The New York Times Essential Library: Opera : A Critic's Guide to the 100 Most Works and the Best Recordings (The New York Times Essential Library)

Rating:
Summary: Useful and Enjoyable
Review: Written by Anthony Tommasini, the intelligent and articulate chief music critic of the New York Times, this book is aimed at individuals interested in exploring opera and building up a good opera CD library. Tommasini has picked out 100 important operas, written a short essay briefly describing each opera and commenting on what makes it important, and then recommending one or two good recordings. Tommasini's list includes the heart of the Italian and German repertoire plus quite a few others. He has taken this opportunity to do a bit of proselytizing for operas and causes he thinks important. Thus the inclusion of quite a few English language and American operas, but also some other surprises like the number of Russian operas including several Prokofiev and a couple of Rimsky-Korsakov operas. As with any matter of taste, this leads to some arguable choices. As a Britten enthusiast, I can't argue with the inclusion of so many Britten operas but I don't see the inclusion of Rimsky-Korsakov and the exclusion of Janacek's magical Cunning Little Vixen as sensible. On balance, Tommasini's desire to present opera as a living art form is laudable and his list justifiable. In terms of his CD recommendations, I can only say that I own several of the CDs he recommends and that I find myself in enthusiastic agreement with his choices.