Aïda is perhaps one of those operas where the performance of our dreams is likely to beat any staging: we turn up the headphones, and our imagination does the rest.
The much heralded new studio recording of Aida, conducted by Antonio Pappano and with a stella cast, has now been released. You can listen, e.g., on Apple Music (surely worth a month’s subscription by itself!). I’m not sure this will supersede e.g. the legendary Karajan/Tebaldi/Bergonzi recording in my affections. But oh, it is pretty wonderful. Just listen to Jonas Kaufmann singing Celeste Aïda, and you’ll be hooked …