5 Opera Recordings I Need to Hear RIGHT NOW! (You Won't Guess #1)

These aren't necessarily the "best" operas or recordings; they're just the ones I want to hear right now!

Spoilers below:
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5: Leoncavallo/Mascagni – Pagliacci/Cavalleria Rusticana (Corelli, De Los Angeles, Gobbi, EMI)
4: Tckaikovsky – Eugene Onegin (Allen, Shicoff, Freni, Levine DG)
3: Puccini – Turandot (Nilsson, Corelli, Molinari-Pradelli, EMI)
2: Rossini – Barber of Seville (Abbado, 1973 DG)
1: Copland – The Tender Land (Brunelle, Plymouth MN Music Series, Virgin)

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[tuphdc]

What a boss. An expert of the skies and sound

[ElliottMilesMcKinley]

Hi Ed! Love these classical music videos, too! Nice list of recordings. For me I can tell you a few of mine (but I'm going to go with the work, not necessarily the recordings): First, I was lucky to see the Vienna State Opera in June 2022 do Don Giovanni and it blew me away--I mean, I know the opera, but I always forget how much of a boss Mozart is when, in the part where the ghost of the Commendatore comes back and suddenly there are 3 trombones in the orchestra! As for two others I would love to see performed live: Salome and Lulu come to mind.

[magicisforever]

you are an excellent musician- i am waiting for videos of your photographs with your playing the piano as the music- that is what i Need to hear right now!

[ronmcmartin]

EDIT: I wrote this Before I watched Ed's Top 10 Classical
I like Verdi(playful) more than Puccini(cerebral). I like Madama Butterfly. It's the perfect and/or worse Date opera("Men are Pigs!"). I like Tebaldi, but I took my Mom to a Butterfly movie with a petite Chinese woman in the title role, and she was Perfect for the part(I don't want to see/hear Birgit Nilsson in the title role).
My Mom was an opera freak, and listened to Gilbert & Sullivan with her grandfather, who knew all the words and played all the parts.
I still remember on the radio, "This is Fred Hyatt, and welcome to the Sunday Opera." 'Okay Mom, we're going out to play!'

[AlainPrevost-vx]

My N°1 would be Bartok's "Bluebeard's Castle" (Janos Ferencsik); my N°2 is Zemlinsky's "Birthday of the Infanta" (Gerd Albrecht); my N°3 would be Wagner's "Parsifal" in the 1951 Knappertsbusch Bayreuth recording; my N°4 would be Puccini's Turandot in the Molinari-Pradelli recording; my N°5 would be Alban Berg's "Lulu" in the von Dohnányi recording

[richardshagam]

Interesting list--especially the last one. I've heard many times the suite drawn from the 'Tender Land' but never the whole opera--I definitely have to check it out. I would say that opera is really meant to be watched--not just listened to. Staging, lighting, costumes, sets, and of course the plot and libretto (and don't forget elephants and horses in Aida!) are such important elements that you don't get from hearing the music alone that they have to be seen. I am an advocate for going to live performances with supertitles, but of course you can't do that 'Right Now'. And they are usually outrageously expensive. Or watching videos on disks or on-line is another way of getting a fuller appreciation for the opera. Understand that I'm not trying to demean audio recordings, because, of course, that is the only way one can hear the sounds from the greatest artists of the past and present in the highest technical audio quality available. By the way, two of my favorite operas are 'Tosca' and 'Hansel and Gretel.' One--a lurid potboiler, the other has nice tunes, a simple plot, and a happy ending (but not for the Witch).

[IvanProsper]

For me, it's gotta be "Artaserse - Leonardo Vinci" The 2006 production with Diego Fasolis conducting and Jaroussky, Fagioli and Sabadus performing

[chriswashington]

I rushed to order the Copland opera, which is unavailable in the UK. Got a good secondhand copy via Amazon and I'm really enjoying it. Many thanks for the recommendation. Stylistically, it reminds me of Barber's Vanessa rather than other Copland works.

[lefcoe]

I've never heard of The Tender Land, will have to give it a listen "right now." What I always find interesting about Copeland is that it is recognizably American, right from the drop of the needle. I find this interesting as a Canadian because I don't think we have any classical music that sounds uniquely Canadian, and as a well-known Canadian composer once said it's probably too late for us now, everything is too international.

My list is topped by Nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni, Der Rosenkavalier, Boris Gudunov, Tristan and parts of The Ring cycle. Some of Wagner's contemporary composers wept as they heard the overture to Tristran, "he's left us nothing to compose!"

I must say though that my concentration lags--operas demand long attention span!

[RTCB-SWL]

My number one is ‘Madama Butterfly’ by Giacomo Puccini... [Maria Callas or Angela Gheorghiu].

[bowrudder]

Ed, if you've never seen it, check out the movie Onegin with Ralph Fiennes.

[bowrudder]

I always want to hear Don Giovanni. And Rigoletto. And Susannah.

[zacharyniswender]

Number one was quite shocking. I have a bit of resentment towards the opera due to the fact that I had to play the double bass part in our university pit orchestra. I think I played a grand total of 100 notes durning the whole opera haha. Otherwise, fantastic list!

[bauertime]

Just put some Gentle Giant on and get be satisfied.

[AmatureAstronomer]

Love opera music. Hate opera singing.

[Green_House]

Sorry. You lost me at ' opera'. 🤔