Michael Tanner

Why imperfect operas like Don Carlo are more interesting than perfect ones

Michael Tanner chooses his favourite recordings of Verdi’s magnificent muddle

Roberto Alagna as Don Carlo and Simon Keenlyside as Rodrigo in a Met production from 2010 – both singers feature in Michael Tanner's favourite recordings of the opera. Image: Mary Altaffer / AP / Shutterstock 
issue 08 August 2020

In the 62 years since I first heard and saw Don Carlo, in the famous and long-lasting production by Visconti at the Royal Opera, my feelings about it have grown ever stronger, both in passionate attachment and in critique. Imperfect operas, like other imperfect phenomena, can be more interesting than perfect ones, because they’re more thought-provoking, more enticing.

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