# Favourite Operatic Recordings



## Op.123 (Mar 25, 2013)

I searched for threads similar to this and found am old thread I had made. It's interesting how my tastes have changed as I've learnt more. One of my choices was an Otello with Domingo, a tenor I don't even like anymore let alone see suitable for big dramatic roles like Otello. So here's an updated list, no longer limited to 5. If anyone else has a similar list I'd be interested to see as I've just discovered a Romeo et Juliette with Gall, Affre and Journet from the old thread that is beautiful.

Bartok: Bluebeard's Castle (sung in English) - Elias, Hines / Ormandy (1962)
Beethoven: Fidelio - Flagstad, Maison, Huehn, Kipnis / Walter (1941)
Bellini: I Puritani - Callas, Di Stefano, Panerai / Serafin (1953)
Bellini: Il Pirata - Callas, Ferraro, Ego / Rescigno (1959)
Bellini: Norma - Callas, Del Monaco, Simionato / Votto (1955)
Benjamin: Written on Skin - Hannigan, Mehta, Purves / Benjamin (2012)
Berg: Wozzeck - Farrell, Harrell, Jagel / Mitropoulos (1951)
Berlioz: Les Troyens (sung in English) - Vickers, Schuard, Thebom / Kubilek (1957)
Bizet: Carmen - Cernay, Berthaud / Inghelbrecht (1942)
Boito: Mefistofele - Del Monaco, Tebaldi, Siepi / Serafin (1958)
Britten: Peter Grimes - Pears, Watson / Britten (1958)
Cherubini: Medea - Callas, Penno, Barbieri / Bernstein (1953)
Cilea: Adriana Lecouvreur - Tebaldi, Del Monaco, Simionato / Capuana (1961)
Debussy: Pelleas et Melisande - Jansen, Joachim, Etcheverry / Desormiere (1941)
Donizetti: Anna Bolena - Callas, Simionato (1957)
Donizetti: Maria Stuarda - Caballe, Verrett / Cillario (1971)
Giordano: Andrea Chenier - del Monaco, Milanov, Warren / Cleva (1954)
Gluck: Ifigenia in Tauride - Callas, Albanese, Colzani, Dondi / Sanzogno (1957)
Gounod: Faust - Bjorling, Kirsten, Siepi / Cleva (1950)
Ligeti: Le Grand Macabre - Ehlert, Claycomb, Hellekant, Nes / Salonen (1998)
Mascagni: Cavalleria Rusticana - Bruna Rasa, Melandri, Poli / Mascagni (1938)
Massenet: Werther - Thill, Vallin / Cohen (1931)
Mozart: Don Giovanni - Pinza, Rethberg, Lazzari, Borgioli, Helletsgruber / Walter (1937)
Mussorgsky: Boris Godunov - Pigorov, Khanayev, Mikhailov, Nelepp / Golovanov (1949)
Ponchielli: La Gioconda - Callas, Poggi, Barbieri, Silveri, Neri / Votto (1952)
Puccini: Il Tabarro - Petrella, Scarlini, Reali / Baroni (1949)
Puccini: La Boheme - Gigli, Albanese / Berrettoni (1938)
Puccini: La Fanciulla del West - Tebaldi, Barioni, Guelfi / Basile (1961)
Puccini: Madama Butterfly - Petrella, Tagliavini, Taddei / Questa (1953)
Puccini: Manon Lescaut - Petrella, Campagnano / del Cupolo (1953)
Puccini: Tosca - Callas, di Stefano, Gobbi / de Sabata (1953)
Puccini: Turandot - Cigna, Merli, Olivero / Ghione (1938)
Respighi: La Fiamma - Coleva, Prandelli, Tagliabue, Danieli, Moffo / Molinari-Pradelli (1955)
Rossini: La Donna del Lago - Caballe, Bonisolli / Bellugi (1970)
Rossini: Otello - Lazzari, Zeani, Baratti / Previtali (1960)
Saariaho: L'Amour de Loin - Lekhina, Todorovitch, Belcher / Nagano (2009)
Saint-Saens: Samson et Dalila - Vickers, Domimguez / Fournet (1964)
Strauss, R.: Elektra - Varnay, Rysanek, Fischer, Hotter / Kraus (1953)
Strauss, R.: Salome - Welitsch, Jagel, Thorborg, Janssen / Reiner (1949)
Tchaikovsky: Queen of Spades - Nelepp, Ivanov, Lisitsian / Melik-Pasheyev (1950)
Verdi: Aida - Callas, Del Monaco, Dominguez, Taddei / De Fabritiis (1951)
Verdi: Falstaff - Taddei, Pagliughi, Carteri, Meletti, Renzi / Rossi (1949)
Verdi: Il Trovatore - Bjorling, Cigna, Wettergren, Basiola / Gui (1939)
Verdi: La Forza del Destino - Del Monaco, Tebaldi, Bastianini, Siepi, Simionato / Molinari-Pradelli (1955)
Verdi: La Traviata - Callas, Di Stefano, Bastianini / Giulini (1955)
Verdi: Nabucco - Mancini, Silveri, Binci / Previtali (1951)
Verdi: Otello - Martinelli, Rethberg, Tibbett / Panizza (1938)
Verdi: Rigoletto - Warren, Bjorling, Sayao / Sodero (1945)
Verdi: Simon Boccanegra - Warren, Varnay, Tucker / Stiedry (1950)
Verdi: Un Ballo in Maschera - Callas, Di Stefano, Bastianini, Simionato / Gavazzeni (1957)
Wagner: Der Fliegende Hollander - Hotter, Varnay, Svanholm / Reiner (1950)
Wagner: Die Walkure - Flagstad, Melchior, Lawrence, Huehn / Leinsdorf (1940)
Wagner: Gotterdammerung - Flagstad, Lorenz, Weber, Herrmann, Pernerstorfer/ Furtwangler (1950)
Wagner: Tannhauser - Melchior, Flagstad, Thorborg, List, Janssen / Leinsdorf (1941)
Wagner: Tristan und Isolde - Flagstad, Melchior / Bodanzky (1938, Sony)
Weber: Der Freischutz - Grummer, Hopf, Poell, Streich / Kleiber (1955)
Zandonai: Francesca da Rimini - Caniglia, Prandelli, Tagliabue / Guarnieri (1950)


