I think you are generally right about some of the singers in Sinopoli opera recordings being a bit beyond their years. This has often been levelled at Freni in both Tosca and Butterly. But the same applies to Callas in some of her late recordings - especially again in Tosca, notably those 1964 Covent Garden ones. Freni and Callas may have some vocal stumbles here and there, but these two singers bring something very special to the part. I can listen to Callas and Gobbi all day long just as I can Freni and Ramey. But, that's just me, in this opera.
His two Strauss 'one acters' - Salome and Elektra - are such barnstorming performances. Sometimes, Sinopoli lavishes such detail on the orchestra - and why not when you have the Vienna Philharmonic in Elektra - that he almost forgets he has singers to deal with. I'm not sure any other Elektra comes close to Sinopoli's orchestrally - it's just magnificently played. His Berlin Opera Salome is very similar. Just overwhelming from an orchestral point of view. But then this is really a common feature of all his opera recordings in one way or another.
I would add to the exchange above that Sinopoli produced quite a few memorable opera recordings in addition to the "Tosca" Marc mentions; his "Nabucco" remains a top recommendation as is his absolutely riveting "Die Frau ohne Schatten", whose conclusion is one of the most thrilling recorded performances I have ever heard. Marc also makes brief mention of his "Ariadne auf Naxos"; both of those recordings were my first choices in my own surveys.
Not all his opera recordings were as successful, mainly because his singers were either too mature are simply inferior to those in preceding recordings but that was not necessarily his fault. Apart from his operatic output I would add that his Bruckner 8 with the Dresden orchestra is one of the finest I know and I really enjoy his recording of Strauss' rarely performed "Josephs Legende".
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