The Four Greatest War Horse Opera Recordings

Having been inspired by San Diego Opera’s recent production of Tosca, I’ve spent the last week listening to war horse recordings of war horse operas. I’ve selected a few highlights here. Based on what I’ve been listening to, my taste in opera singers favors the 1960s.

Cavallaria Rusticana is a guilty pleasure for serious opera fans. I’m into guilt and pleasure so it doesn’t get any better than Cavallaria for me. Interestingly, the characters in Cavalllaria are also all about guilt and pleasure. The 1966 recording with Fiorenza Cossotto and Carlo Bergonzi will forever be at the top of my Cavallaria list.

Perhaps there are more exciting tenors than Bergonzi but he is a master of Italianate style. His vowel production, portamenti, and textual emphasis in the opening “Siciliana” would be forbidden on the chaste opera stages of 2023 but good God is it fun. Cossotto, my favorite Italian mezzo of all time, is a miracle as is the La Scala Orchestra and Chorus under the direction of Herbert von Karajan. Karajan may have been Austrian but he gives this opera the full hot-blooded Italian treatment.

Aida is the Secretariat of war horse operas yet it is difficult to find a recording that checks all the boxes. For many, the recording I love will not check the Aida box. Singing the title role is Birgit Nilsson. Her voice is far too much steel and not enough cream for most. I myself used to feel that way about Nilsson. However, I like her in this role. What I like even more is Franco Corelli in the role of Radames. This recording is from 1968 and he is in the prime of his prime. You will never hear another tenor sound as good as Corelli does here.

For a long time, my favorite Madama Butterfly was the version with Mirella Freni and Luciano Pavarotti. I have a new consort now. The 1967 recording with Renata Scotto and Carlo Bergonzi is spectacular. I think I still prefer Freni in the title role but Bergonzi sounds far more committed and ardent than Pavarotti. Sir John Barbirolli is masterful in his conducting of the Orchestra and Chorus of the Opera Theater of Rome.

One of the most legendary performances of an opera on record is Andrea Chenier with Maria Callas and Mario del Monaco from La Scala in 1955. Both singers were absolute icons on the opera stage. They have found their vocal and dramatic match in each other for this live performance. Callas’s rendition of “La mamma morta” has become definitive. The final duet will never be equaled. Never. Ever.