The Well-Tempered Ear

Classical music: Critics for The New York Times name their favorite recordings, performances and perfomers of favorite Verdi operas to mark his bicentennial year. What are favorite Verdi operas and performers?

By Jacob Stockinger

Here is another leftover from 2013 for consumption in the new year.

As you may recall, 2013 was the bicentennial of the birth of Giuseppe Verdi (below), the great and prolific Italian opera composer known especially for dramatic plots, often borrowed from Shakespeare, as well as outstanding vocal and instrumental music.

Right at the end of the year, with only a few days left on the calendar, the various critics for The New York Times did one of their compilation roundups of their favorite recordings of Verdi’s operatic and orchestral masterpieces in their favorite and formative performances, which often happened at the Metropolitan Opera. One of the favorites is Leontyne Price in “Aida,” which you can hear in a YouTube video at the bottom.

Here is the list:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/27/arts/music/critics-pick-recordings-to-celebrate-verdis-bicentennial.html?_r=0

Perhaps you will find it helpful.

Perhaps you have your own favorite performances of favorite Verdi works.

The Ear would love to hear about them in the COMMENT section.