Opera transcriptions for piano are legion. Some can claim no less originality than the compositions they derive from; others are divertimenti—products of 19th-century salon culture meant to delight. But few—if any—are entirely free of prejudice. Wagner fares best, with transcriptions available not only by Liszt, but also Stradal, Kocsis, and even Lugansky. For the Italians, there’s Liszt again; yet pianistic {…}