Must have recordings

Charles Handelman asked the following question on Opera-L:

"Have you ever considered certain commercial recordings of operas as all-time musts in any serious opera collection ?"

Here's an overview of the answers...

Barber

• Vanessa
  Steber, Gedda

Bartok

• Bluebeard's castle
  Dorati - Ludwig, Berry

Beethoven

• Fidelio
  Klemperer - Vickers, Ludwig
  Fricsay - Rysanek, Seefried, Haefliger, Fischer-Dieskau

Bellini

• Norma
  Serafin - Callas, Corelli, Ludwig (EMI)
  Serafin - Callas, Signani (EMI)
  Callas, Simionato, del Monaco (La Scala)

Berg

• Wozzeck
  Böhm - Fischer-Dieskau, Lear, Wunderlich
• Lulu
  Boulez - Stratas, Minton, Mazura

Bizet

• Carmen
  Beecham - De Los Angeles, Gedda (EMI)
  Solti - Troyanos, Domingo, Van Dam
  Abbado - Berganza, Domingo
  Prêtre - Callas, Gedda, Massard
• Les pêcheurs de perles
  Cluytens - Angelici, Legay, Dens, Noguera

Boito

• Mefistofele
  Rudel - Treigle, Domingo, Caballe (EMI)

Borodin

• Prince Igor
  Melik-Pashaev - Reizen, Ivanov, Lemeshev, Pirogov, Smolenskaya, Borisenko

Britten

• Peter Grimes
  Davis - Jon Vickers (Philips)
  Britten - Pears, Watson, Pease, Evans
• Turn of the Screw
  Britten - Vyvyan, Pears

Cavalli

• La Calisto
  Leppard - Baker, Bowman (Decca)

Cilea

• Adriana Lecouvreur
  Levine - Scotto, Domingo
  Olivero (Napoli)

Debussy

• Pelleas et Mélisande
  Desormière - Joachim, Jansen
  Boulez - Soederstroem, Shirley, McIntyre

Donizetti

• Anna Bolena (live)
  Simionato, Raimondi, Rossi-Lemeni
  Callas
  Sills
• Lucia di Lammermoor
  Karajan - Callas, Di Stefano (EMI)
  Serafin - Callas, Di Stefano, Gobbi
  Pritchard - Sutherland
• La fille du régiment
  Bonynge - Sutherland, Pavarotti (Decca)
• La Favorita
  Simionato, Di Stefano, Simionato, Siepi

Giordano

• Andrea Chénier
  Gavazzeni - Tebaldi, del Monaco (Decca)
  Molinari-Pradelli - Del Monaco, Tebaldi, Bastianini
  Gigli, Cagnilia, Bechi, Simionato

Gounod

• Roméo et Juliette
  Bjoerling, Sayao
• Faust
  Busser - Vezzani, Journet, Berthon
  Reizen, Kozlovsky
  Prêtre - Freni, Domingo, Ghiaurov

Hahn

• Ciboulette
  Diederich - Mesplé, Van Dam, Gedda

Handel

• Alcina
  Bonynge - Sutherland, Berganza, Sinclair, Alva, Freni
• Ariodante
  McGegan - Lorraine Hunt
• Julius Caesar
  Rudel

Mascagni

• Cavalleria Rusticana
  Mascagni - Gigli, Rasa, Simionato (Arkadia)
  Cellini - Milanov, Bjoerling, Merrill (RCA)
  Serafin - Simionato, Del Monaco (Decca)

Massenet

• Manon
  Monteux - De los Angeles, Legay (EMI)
  Rudel - Sills, Gedda
• Werther
  Cohen - Thill, Vallin
  Kozlovsky
• Thais
  Etchverry - Doria (Decca)

