I am always loath to buy CDs of opera unless I know they're going to be fantastic, as they can be very expensive and also I don't have any desire to listen to a sub-standard recording. However, I am keen to expand my collection, so wondering if anyone has any recommendations?

Would love recommendations for Il Barbiere di Siviglia, L'Italiana in Algeri (Berganza?); Rusalka; Dido and Aeneas (Janet Baker? or any other suggestions?); Samson et Dalila; Orfeo ed Euridice; Tosca; La Traviata; Tristan und Isolde...I think that'll do to be getting on with, I can think of plenty more, but I don't want to start typing out millions!

Ok, just two suggestions from me for now:

Dido has to be Susan Graham, and you get Felicity Palmer and Ian Bostridge too on the Vergin Veritas recording and for Trav go for the Munich State Orch under Kleiber with Contrubas and Domingo. both recordings in my opinion.

I've heard very good things about Sarah Connolly's Dido and Aeneas recording.

For Tristan, go for the Pappano recording with Nina Stemme and Placido Domingo. (As an aside, I'm off to Tristan at Covent Garden next week - my third live Tristan this year - and having read some of the reviews, I have high hopes for the singing, and am expecting nothing from the production.)

Other favourite recordings of works you've not mentioned include the Guilini set of Don Giovanni, the Karajan Der Rosenkavalier, and Britten's own recording of Peter Grimes.

I second that. Britten's own recording of Billy Budd is exceptional, especially John Claggart's soliloquy (written by E M Forster).

For the Turn of the Screw my favourite version is the one with Helen Donath as the Governess and Robert Tear as Peter Quint. You can see and hear it on youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7OeAnMa1Y0). I'm going to hear this in November at the Coliseum and am really looking forward to this Halloween treat.

I'm very fussy about opera recordings because personally I don't like listening to singers who roll their 'r's overly much. I think Victoria de los Angeles has got a beautiful voice but for me the recordings I've got of hers are spoilt by the very pronounced 'r's This may not bother you though!

With regard to some of the operas on your list, I'm happy with the following recordings, although some of them are "Highlights" so they may not suit you if you want the full opera...

Rusalka - Czech Philharmonic Chorus and Orchestra, Vaclav Neumann, sop Gabriela Benackova, ten Wieslaw Ochman. (Highlights)

Samson et Dalila - Symphonie Orchester & Chor des Baverischen Rundfunks, Sir Colin Davis, sop Agnes Baltsa, ten Jose Carreras. (Highlights)

Tosca - Orchestra of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Sir Colin Davis, sop Monserrat Caballe, ten Jose Carreras

La Traviata - Ambrosian Opera Chorus - Philharmonia Orchestra, sop Renato Scotto, ten Alfredo Kraus. (Highlights)

For the Dido, I'd heartily recommend the Janet Baker recording on Decca. I've heard a few others since, but I keep coming back to her performance (it has the benefit of Thurston Dart on the harpsichord as well).

As for the Tristan & Isolde, people always seem to suggest the Furtwangler recording on EMI Classics, with Flagstad singing Isolde. I've never managed to sit through the entire thing, and I really don't enjoy Wagner much, so I'll leave it for someone more familiar with the material to give a good suggestion!

Turn of the Screw will be on Radio 3 tonight. I won't be listening because I'm going to hear it live next week. I'm looking forward to it - conducted by Sir Charles Mackerras and the reviews have been good.

Britten's own recordings are always pretty staggering I think (Sinfonia da Requiem for instance). Though for Peter Grimes I highly rate the Richard Hickox, City of London Sinfonia recording (Chandos) with the wonderful Philip Langridge. I saw Kent Nagano conduct the Halle years ago in a concert performance of Billy Budd with Thomas Hampson and Anthony Rolfe-Johnson. That was excellent and is available on Erato.

For Tosca I've had the Decca CDs of the Sir Georg Solti, Welsh National Opera and Kiri Te Kanawa performance for years, but have often felt it could sound better. Quite recently I found the vinyl LPs of the same recording in an Oxfam shop, and bought the set - forgetting that I already had the very same performance on CD.

What an improvement! The vinyl sound was more rounded, and much pleasanter to listen to. At first I thought it was simply part of the old vinyl LP versus CD debate, but I think the real reason is that my CD player prefers sound from CDs to be a few dB lower than what's normally on the pressed CD. (More work still to be done on this - a pair of in-line attenuators should help.)

One thing led to another, and I now have the very enjoyable Bryn Terfel Tosca DVD as well. The optional subtitles have really improved my grasp of the plot, and what all the "operatic business" is about. For me, future purchases of opera could well be on DVD.

WRT to other operas, I'm a sucker for Duke Bluebeard's Castle by Bartók, and I now have too many versions including one sung in English - IMO it simply doesn't work in English! Bartók knew his language and his music is sympathetic to the sounds of Hungarian.

I'm not sure I understand that. What would be the difference between in-line attenuators and turning down the volume on the (pre) amp?

Do you have the Haitink recording with John Tomlinson and Anne Sophie von Otter? The huge climax at door 5 is fabulous.

Unfortunately not. It's definitely part of the opera that I listen out for.

The "Bluebeard in English" that I don't like is the one by Gwynne Howell and Sally Burgess with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales under Mark Elder. The others that I have are the classic Decca, Ludwig / Berry, LSO conducted by Kertesz (LP and CD); and the recent SACD Zhidkova / White. with the LSO under Gergiev. (2 copies!) For this opera, I do think that the spoken prologue adds something (if it's audible!), and in my collection, the Kertesz lacks it.

I burn some of my own CDs, and have found that using the same equipment, I think they sound better with the level reduced a little (~3DB) in Audacity, and the replay gain turned up a notch to compensate, rather than burning closer to full house. I'm just guessing at this stage that there's a level susceptible pre-amp in my AV receiver/amp that's too close to clipping when presented with the standard high output from the CD player. As I suggested, inserting a pair of in-line attenuators would help in the diagnosis.

For Monteverdi's L'Orfeo I can recommend this version recorded in Barcelona in 2002.
That boatman is really scary!

I borrowed it from the library and now I've ordered it from amazon - the usual story.

Have you tried listening to Spotify? You can listen to different versions to decide which one you like, and then you can either subscribe to download it from Spotify, or you can buy the CD once you have chosen your favourite.

http://www.spotify.com/en/


for Dido and Aeneas, my vote goes to Susan Graham.


Anne