Opera What is the best opera recording?

Would you like to narrow it down to a particular opera or at least a composer??? There are approximately 11,000 operas by 1800 composers. There are about 30 mainstream composers that have been extensively recorded.
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN
Fromental HALÉVY
Giacomo PUCCINI
Vincenzo BELLINI
Leos JANÁCEK
Henry PURCELL
Georges BIZET
Ruggero LEONCAVALLO
Nikolai RIMSKY-KORSAKOV
Arrigo BOÏTO
Luigi MANCINELLI
Gioachino ROSSINI
Gustave CHARPENTIER
Heinrich MARSCHNER
Carlo SOLIVA
Francesco CILEA
Pietro MASCAGNI
Richard STRAUSS
Gaetano DONIZETTI
Jules MASSENET
Giuseppe VERDI
Clemens von FRANCKENSTEIN
Saverio MERCADANTE
Richard WAGNER
Umberto GIORDANO
Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART
Carl Maria von WEBER
Charles GOUNOD
Amilcare PONCHIELLI

I'll post some of the most popular operas later tonight.

You ask the impossible. Get in line and buy a ticket at the Met for the new production of Les Troyens next Spring. Of course, Don Giovanni was the opera that first destroyed me, and then there is Verdi's Otello. And what about Meistersinger? But you want one recording to turn you on or off to the only music worth listening to when we have such a short time on this earth? It can't be done. If it is truly your desire to learn to love this incredible expression of all that is human, buy one, any one, listen to it as background music for three months, listen to it carefully for two weekends. Then stop. Then go see a live performance. You won't be disappointed no matter what recording you selected, and I guarantee you that you will begin to understand the true limitations of your system.

If you are really serious, e-mail me and I give you several selections worth owning. Let me know if you want records or cds.

I only have a couple of opera recordings myself, one of which is John Rutter Requiem - by Reference Recordings. It has got a pipe organ that will knock your socks off!!! Check it out at www.referencerecordings.com . I also recommend another cd called "Pomp and Pipes". It too has an AWESOME pipe organ in a track titled "The Vikings".
Also, please note that Requiem is a disc used as a reference tool by many reviewers, and it is HDCD.

The previous posts are absolutely correct -- choosing one opera is a tough challenge. Rather than tackle an entire opera, you might want to start with highlights from some of the best known operas.

My mother was a music major in college, with a concentration in voice, and she sang in some small, local opera productions between 1947 and 1955. The first opera highlights she played for me was Puccini's "La Boheme". It's still one of my favorites, due to its lovely melodies and lyricism -- true "bel canto" opera. There are several excellent recordings of "La Boheme", but I still tend to prefer the version with Mirella Freni and Nicolai Gedda. It may not be the absolute best version ever done, but it's a very comfortable old friend.

Tosca by Puccini with Frene, Ramey and Domingo on DG conducted by Sinopoli and Die Zauberflote by Mozart with Fisher-Deiskau conducted by Solti on London are 2 pretty good discs( the LP of Tosca is superior) with good-very good sound and excellent performances. If you're just starting out, you may find Wagner ponderous, maybe even if you aren't starting out :-) Personally, I like the Germans, but I love the Italians. Any Verdi or Puccini are great starting places. IMHO.