I don't suppose one of those you can get your hands on is the version with the Bolshoi conducted by Rostropovich (on Chant du Monde, LDC278 485,6)?

I have the Solti version; Rostropovich beats it hands down as far as I am concerned. You have only to compare the orchestral postlude to Act 1 Scene 2 to realise that Solti is playing half-heartedly, if that. I heard Netrebko's version of the Letter Scene on R3 on Saturday; Vishnevskaya, even in 1976, knocks her into a cocked hat for characterisation and technique.

I have the performance on LP; unfortunately, it is difficult to reproduce cleanly. The CD issue seems to be well nigh impossible to track down second hand (I've been looking for years, seen it once, and have kicked myself for not snapping it up ever since).

I have zero recordings of Birtwistle's Tragoedia.   

Mr Dish, that has been duly noted 

I would, if I didn't already have it, though I paid rather more the €5 for it. More like £4

As a newbie I don`t want to come over al "johnny-newboy" ish but I seem to have completely failed to keep a sense of reason in my collecting.  At the last count I had over 130 Walkures with correspondingly large numbers of the other Wagner operas (excepting Die Feen, Liebesverbot, and Rienzi, which barely manage a dozen all together.)  Otherwise Fidelio clocks up about 40 and Les Troyens about 25.  My wife and not a few of my friends think I`m slightly deranged...

Welcome eric.


Don't worry eric, you'll settle in nicely here with that sort of collection 



John W

Well, there aren`t that many official recordings even including the various excerpts appearing on odd labels here and there - there`s a really strange set of excerpts on Caprice from Stockholm with Set Svanholm and Kerstin Meyer.  Sounds as if the theatre had managed to drop the score in a loose-leaf edition and put it back together again with no idea at all of which page goes where.  The joys of collecting!