PUCCINI: Madame Butterfly - Netherlands Opera, Edo de Waart (2 DVD)

Puccini: Madama Butterfly
Cheryl Barker (Cio-Cio San); Martin Thompson (Pinkerton); Catherine Keen (Suzuki); Richard Stilwell (Sharpless); Anneleen Bijnen (Kate); Peter Blanchet (Goro);

Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra; Edo de Waart

Stage Director(s): Robert Wilson

Robert Wilson's pure and highly stylised 2003 production enhances the timeless beauty of Puccini's moving Japanese tragedy. Cheryl Barker and Martin Thompson lead an inspired cast in a highly charged recording from the Amsterdam Muziektheater with the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by a masterful and passionate Edo de Waart.


"Of the various DVD incarnations of Butterfly that have come my way so far, this is the one that satisfies the most. There is no single star in the cast. The conducting is unfailingly musical. The production is simply superb...A superb DVD that now becomes my top video recommendation for this opera. The production is top-notch, and the orchestral contribution the strongest I have yet to hear." (Musicweb International)

"Wilson creates a superbly beautiful Butterfly. Once again, Wilson's incredible lighting takes a solo role...Puccini's Butterfly has seldom sounded so refined and so perfect as under Edo de Waart; the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra play outstandingly for him. The vocal performances are no less impressive..." (Algemeen Dagblad)

"Wilson's stage images are minimalist in nature and as aesthetic as always; here they are in perfect accord with the usual Japanese principles of style and form. The abstract, serene and intensely subtle basis of the scenic, vocal and musical performances turns this Japanese-Italian-American Madama Butterfly into a variant on Greek tragedy with an inevitable end." (NRC Handelsblad)

Extra features
Illustrated Synopsis and Cast gallery. Introduction to the Opera including interviews with Robert Wilson, Edo De Waart and the cast.