GUIDE TO OPERA RECORDINGS, A

This book is a consumer guide, an opera appreciation course, and a history of recording techniques and lore, all rolled into one. Ethan Mordden reviews opera's legacy of recordings, from Monteverdi to Stephen Sondheim, from Nellie Melba to Luciano Pavarotti, from cylinders and 78s to lps and compact discs.
There have been guides to opera's discography before, but no single-volume work as wide-ranging and up-to-date as this one: not only the major composers, but also many 'minor' ones are represented; and both live performances and studio recordings are featured. Not a mere listing of recordings, but a narrative history of opera since its earliest days, the book provides chapters on the First Operas, Mozart, German Romanticism, Grand Opera, Rossini, Verdi, Russian Opera, Puccini, Stravinsky, Modern French Opera, Strauss, Weill, Britten, Gerswin, American Opera and much more. Even the most recent productions, like Les Miserables, and such newly hailed opera stars as Kathleen Battle and Ghena Dimitrova are discussed. Recording information, including cast and label, is contained in the text while a helpful index enables the reader to locate composers, their works, and the recordings of favourite singers quickly and easily.