The 2009 Sferisterio Opera Festival Macerata presented Pier Luigi Pizzi’s handsome, intelligent production of Madama Butterfly, and this DVD is a composite of performances recorded between July 24 and August 2 of that summer. There is nothing revisionist about the direction, sets, and costumes–all by Pizzi–but it is a very moving, intelligent show. Would that the central performances were better.
The stage is huge but well used: the little, simple house is central, with long platforms on either side for dramatic entrances and exits. A cherry tree is in blossom; the Japanese wear traditional clothing; the profuse flowers in Act 1 have gone by Act 2–a nice symbol, I might add; and Cio-Cio-San has taken to wearing Western clothing in Act 2 as well. During the Humming Chorus there is a brief ballet–a pas de deux–that strikes me as unnecessary, but does little harm. Suzuki commits suicide immediately after Butterfly does.
Massimiliano Pisapia is a good Pinkerton, going from vaguely stupid and callow to being in love with the idea of love to sorrow and regret. His voice is hearty and reliable; he’s one of those good tenors you’d be pleased to discover in a performance you accidentally encountered, but he lacks the vocal and physical charisma for stardom–at least for now. Claudio Sgura is a wonderful Sharpless–he looks to be almost seven feet tall–and his height keeps him literally above the action a good deal of the time. But the voice impresses and he knows what he’s singing about. Annunziata Vestri tends toward keening, but she’s the kind of loyal servant Butterfly deserves.
But Raffaella Angeletti does not make it as Butterfly. Close-ups do her no favors: I know this shouldn’t matter, but her nose deserves its own zip code, and so do her teeth and feet, which sadly are frequently visible. She sings sharp more often than any soprano I’ve ever heard on stage, and while she attempts “little-girl” Asian gestures, they don’t make it. She can’t sing quietly, and while the voice is impressively large (she sings Turandot and Aida–I checked out excerpts of both on Youtube), it doesn’t contain much pathos and turns shrill at the top. The audience, I should add, seems to like her far more than I do, but then again, maybe they’re impressed with her volume in the open-air.
Conductor Daniele Callegari is a singer’s conductor; his is no symphonic, Karajan-like Butterfly. And so, this is a handsome production without a heroine we can love. For that, try the off-beat Robert Wilson-directed, well-sung Cheryl Barker performance on Opus Arte, or the film by Karajan with Freni and Domingo, which, though lip-synched, still manages to be very moving. Or best of all, look for the Met’s stunning Anthony Minghella production on Sony.
