Verdi - La forza del destino / James Levine, The Metropolitan Opera
For much of the late 20th century, Leontyne Price was the leading  exponent of Verdi's heroic soprano roles--among the most demanding vocal and  dramatic categories in opera. One of her specialties was Leonora, the tormented  heroine inLa forza del destino(The Power of Fate). Her classic  performance, combined with some of Verdi's most soaring and energetic music, did  much to justify this flawed but compelling masterpiece--a thud-and-blunder  melodrama about war, duels, violent death, guilt, vengeance, and concealed  identities in which, following a tried and true operatic formula, nearly  everybody dies at the end. There are also comic scenes.A Metropolitan Opera production ofLa forza del destinostarring Leontyne  Price should be a basic item in any collection seriously dedicated to Verdi.  This would be an even better production if it had been recorded earlier, when  her voice was richer and more precisely controlled, but it is clearly a case of  better late than never. The supporting cast is capable and sometimes exciting,  but frankly no match for the all-star ensemble supporting Renata Tebaldi and  Franco Corelli in a 1958 performance at the San Carlo Opera in Naplesavailable only on VHS. That  production is filmed in black and white; no subtitles are provided and the  video's technical quality is primitive. But it captures the opera's emotional  energy and epic scope.--Joe McLellan