For some reason, sopranos never sound as good as they are on recordings to my ear.
In the opera house you can hear their voices bloom above the staff but I never hear the same on recordings...

An acquaintance of mine who sang in Europe many years was not thrilled with the Gala...I missed it but will watch it on Youtube.

I posted quite a bit on the old Grandi Tenori, even got myself banished once or twice!
Thanks Geoff!
What happened to Pawel and Gioachino, I miss our discussions!

Luciano Pavarotti singing Manrico in 1988 at the metropolitan Opera house.
His voice is the most beautiful male voice I have ever heard live or recorded but that night was magical for me.
I will never forget the last Act Duet between Luciano and Dolora Zajick, absolutely captivating.

I came across this fella while looking for some Mendlesohn recordings and was very impressed with his singing. Here is a sample from La Boheme sung in English! Apparently Webster was mainly in musical theater and Oratorio though he did record many Opera arias. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kWdqJ3...

Wow, you didn't bash Calleja and Fabioano!

Hoarse? You don't usuaully sing glorious High D's after getting Hoarse. Clearing ones throat is usually a sign of phlegm in the throat which is REALLY annoying when you are trying to sing, I have seen singers expectorate all over a stage during performances... Edit: He does push a little too much at...

I hadn't listened to the Fisichella recording before but in it he corrected some of the minor things that were going wrong in the other recordings...the 'spazio' comment was right on and something I had noticed occasionally in the other recordings. Fischella did a nice job of bringing out the young ...

No, I just think he needs more polish. Not sure how well his voice would go over in a big house. The squillo is there above the staff to carry but he might not have enough oscuro in his voice...

Is this guy from your home town or something, Geiff?