Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier
An opera that seems to bring the best out of performers,Rosenkavalierinspired these perf  ormers to make a recording for the ages. With a superb Ochs and glorious singing from its three leading l  adies, and with Herbert von Karajan keeping the Philharmonia on the edge of its seat, this enticing portr  ait of love from three angles emerges in all its bittersweet perfection. EMI recorded the opera with sepa  rate engineering teams in stereo and mono; this remastering of the stereo version is preferable to the ve  ry fine special-issue monaural remastering [EMI Classics 56113] brought out in 1996 as an 80th-birthday tribute to Dame Elisabeth Schwarzkopf.--Ted Libbey