Meyerbeer

• Les Huguenots
  Sutherland, Simionato, Corelli, Cossotto

Monteverdi

• Poppea
  Harnoncourt - Tappy, Yakar

Mozart

• Le Nozze di Figaro
  Kleiber - Siepi, Della Casa
  Solti - Te Kanawa's, Popp's, Von Stade's, Allen, Ramey
• Don Giovanni
  Giulini - Wächter, Sutherland, Schwartzkopf, Alva, Taddei (EMI)
  Krips - Siepi, Della Casa
  Gardiner - Rodney Gilfry
  Furtwängler - Siepi, Schwartzkopf, Grummer, Berger, Dermota
• Così fan tutte
  Mackerras - Lott, Hadley
  Karajan - Schwarzkopf, Merriman, Otto, Simoneau
• Die Zauberfloete
  Böhm - Wunderlich, Peters, Fischer-Dieskau, Crass (DG)
  Beecham
  Klemperer - Popp, Janowitz, Gedda, Berry, Frick, Crass

Mussorgsky

• Boris Godunov
  Golovanov - Reizen
  Abbado - Kotcherga, Ramey
• Khovanshchina
  Abbado - Burchulaadze, Lipovsek
  Khaikin - Reizen

Offenbach

• Les contes d'Hoffmann
  Cluytens - Jobin, Doria

Orff

• Der Mond
  Sawallisch - Hotter

Ponchielli

• La Gioconda
  Gavazzeni - Cerquetti, Simionato, Del Monaco (Decca)
  Callas

Poulenc

• Dialogues des Carmélites
  Dervaux - Crespin, Gorr (EMI)

Puccini

• Manon Lescaut
  Tebaldi, Tucker
  Perlea - Albanese, Bjoerling, Merrill (RCA)
• La Boheme
  Beecham - De Los Angeles (RCA)
  Berrettoni - Gigli, Albanese, Menotti, Poli (Arkadia)
  Sayao, Tucker (Sony)
  Bergonzi, Tebaldi
  Callas, di Stefano, Moffo
  Erede - Tebaldi, Prandelli
• Tosca
  De Sabata - Callas, Di Stefano, Gobbi (EMI)
  Gigli, Caniglia
  Karajan
  Gobbi, Callas, Bergonzi
• Madama Butterfly
  Serafin - Tebaldi, Bergonzi
  Scotto, Bergonzi (EMI)
• La Fanciulla del West
  Tebaldi, Del Monaco
• Il Tabarro
  Belleza - Gobbi, Prandelli, Mas (EMI)
• Turandot
  Nilsson, Tebaldi, Bjoerling, Tozzi
  Mehta - Sutherland, Pavarotti (Decca)
  Molinari-Pradelli - Nilsson, Scotto, Corelli

Reimann

• Lear
  Dohnanyi - Fischer-Dieskau, Varady, Lorand

Rimsky-Korsakov

• Sadko
  Reizen, Lisitsian, Kozlovsky
• Mozart and Salieri
  Reizen, Kozlovsky

Rossini

• Il barbiere di Siviglia
  Galliera - Callas, Gobbi, Alva

Saint-Saëns

• Samson et Dalilah
  Prêtre - Gorr, Vickers (EMI)

Strauss

• Salome
  Solti - Nilsson, Stolze, Wächter (Decca)
  Reiner - Welitsch (Met)
• Elektra
  Böhm - Borkh, Schech, Madeira, Fischer-Dieskau
  Solti - Nilsson, Resnik (Decca)
• Rosenkavalier
  Karajan - Schwarzkopf, Ludwig, Stich Randall
  Solti - Crespin, Minton (London)
  Böhm - Seefried, Schech, Streich, Fischer-Dieskau, Böhme
  Kleiber - Jurinac, Reining, Weber
• Ariadne auf Naxos
  Kempe - Janowitz
  Karajan - Seefried, Schwarzkopf, Schock
  Price, Gruberova, Troyanos
• Die Frau ohne Schatten
  Böhm - Rysanek, Goltz, Höngen, Hopf, Schöffler, Böhme (Decca)
  Böhm - Ludwig, Rysanek (Met)
• Arabella
  Böhm - Della Casa
• Capriccio
  Böhm - Janowitz, Schreier, Fischer-Dieskau
  Sawallisch - Schwarzkopf

