"Editor's choice: The premiere of Madama Butterfly at La Scala, Milan, in 1904 was famously one of operatic history's great flops ... It's hard to imagine, though, that the orchestral playing or conducting that night came close to what Chailly achieves here with his Milan band, beautifully paced and tender, with the sheer invention and quality of the music shining reliably through. It's carefully controlled, too, so that we never risk toppling over into excess. He's assembled a fine cast, too ... A handsome show, with plenty of cherry blossom and pretty images projected on a paper screen. Above all it makes a powerful, persuasive case for Puccini's first thoughts on his great tearjerker".
