frankly was awesome. (I mean that in the manner that we used to use that word before it was over popularized.) Her singing never falls below the level of beautiful. The surprise here is NOT Scotto's singing. We knew that would be great already, didn't we? The rest of the cast gave goose bumps as well at times. I was very impressed with Pinkerton and Suzuki. Great singers. Totally unknown to me.
The Recording:
The recording quality was rather flat and 2 dimensional. Nothing much in the highs or lows. The sound was fairly solid though and not distracting, just not nearly as transparent as I would have liked. Small distortions here and there but nothing terribly distracting. At least there was no apparent studio audience noises, nor was there ths usually heavy footed clomping around on stage noises that accompany live performances such as this.

It is only the somewhat lackluster audio quality that prevents me from giving this set an EXCELLENT rating. Nonetheless, I am sure this set will be revisited on numerous occasions in the future.
Roy Lee Evans
royalerecords