Stravinsky

• Oedipus Rex
  Ozawa - Langridge, Norman

Tchaikovsky

• Yevgenij Onegin
  Solti - Kubiak, Weikl (Decca)
  Khaikin - Vishnevskaya, Belov, Lemeshev (Melodiya)

Verdi

• Nabucco
  Gardelli - Gobbi, Suliotis (Decca)
• Ernani
  Muti - Domingo, Freni, Bruson (EMI)
• Macbeth
  Abbado - Cappuccilli, Verrett
• Rigoletto
  Warren, Berger, Peerce
  Santini - Scotto, Bergonzi, Fischer-Dieskau
  Serafin - Callas, Di Stefano, Gobbi
• Il trovatore
  Cellini - Milanov, Bjoerling, Warren, Barbieri (RCA)
  Mehta - Price, Domingo, Milnes
  Price, Simionato, Corelli, Bastianini (Salzburg)
  Serafin - Bergonzi, Ettore, Bastianini, Stella, Simionato (DG)
  Karajan - Callas, Di Stefano, Barbieri
• La Traviata
  Moffo, Tucker, Merrill
  Pritchard - Sutherland, Bergonzi, Merrill
• Simon Boccanegra
  Abbado - Cappuccilli, Freni, Carreras (DG)
• Un ballo in maschera
  Leinsdorf - Price, Bergonzi, Merrill, Verrett (RCA)
  Toscanini
• La forza del destino
  Schippers - Price, Tucker, Merrill, Verrett (RCA)
  Marinuzzi - Caniglia, Masini, Tagliabue, Pasero, Stignani (Arkadia)
• Don Carlo
  Santini - Stella, Cossotto, Labo, Bastianini, Christoff
  Giulini - Caballe, Verrett, Domingo, Raimondi
  Gobbi, Christoff
  Abbado - Carreras, Freni (Scala)
• Aida
  Callas, Del Monaco (Mexico)
  Perlea - Milanov, Bjoerling, Barbieri, Warren (RCA)
  Solti - Price, Vickers, Gorr, Merrill (RCA)
  Sabajno - Giannini, Pertile
  Muti - Caballe, Cossotto, Domingo
• Otello
  Erede - Tebaldi, Del Monaco
  Toscanini - Vinay, Nelli, Valdengo (RCA)
  Levine - Domingo, Scotto
• Falstaff
  Toscanini - Valdengo
  Karajan - Gobbi, Schwarzkopf

Wagner

• Der fliegende Holländer
  Dorati - London, Rysanek
• Tannhäuser
  Solti - Kollo, Dernesch, Ludwig (Decca)
  Sawallisch - Silja, Bumbry, Windgassen, Wächter
• Lohengrin
  Kempe - Grummer, Ludwig, Thomas, Fischer-Dieskau
  Sawallisch - Silja, Varnay (Bayreuth)
  Windgassen, Steber, Varnay (Bayreuth)
  Jochum - Nilsson, Varnay (Bayreuth)
• Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
  Kubelik - Janowitz
  Knappertsbusch - Schöffler, Güden
  Karajan - Donath, Kollo, Adam
  Kempe - Grümmer, Schock, Frantz
• Der Ring des Nibelungen
  Solti (Decca)
  Krauss (Bayreuth)
• Das Rheingold
  Karajan - Fischer-Dieskau, Veasy, Stolze (DG)
• Die Walküre
  Leinsdorf - Nilsson, Vickers, Brouwenstijn, London, Gorr (Decca)
  Furtwängler - Rysanek, Moedl, Suthaus, Frantz, Frick
  Melchior, Lehmann, Schorr
• Siegfried
  Böhm - Windgassen, Wohlfahrt, Adam (Bayreuth 66/67)
• Tristan und Isolde
  Furtwängler - Flagstad, Suthaus
  Böhm - Nilsson, Windgassen, Ludwig
  Böhm (Bayreuth)
• Parsifal
  Solti - Ludwig, Kollo, Fischer-Dieskau
  Knappertsbusch - Dalis, Thomas, London, Hotter

Zandonai

• Francesca da Rimini
  Olivero (Decca highlights)

And a similar list by Mike Richter