Obligatory Mozart Post

My ten favorite studio recordings of Mozart's operas (in no particular order):

1. Mitridate (Decca). Rousset; Dessay, Bartoli, Asawa, Sabbatini.
2. Cosí fan tutte (London)*. Solti; Fleming, Von Otter, Scarabelli, Lopardo, Bär, Pertusi.
3. La clemenza di Tito (Philips). Davis; Popp, Baker, Minton, Burrows, von Stade, Lloyd.
4. Idomeneo (Archiv). Gardiner; McNair, Von Otter, Martinpelto, Rolfe Johnson, Robson.
5. Die Zauberflöte (EMI). Klemperer; Janowitz, Popp, Gedda, Berry, Frick.
6. Don Giovanni (EMI). Giulini; Sutherland, Schwarzkopf, Sciutti, Alva, Wächter, Frick, Taddei, Cappuccilli.
7. Lucio Silla (Teldec). Harnoncourt; Gruberova, Bartoli, Upshaw, Schreier, Kenny.
8. Cosí fan tutte (Deutsche Grammophon). Jochum; Seefried, Merriman, Köth, Haefliger, Prey, Fischer-Dieskau.
9. Le nozze di Figaro (London). Solti; Te Kanawa, Popp, von Stade, Ramey, Allen, Moll.
10. Cosí fan tutte (RCA). Leinsdorf; Price, Troyanos, Raskin, Milnes, Shirley, Flagello.

*recorded in performance at the Royal Festival Hall, London.

A list of my favorite live recordings will come at another time. (In a few years?) One live recording I'm certain will be part of that list has yet to be performed: tomorrow's Met broadcast of Cosí fan tutte is sure to charm and mesmerize anyone with a heart. The brilliant fall cast returns, with the exception of Barbara Frittoli. Sigh. But no matter how Alexandra Deshorties does with the Fiordiligi, Maestro James Levine, the true star of the show, will be at the helm to keep this Cosí as light and fluffy and joyous as Mozart's gayest dream.