#18 Juan Diego Florez - The Tenor

The Tenor
I used to belong to one of those CD clubs where you start by getting half a dozen things you want really cheap and end up paying £14 each for a load of things you don't want just because you're too lazy to go to the post office or too disorganised to return the slip that says 'no thanks'.

This was one of the discs I didn't order but arrived anyway - luckily I liked the look of it.

Juan Diego Florez seems to be one of those singers (like Cecelia Bartoli) who polarizes people. I know a few people who can't stand his voice. Like it or not, however, his singing is incredible on a technical level. I happen to like it, although I need to be in the right mood. At least, that's true on disc, I'm always in the mood to hear him sing live. I've seen him a couple of times at Covent Garden: once in The Barber of Seville with the incredible Joyce Di Donato and once in Fille Du Regiment with Natalie Dessay, probably the most perfect opera experience I've ever had in the theatre.

I did make the mistake of listening to this on the way to work today - JDF has the kind of voice that my ears might need to wake up a little more to fully appreciate, especially in a disc of arias where there's a higher density of top notes than you'd get in an evening in an opera house (you'd also get other voices in the opera house).

I love this disc - it's also great to see a couple of non-operatic pieces (Amapola and Granada) that mix things up without feeling the need to go all crossover and sing something wildly inappropriate just to generate a few sales. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against crossover as such, I just think sometimes people chase sales at the expense of producing quality. Not here.

#11 Verdi - Rigoletto (Bruson/Gruberova/Shicoff/Sinopoli)

Verdi - Rigoletto
Rigoletto is the first opera I listened to, and I didn't really expect to like it. Ever since I was a child I hated opera singing or, to be more accurate, I hated big wobbly soprano voices (which is what I thought all opera singing was). I bought a few discs of orchestral excerpts from Wagner operas as a teenager but didn't go in for all the hoyotoho-ing of the full versions.

Skip forward several years to 2000. I started a job at a music publishing company administering royalties - part of my job was processing royalties for Ricordi, one of the biggest opera publishers of all time. I asked my boss if she'd lend me some opera to listen to as I thought I might as well know what I was dealing with and, in simple terms, I fell in love.

I love this recording of the opera. Bruson is a fine Rigoletto and I've always liked what I've heard of Niel Shicoff, who seems to have suffered from being a great tenor at a time when there were 3 much more famous tenors around. Maybe he wasn't quite in the same league but he's not far off.

The best thing about this recording for me though is Edita Gruberova's Gilda. Some people aren't too keen on her voice, saying it lacks warmth. However, we're not dealing with a worldly-wise Violetta here (although I believe her recording of Traviata is also excellent - I haven't heard it). Gilda is young and innocent and the cleanliness of Gruberova's voice is a great fit. Her Caro Nome is simply beautiful.

10 years on and I'm a huge opera fan - who'd have thought.

#10 Wagner - Tristan und Isolde (Domingo/Stemme/Pappano - EMI)

Wagner: Tristan und Isolde
I bough this on a whim second hand a few months ago (in its original release rather than the new version with e-libretto) for about £4 as it was missing the booklet and box.

I love Domingo but my main reason for buying this was Nina Stemme as I saw her as Isolde at Covent Garden recently and she was simply jaw-droppingly good (even with Ben Heppner walking the role of Tristan as - I think - Lars Cleveman sang it from the wings). She doesn't disappoint in this set either, although with a few more years (and a few more performances of Isolde under her belt) she's even better now than in 2005 when this set was released.

So, you get Nina Stemme and Domingo, who else? Rene Pape as King Marke, Olaf Bar as Kurwenal, Ian Bostridge as the shepherd and Matthew Rose (who I very much like) as the steersman (oh, and some bloke called Villazon as the young seaman). Not bad for £4 I don't think!

Admittedly I would pick the Bohm/Nilsson/Windgassen 1966 Bayreuth recording over this if you forced me to choose but you wouldn't do that...would you?

#5 Lehar - Die Lustige Witwe

Lehár: Die Lustige Witwe

The first Disc of the Day that hasn't been dug out of a cupboard or drawer. I bought this for a couple of pounds from Ebay the other day as I don't know it at all and this particular recording has had rave reviews pretty much everywhere over the years.

On first listen I love it - packed full of melody and with some delightful singing (especially from Cheryl Studer). Definitely something I will be returning to again and a pleasant surprise for me to hear John Eliot Gardiner in repertoire from this period.