A request for assistance, all advice gratefully received

[Jose Echenique]

Well, I have done the deed, so on Pepe's advice and because it's Claudio Abbado I have ordered :

and

Good for you Seán!

This is what you´ll get: The Barbiere and La Cenerentola have Teresa Berganza, the greatest coloratura mezzo ever. Both were the first recordings ever to use the Rossini Foundation editions, the most scholarly accurate editions ever. La Cenerentola specially is a treasure, none better, not the Bartoli, not the Kasarova, not the Baltsa, this is IT.
Il Viaggio á Reims, a colossal and hilarious opera composed for the Coronation of Charles X is a tour de force. Rossini wrote it for the finest singers available at the time, and that it´s big problem, it NEEDS opera stars for every role, just average singers will never do, and Abbado also got them: Lella Cuberli, Katia Ricciarelli, Cecilia Gasdia, Lucia Valentini-Terrani, Francisco Araiza, Leo Nucci, Ruggiero Raimondi, Enzo Dara! God, he left all the opera houses without singers in the summer of 1984.

In the Verdi box the Simon Boccanegra with also a superb cast is one of the greatest Verdi recordings ever. The Macbeth is glorious too with vintage performances by Piero Cappuccilli and Shirley Verrett as the most dreadful couple ever. The Ballo is particularly beautiful, with Placido Domingo and Katia Ricciarelli on top form. The Don Carlos, the first ever recording in the original French is a milestone recording. Unfortunately it suffered some cast changes along the way, so Jessye Norman couldn´t make it as Eboli nor Renato Bruson as Posa, but it still is a great recording, especially for Abbado´s incomparable conducting. I have to admit that there are some let downs: Katia Ricciarelli as Aida (she never had the voice for that role) and Bryn Terfel as Falstaff (he has the voice for the role, but was still too young and misses too many tricks in this extraordinary role). But those apart, Abbado and Verdi are a team not to be missed.

[Seán]

Well, I have done the deed, so on Pepe's advice and because it's Claudio Abbado I have ordered :

and

Good for you Seán!

This is what you´ll get: The Barbiere and La Cenerentola have Teresa Berganza, the greatest coloratura mezzo ever. Both were the first recordings ever to use the Rossini Foundation editions, the most scholarly accurate editions ever. La Cenerentola specially is a treasure, none better, not the Bartoli, not the Kasarova, not the Baltsa, this is IT.
Il Viaggio á Reims, a colossal and hilarious opera composed for the Coronation of Charles X is a tour de force. Rossini wrote it for the finest singers available at the time, and that it´s big problem, it NEEDS opera stars for every role, just average singers will never do, and Abbado also got them: Lella Cuberli, Katia Ricciarelli, Cecilia Gasdia, Lucia Valentini-Terrani, Francisco Araiza, Leo Nucci, Ruggiero Raimondi, Enzo Dara! God, he left all the opera houses without singers in the summer of 1984.

In the Verdi box the Simon Boccanegra with also a superb cast is one of the greatest Verdi recordings ever. The Macbeth is glorious too with vintage performances by Piero Cappuccilli and Shirley Verrett as the most dreadful couple ever. The Ballo is particularly beautiful, with Placido Domingo and Katia Ricciarelli on top form. The Don Carlos, the first ever recording in the original French is a milestone recording. Unfortunately it suffered some cast changes along the way, so Jessye Norman couldn´t make it as Eboli nor Renato Bruson as Posa, but it still is a great recording, especially for Abbado´s incomparable conducting. I have to admit that there are some let downs: Katia Ricciarelli as Aida (she never had the voice for that role) and Bryn Terfel as Falstaff (he has the voice for the role, but was still too young and misses too many tricks in this extraordinary role). But those apart, Abbado and Verdi are a team not to be missed.

Thanks for that Pepe, I am really looking forward to getting them, I will probably start with Rossini's Barber of Seville.