VA - Giuseppe Verdi: Great Operas From La Scala (21 CD Box Set) (2009)

The Verdi box set of the year! Eight great operas--including popular favorites Rigoletto, Trovatore, Traviata and Aïda--recorded between 1961 and 1981 by Deutsche Grammophon at La Scala, Milan, the spiritual home of Italian opera. Claudio Abbado, who conducts Macbeth, Simon Boccanegra and Aïda, completes the set with the Requiem. Singers include: Carlo Bergonzi (Duke of Mantua, Manrico), Piero Cappuccilli (Macbeth, Simon), Plácido Domingo (Ramadès, Macduff), Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (Rigoletto), Mirella Freni (Maria Boccanegra), Gianni Raimondi (Alfredo), Katia Ricciarelli (Aida), Renata Scotto (Violetta, Gilda) and Shirley Verrett (Lady Macbeth). The conductors are Claudio Abbado (see above), Gianandrea Gavazzeni (Un ballo in maschera), Rafael Kubelik (Rigoletto), Tullio Serafin (Trovatore), Gabriele Santini (Don Carlo) and Antonino Votto (Traviata). This limited edition set is attractively priced and packaged in a classic capbox. Also includes a 70 page booklet with short synopses in English, German and French.