Verdi's "Rigoletto"; "La Traviata"

I would go for the only great Rigoletto on cd or lp if you can find it and that would be the EMI recording with Callas,Destafano, and the great Tito gobi in the tital role of Rigoletto. If your interested in a good performance with excellent sound than go for the Pavarotti, Sutherland, Milnes on London. I would go for a Mono recording with good sound on RCA, the La Traviata with Toscanini conducting Jan Peerce, Albanese,
Merrill in a wonderful and moving recording, and if you listen closely you will hear Toscanini humming. Hope that helps enjoy.

For La Traviata, Georgiou/Solti on Decca and Cotrubas/Kleiber on DG (now an SACD) come pretty close to the best of both worlds.

David

To Drobin07, I did not know the Cotrubas/Kleiber is out on
SACD - can I have the number, please!

My player is red-book only. Is the SACD hybrid? thanks

The number is CDGR 477077 SA (at least that's the number on the Acoustic Sounds website). Yes, it's a hybrid,

David

I'm holding the DG Kleiber SACD set in my hand. The full catalog number is 00289 477 0772.

For La Travita, Anna Moffo's 1960's recording with Roma
opera house is the ultimate Violetta even Richard Tucker's Alfredo was a bit drag. Robert Merill's Germont was good.
Giulini coducted 1967 recording with Covent Garden is my
second favorate for Piero Cappuccilli is the best Germont
ever in it. Freni's Violetta was also great.
Rigoletto? Who can beat great Ettore Bastianini? His recording with Alfredo Kraus and lovely Scotto and Cossotto with Maggio Musicale Fiorentino is the best.

Thanks for the suggestions. I haven't had a chance to pick up any of the Verdi discs. None of the locals stores have these. But I ended up getting a super cool version of Bizet's Carmen on London label, with Troyanos, Domingo, van Dam, Te Kanawa conducted by Solti. Although I haven't listen to a lot of different versions of this opera, I think this must be one of the best ones. The recording quality and performance is first rate!

I will try to get La Traviata and Rigoletto with Maria Callas for performance and then pick these up in a more modern version for better recording quality. Too bad the performance of Callas and others in these operas is ruined by a bad sound quality.

Rigoletto- Carlo Maria Giulini on Deutsche Grammophon 457 753-2,
La Traviatta- Carlo Rizzi Teldec 9031-76348-2