Top 10 Favorite Operas

[kyjo]

Many will be surprised that I have started this thread, as I'm no opera buff. First of all, let me tell about my experience with opera. I tend to gravitate towards impressionist or expressionist operas, as they usually focus less on vocal pyrotechnics and more on orchestral contributions to the overall effect. I listen to operas from an orchestral rather than a vocal standpoint, which puts me in the minority, but I'm fine with that. To be perfectly honest, I can't stomach opera written before Wagner (Verdi included!). Some of my favorite composers-Shostakovich, Prokofiev, VW and Britten-wrote operas who I don't care for much. Also, there are many composers I love-such as Rimsky, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, Dvorak, Respighi, Schreker and Zemlinsky-whose operas I have, for some odd reason, never bothered to investigate but have a good chance of liking. One composer's operas who I think I would enjoy but haven't been recorded is Atterberg. As of now, my list would look like:

1. Wagner: Tristan und Isolde
2. Debussy: Pelléas et Melisande
3. Ravel: L'enfant et les sortilèges
4. Bartok: Bluebeard's Castle
5. Janacek: Káťa Kabanová
6. Cras: Polyphème (a must-hear for lovers of Pelléas)
7. Merikanto: Juha
8. Melartin: Aino
9. Szymanowski: King Roger
10. Martinu: Juliette

Honorable mentions: Langgaard: Antikrist, Bantock: Omar Khayyám (sometimes considered a secular oratorio), Delius: Koanga, Kokkonen: The Last Temptations

Please keep in mind that there are a lot of operas I have not yet heard and this list is only comprised of my favorites that I have heard so far.

[Sergeant Rock]

Revised to include favorite recording.

Wagner Der Ring des Nibelungen Karajan

Wagner Parsifal Karajan

Wagner Lohengrin Bychkov

Mozart Die Zauberflöte Klemperer

Debussy Pelléas et Melisande (me and Mr. Pink are on the same page here  ) Karajan

Schoenberg Moses und Aron Solti

Weber Der Freischütz (Mrs. Rock would kill me if I didn't list this one  ) Keilberth

Strauss Der Rosenkavalier Solti

Strauss Elektra Solti

Donizetti Lucia di Lammermoor Karajan Live Berlin 1955

Sarge

[Parsifal]

Wagner Der Ring des Nibelungen

Wagner Parsifal

Wagner Lohengrin

Mozart Die Zauberflöte

Debussy Pelléas et Melisande (me and Mr. Pink are on the same page here  )

Schoenberg Moses und Aron

Weber Der Freischütz (Mrs. Rock would kill me if I didn't list this one  )

Strauss Der Rosenkavalier

Strauss Elektra

Donizetti Lucia di Lammermoor

Sarge

I'm looking for Salome on that list.  Something wrong with my version of Chrome, I think.

[bhodges]

(Alpha by opera title)

Bartók: Bluebeard's Castle - Favorite recordings: Haitink (EMI), Boulez (DG), Boulez (Sony), Solti (Decca, DVD)
R. Strauss: Elektra - Solti (Decca)
Verdi: Falstaff - Davis (LSO Live)
R. Strauss: Die Frau Ohne Schatten - Sawallisch (EMI)
Janáček: Jenůfa - Mackerras (Decca), Haitink (Erato)
Janáček: Káťa Kabanová - Mackerras (Decca)
Berg: Lulu - Levine (Met Opera)
Verdi: Otello - Levine (DG, DVD), Muti's new CSO Resound recording comes out Sep. 24 (the live performance was terrific)
Britten: Peter Grimes - Runnicles (DG, DVD)
R. Strauss: Salome - Böhm (DG, DVD), Schønwandt (Chandos)
Berg: Wozzeck - Metzmacher (EMI), Levine (Met Opera, DVD)

--Bruce

[North Star]

Oh well. 10 is impossible without limiting to one per composer
(no particular order)

Berlioz Les Troyens
Janáček: Cunning Little Vixen
Britten: Peter Grimes
Prokofiev: The Fiery Angel
Ravel: L'enfant et les sortilèges
Bartók: Bluebeard's Castle
Mussorgsky: Khovanshchina
Martinu: Juliette
Szymanowski: Król Roger
Berg: Wozzeck

[North Star]

1. Wagner: Tristan und Isolde
2. Debussy: Pelléas et Melisande
3. Ravel: L'enfant et les sortilèges
4. Bartok: Bluebeard's Castle
5. Janacek: Káťa Kabanová
6. Cras: Polyphème (a must-hear for lovers of Pelléas)
7. Merikanto: Juha
8. Melartin: Aino
9. Langgaard: Antikrist
10. Martinu: Juliette

I think I must hear these...

