Recommended Discography: Criteria Operamania.com
Any selection is always somehow subjective. Here you have the criteria we have used:
Fidelity to the composer's work
Singers performance: dramatic characterization and vocal beauty
Orchestra and conducting
Voices properly matching roles
Musical and vocal excellence
In as much as possible, we have selected studio recordings. As well as avoiding noise of live recordings, they usually reflect the best of each artist, removing accidental flaws. Stereo is also given priority against mono. Nevertheless, we have selected some mono and live recordings when the artistic value largely exceeds the constraints of lower sound quality
We have marked with R what we find reference recordings and recommended sets for those new to opera.