Editorial Reviews

It's great when an album lives up to its name. A few idiosyncrasies aside, Masters of the Voice: Tenor is a great survey of tenor singing, touching on as many of the great singers from the past 40 years as is possible on a two-disc set. The big names, like Domingo, Pavarotti, and Carreras, are of course well represented, but so are a number of less bankable names, like Jon Vickers, Anthony Rolfe Johnson, René Kollo, and James McCracken, whose presence makes the collection much more representative. The music is nicely varied also; although most of the selections are operatic chestnuts, you'll also find "Vi ricorda, o boschi ombrosi" from Monteverdi's "L'Orfeo," "If With All Your Hearts" from Mendelssohn's "Elijah," and "Now the Great Bear and Pleiades" from Britten's "Peter Grimes," just to keep things interesting. Best of all, most of the singers on Masters of the Voice: Tenor are captured at their best, unlike some collections that are assembled from cutting-room leavings. The one real oddity: countertenor Andreas Scholl singing "Che faro senza Euridice?" from Gluck's "Orfeo." Although the brief notes in the package make a passing attempt to link the tenor and countertenor singing traditions, the inclusion seems like a jarring afterthought. And a note to the producers: more Jussi Björling, please. Anyone looking for a good sampler of tenors should definitely check this album out, and even operatic diehards may enjoy it as a collection of greatest hits. It's a fun listen. Allen Schrott, All Music Guide

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