For many fans, this opera is mostly about grandeur--it is, of course, the grandest grand opera still in the standard repertoire--and you will want to hear what Herbert von Karajan and the glorious Vienna Philharmonic do with the triumphal music. Curiously, the recording that has the strongest claims to grandeur also achieves significant results in the intimate moments. Mirella Freni and José Carreras have pleasant voices and a wide-ranging array of skills based on long and varied experience, but theirs are not big voices, as Montserrat Caballé and Plácido Domingo's are. One expects Freni and Carreras to perform with a certain polish in their love music, but one wonders how well they could handle the big moments outside of a recording studio. Not that it matters in terms of this fine recording. Their partnership, with von Karajan's very able assistance, works like magic. What you hear is what you get. When the opera and chorus take the spotlight, this Aida is an epic about international conflicts that dwarf and doom two lovers from different worlds. But Freni and Carreras react to the story of personal tragedy with a heartbreaking musical and theatrical sensitivity. --Joe McLellan