Opera Award

Puccini
Madama Butterfly
Soloists incl Angela Gheorghiu (sop);
Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia / Antonio Pappano
EMI 264187-2

Who said the days of recording opera in the studio were over? They may be less frequent, but this Butterfly is in many ways wonderfully old‑fashioned. A stellar cast and conductor gathered in a studio to record a mainstream opera favourite – and yet the resultant preformance is marvellously fresh. Despite Angela Gheorghiu having never sung the title-role on stage, Patrick O’Connor found her Butterfly “her best Puccini role since Magda in La Rondine more than a decade ago.” It is, he found, a recording “to set alongside the great recordings of the past”.