"La Bohème, which Decca have so successfully recorded, is an opera which depends on a first-rate ensemble, but Madama Butterfly first and foremost depends on the artist who sings the name part. Let it be said at once that Renata Tebaldi is not merely a good but a great exponent of the part. She is by far the best Butterfly I have heard since Destinn, than which there can be no higher praise. There is not a weak member of the cast and the opera has been produced with the same care for realistic detail." - The Gramophone, 1952
At the start of the 1950s, a time when recordings were still being made for 78rpm release as well as LP, and recording tape was still very much an infant technology. This is where Pristine's XR remastering can make a huge difference to the sound quality.
Madama Butterfly was the first of Renata Tebaldi's Decca recordings to be remade in stereo, a mere seven years after this production, with a different cast and conductor. Opinions will of course differ as two which is the better performance - we hope that the sonic upgrade offered here by this Pristine XR remaster will at help the earlier recording stand alongside the audio standards of the remake.