Verdi: Simon Boccanegra

This intensely mixed-up opera, set in medieval Venice, is about political conflict, intrigue and assassination, confused identities, and the tenderness and anxieties of a father-daughter relationship. It had severe libretto problems in its first version, in 1857, that were only partly corrected in the 1881 revision. But however illogically its incidents sometimes follow one another, it inspired Verdi to some deeply felt and powerfully composed music, particularly in the title role. Beginning collectors would do well to acquire good recordings of Rigoletto, Il Trovatore, La Traviata, Otello, and Falstaff first (not necessariy in that order), but this extraordinary recording should find its way, eventually, into any serious Verdi collection, as much for the magnificent singing and conducting as for the opera itself. --Joe McLellan