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 ofRigoletto,Il Trovatore,La Traviata,Otello, andFalstafffirst (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