 | Monteverdi: L'Incoronazione di Poppea by Claudio Monteverdi
Buy new: $43.98 / Used from: $16.49 One of the earliest of operas, this recording, though maybe not as "authentic" as some is still a great performance.
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 | Purcell: Dido and Aeneas / James, Lewis, Baker, Herincx
Buy new: $10.99 / Used from: $2.50 Again there are more authentic recordings of this opera but Baker is still supreme.
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 | Handel - Rinaldo / Bartoli, Daniels, AAM, Hogwood
Buy new: $44.99 / Used from: $23.99 Handel's first London opera in a superb performance from Christopher Hogwood.
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 | Handel - Giulio Cesare / Jacobs
Buy new: $55.98 / Used from: $22.95 More essential Handel - probably his most well known opera.
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 | Gluck: Orfeo ed Euridice (Highlights)
Buy used from: $13.46 Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice with Janet Baker in one of her greatest roles - the complete opera is around somewhere so worth looking out for.
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 | Mozart - Le nozze di Figaro / Taddei · Schwarzkopf · Moffo · Cossotto · Wächter · Giulini by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Buy used from: $19.96 As well nigh perfect as anything can be.
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 | Mozart: Don Giovanni by Mozart
Buy used from: $79.77 Mozart's much darker "drama giacosa"
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 | Mozart: Così fan tutte
Buy new: $34.98 / Used from: $21.99 This great work only really became to be understood in the latter half of the twentietc century.
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 | Mozart - Die Zauberflöte / Mannion, Dessay, Blochwitz, Scharinger, Hagen, Les Art Florissants, Christie
Buy new: $51.98 / Used from: $19.79 A wonderfully fresh recording of this hugely entertaining and popular opera.
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 | Beethoven: Fidelio
Buy used from: $22.53 Beethoven's only opera - the Klemperer set still stands supreme.
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 | Rossini: The Barber Of Seville with Maria Callas, Tito Gobbi, Alceo Galliera, Philharmonia Orchestra & Chorus by Gioachino Rossini
Buy new: $32.98 / Used from: $9.99 Probably the greatest pure comic opera ever written - Callas and Gobbi are superb here.
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 | Rossini - Guillaume Tell / Bacquier, Caballé, Gedda, Mesplé, Kovacs, Howell, RPO, Gardelli
Buy new: $43.98 / Used from: $19.48 Rossini's greatest (and last) non comic opera. A failure at the time, it points forward towards Verdi.
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 | Bellini - Norma / Maria Callas, Ludwig, Corelli, Zaccaria, Teatro alla Scala, Serafin by Orchestra e Coro del Teatro alla Scala
Buy new: $32.98 / Used from: $22.96 Indubitably Bellini's greatest opera, even admired by Klemperer apparently - Callas is essential listening.
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 | Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor / Callas, di Stefano, Panerai, Zaccaria; Karajan by Maria Callas
A great live performance of Donizetti's most enduring tragic opera.
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 | Donizetti: Don Pasquale
Buy used from: $14.97 Donizetti's comic masterpiece - though the comedy can seem a little cruel these days.
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 | Wagner: Tannhäuser
Buy new: $48.99 / Used from: $42.72 Wagner here finding his true voice - this is the Paris version of the score, which houses some very great music.
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 | Lohengrin
Buy used from: $64.99 Wagner's next opera took him further towards his late genius.
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 | Verdi: Rigoletto (Complete Opera); Maria Callas; Tito Gobbi; Giuseppe di Stefano by Giuseppe Verdi
Buy new: $32.98 / Used from: $17.99 The first of Verdi's great middle period operas - from here onwards he rarely came up with a dud.
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 | Verdi: Il Trovatore (complete opera) with Maria Callas, Giuseppe di Stefano, Herbert von Karajan, Chorus & Orchestra of La Scala, Milan
Buy new: $32.98 / Used from: $24.98 Verdi's next opera has an irresistable drive and force
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 | Verdi: La Traviata (complete opera live 1955) with Maria Callas, Giuseppe di Stefano, Carlo Maria Giulini, Orchestra & Chorus of La Scala, Milan by Giuseppe Verdi
Buy new: $18.99 / Used from: $11.76 Callas's Violetta is essential listening - unfortunately all are live, but this is one of her greatest nights in the theatre.
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 | Verdi - Simon Boccanegra / Freni, Cappuccilli, Carreras, Ghiaurov, van Dam, Foiani, Teatro alla Scala, Abbado by Giuseppe Verdi
Buy new: $23.98 / Used from: $17.99 A superb recording of this great brooding score.
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 | Verdi: Un Ballo In Maschera (complete opera) with Maria Callas, Giuseppe di Stefano, Tito Gobbi, Antonino Votto, Chorus & Orchestra of La Scala, Milan
Buy new: $32.98 / Used from: $7.08 A great opera, showing here Verdi's skill in ironic humour.
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 | Charles Gounod: Faust
Buy new: $34.98 / Used from: $19.00 Though not as often performed as it once was, this is Gounod's greatest opera with a wealth of tunes.
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 | Berlioz: Les Troyens
Buy new: $47.98 / Used from: $19.97 A very great opera - on balance the best of Davis's two recordings.
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 | Richard Wagner: Tristan und Isolde by Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Buy new: $41.99 / Used from: $18.98 The opening phrases changed the course of classical music for ever. Vickers is here the most tragic of Tristans.
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