George K. Halsell asks a lot of things, but in my erea of competence:

>*I understand that Shostakovich produced a "sanitized" version that was the
>only one recorded for a long time, but the original version is once again
>available.

Well, I belive George is thinking; Katerina Ismailova.  DDS somewhat
rewritten version of LMoM (Lady Macbeth of the Mitsensk district), the
"Ismailova" has not been availible on record for at least 10 years.

>Is there a particular performance of the complete version that you
>recommend, especially on a budget label?

AFAIK there no budget recording of LMoM, there are two more or less
truthfull that have been availible of lately, conducted by Rostropovich
on EMI alt.  Chung on DG, both are fine sets - I prefer Rostropovich,
mostly because his singers seem to be better of with the russian language.
There has been talk of a set from Valery Gergiev on Philips with his Kirov
forces, but thus far it has not surfaced.

Talking of Gergiev, He will conduct the MET Saturday matinee broadcast of
this opera, which no doubt would be the the budget way to aquire this
opera.

peter lundin, gothenburg.se -  Counting the days: DSCH 100 (1906-2006)