[bhodges]

Great list, and dang, have to revise mine to include the Britten.

--Bruce

[kyjo]

Szymanowski: Król Roger

Damn, I knew I was forgetting one and that is it! Kudos for mentioning it, North Star! A mesmerizing work. It'll take Antikrist's place in my top 10.

[Sergeant Rock]

I'm looking for Salome on that list.  Something wrong with my version of Chrome, I think.

If the poll were "Top 10 Operas To See Live" then, yeah, Salome would be top of the list 

Sarge

[kyjo]

If the poll were "Top 10 Operas To See Live" then, yeah, Salome would be top of the list 

Sarge

[bhodges]

If the poll were "Top 10 Operas To See Live" then, yeah, Salome would be top of the list 

Sarge

It's that riveting Jochanaan part, isn't it.   

--Bruce

[North Star]

Great list, and dang, have to revise mine to include the Britten.

--Bruce

Right back at you, Bruce! I only remembered to include the Berg after I saw your post. 

Damn, I knew I was forgetting one and that is it! Kudos for mentioning it, North Star! A mesmerizing work. It'll take Antikrist's place in my top 10.

Excellent, Kyle!


Karlo

[TheGSMoeller]

Monteverdi: Orfeo
Purcell: Dido and Aeneas
Rameau: Castor et Pollux
Mozart: The Magic Flute
Berg: Lulu
Berg: Wozzeck
Prokofiev: The Fiery Angel
Britten: Death in Venice
Britten: Midsummer Nights Dream
Glass: Beauty and the Beast

[kyjo]

I think I must hear these...

Indeed, seeing that our tastes in opera are largely congruent, I'd think you'd really enjoy them! Here's the links:

[asin]B000GNOHIC[/asin]   [asin]B00000378Z[/asin]   [asin]B000065DV1[/asin]

Have you heard the Cras, Karlo? I assume you have since you didn't underline it in my post. It's a gorgeous work.

[North Star]

Rameau: Castor et Pollux

That's no. 11 on my list 
Great list (wrote that with a z first...), Greg!

[kyjo]

I'm so relieved no one has listed a Rossini opera yet!

[North Star]

Indeed, seeing that our tastes in opera are largely congruent, I'd think you'd really enjoy them! Here's the links:

[asin]B000GNOHIC[/asin]   [asin]B00000378Z[/asin]   [asin]B000065DV1[/asin]

Have you heard the Cras, Karlo? I assume you have since you didn't underline it in my post. It's a gorgeous work.

Unfortunately I left it without underlining only because I've never heard of the work or composer, but will look into it.
The Langgaard in particular is pretty high on my list. And Juha too, I've heard bits of it, and it, along with the Melartin (dealing probably with much the same matter, based on the title?) are of course especially interesting to me because I'm Finnish. I suppose you haven't heard Madetoja's Juha, since it's more romantic in style?

[TheGSMoeller]

That's no. 11 on my list 
Great list (wrote that with a z first...), Greg!

Great!
And thank you!

[Mirror Image]

Some of mine will undoubtedly match Kyle's and some will not

(in no particular order) -

Bartok: Bluebeard's Castle
Martinu: Juliette
Janacek: Káťa Kabanová
Ravel: L'enfant et les sortilèges
Berg: Wozzeck
Shostakovich: Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk
Wagner: Das Rheingold
Schoenberg: Die Glückliche Hand
Mussorgsky: Khovanshchina
Poulenc: Dialogues des Carmélites

[The new erato]

If one avoids baroque opera which I'm very fond of, my list would be very similar to Kyjo's, except for the two Finnish operas, which I don't know. I would add Lady Macbeth from Mentsk, and Boris Godunov (or perhaps Eugen Onegin), however.