This performance was probably just another night at the Vienna State Opera, but in the event it preserves some worthy singers in roles they never got to record commercially. Jeanette Pilou was a busy singer, famous for her attractive lyric soprano voice. It is an uncomplicated sound that she uses intelligently with imagination. Her top notes from B-flat up to the C always sound a little forced; to paraphrase the words of Tullio Serafin, she has a top, but it was not her glory. She makes a sympathetic Butterfly though, choosing more restrained options than others. There are tears, yet they are sincere and not overdone. Bonisolli partners her well in the big duet at the end of Act One, but as David McKee says below his mind doesn't always seem to be on the task at hand. He makes a glaring wrong turn in "Dovunque al mondo", recovers fairly quickly, and is on track for the rest of the act. This is a live performance: it happens. Wachter does his Sharpless duties well and Gertrude Jahn and Murray Dickie are effective in their roles as well. Klobuchar was a better conductor than many believe.Either the tapist or a person sitting close by has a persistent cough that becomes annoying. The last seven minutes of Act Two (including the Humming Chorus) and the opening orchestral introduction to Act Three are spliced in from another performance. Otherwise the voices are clearly heard over the orchestra.

Were it not for some gaps in the recording and a cough-afflicted recordist, I could give this a five-star recommendation. Jeanette Pilou is an enchanting Butterfly, one who rises to the heights of "Un bel di" and "Che tua madre," but is just as affecting when musing on the toll three years of waiting for Pinkerton have taken on her beauty. Gertrude Jahn's Suzuki partners her with strength and the two are well-matched in the Flower Duet. Eberhard Waechter's once-lovely baritone has begun to spread and become grainy, but he is still a pillar of authority and sympathy as Sharpless. Franco Bonisolli's mind doesn't seem fully trained on the task at hand: He goes badly astray in "Amore o grillo" and lacks the sensitivity of Pilou. Berislav Klobucar brings flexible, idiomatic leadership to the score.