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

Thanks, that's an interesting list; obviously almost all of your items are pre-1960. Except, for natural reasons, the Ligeti, Benjamin and Saariaho ones.

Not being a massive opera collector, but having a large repertoire collection, though often with just 1-3 recordings of each opera, I definitely tend to prefer later performances & their style, BUT when they're still temperamental, and of course well sung.

I guess that's being pretty typical for such less dedicated opera collectors.

I do have - and appreciate - the _Boris Godunov_/Golovanov and _Tosca_/Sabata, and the _Wozzeck_/Mitropoulos.

I also have a few more historical opera recordings, that I like - including _Boris Godunov/_Panizza+Pinza (highly recommended, but in Italian!), _Fidelio_/Knappertsbusch, _Norma_/Callas+Gui, _The Ring_/Krauss, _The Ring_/Furtwängler,Rome, _Tristan & Isolde_/Furtwängler,HMV, _Il Trovatore_/Björling,Cellini, and some more.

Of the three mentioned contemporary ones, say post-1945, I only have Saariaho's _L'Amour de Loin_. Also Messiaen's _St. Francois d'Assise, _Martinu's_ Greek Passion, _Schönberg_ Moses and Aron, _Britten's _Peter Grimes, _Nørgård's_ Gilgamesh, _Tippett's_ King Priam _and_ A Midsummer Marriage, _Blomdahl's_ Aniara, _Poulenc's_ Dialogue des Carmelites/Nagano, _Stravinsky's _The Rake's Progress_, and likely a couple more. Saariaho's and Poulenc's are great, Poulenc's mostly for the music itself, but otherwise, it's generally not stuff that I have dwelled a lot into, so far.

_Le Grand Macabre_ is on my wish list.


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