I am sure this will be a short thread with few participants, but being popular isn't everything.
My favorite opera recording is of:
Il barbiere di Siviglia
(The Barber of Seville)
by Gioachino Rossini
Conducted by Giuseppe Patanè, and featuring Cecilia Bartoli.
This is a great recording of this comic opera, with all of the performances good, with great sound. It achieves the manic quality that this sort of opera requires. I listen to this recording more than to any other complete opera.
What used to be my favorite was:
Madama Butterfly
(Madame Butterfly)
by Giacomo Puccini
Conducted by Herbert von Karajan, and featuring Mirella Freni.
This is also a great recording, and widely regarded as the best ever recording of Madama Butterfly. This is a very realistic, and tragic, opera. Certainly, if this is your favorite, I will not object to your choice. You must have at least some good taste.
My favorite opera recording is of:
Il barbiere di Siviglia
(The Barber of Seville)
by Gioachino Rossini
Conducted by Giuseppe Patanè, and featuring Cecilia Bartoli.
This is a great recording of this comic opera, with all of the performances good, with great sound. It achieves the manic quality that this sort of opera requires. I listen to this recording more than to any other complete opera.
What used to be my favorite was:
Madama Butterfly
(Madame Butterfly)
by Giacomo Puccini
Conducted by Herbert von Karajan, and featuring Mirella Freni.
This is also a great recording, and widely regarded as the best ever recording of Madama Butterfly. This is a very realistic, and tragic, opera. Certainly, if this is your favorite, I will not object to your choice. You must have at least some good taste.
"A wise man ... proportions his belief to the evidence."
— David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Section X, Part I.
