Painful to say it, but this is a terrible recording of what is probably the best opera written in the last century, Strauss excepted. Madelena's News aria is the quintessential aria of the 20th century and I am glad we have this recording, but a new one is sorrly needed. The problem here is that Edo's conducting is simply sloppy, the playing out of balance and limp. Oh, if only you could have heard Spano's perforamnce at the Brooklyn Philharmonic two years ago. THAT should have been recorded and released....stunning in scope and depth and full of precise in your face vigor. The cast here is mostly fantastic, except for madame mao. While this recording is a must for now, because it is the only one that exists, we can hope and pray for the eventual definitive recording to be made. I am not sure John Adams will ever write anything better than this.......and his masterpiece surely deserves a better interpretation than this hastily thrown together original cast recording.