Romantica: The Very Best of Luciano Pavarotti

1	Caruso 5:17
2	Non Ti Scordar Di Me 2:53
3	Torna a Surriento 4:21
4	Core 'Ngrato 4:51
5	Mamma 3:31
6	Mattinata 1:56
7	Chitarra Romana 3:15
8	'O Sole Mio 3:19
9	Passione 3:42
10	La Strada Nel Bosco 3:27
11	Funiculi Funicula 2:39
12	Ti Voglio Tanto Bene 3:01
13	La Bohéme: Che Gelida Manina 4:35
14	L'Elisir d'Amore: Una Furtiva Lagrima 4:45
15	Fedora: Amor Ti Vieta 1:43
16	Martha: Ach, So Fromm 3:25
17	Don Giovanni, K 527: Dalla Sua Pace 4:30
18	Cosi Fan Tutte, K 588: Un' Aura Amorosa 4:16
19	Les Soires Musicales: No 8, La Danza 3:04
20	Turandot: Nessun Dorma! 3:00

Barnes & Noble

In 1961, Pavarotti made his professional debut as Rodolfo in La Bohème in Reggio Emilia, Italy, and in the decades that followed, he firmly established himself as one of the great voices of the century, achieving near pop-star levels of celebrity through his genre-bending work on the Pavarotti and Friends albums and with the Three Tenors. Romantica: The Very Best of Luciano Pavarotti assembles a collection of highlights from the singular tenor's lengthy recording career, with the selections spanning the years 1970 to 1988. His popular work is represented through classic Italian songs ("O sole mio," "Chitarra romana," "Torna a Surriento"), while some of the best-known opera arias from the Italian Romantic repertoire ("Che gelida manina," "Una furtiva lagrima," "Nessun dorma") are included, too, along with a pair of favorite Mozart arias. With a varied and tuneful program, Romantica is a fine overview of the career of one of the most remarkable vocal talents of our time -- as well as a highly enjoyable collection of familiar songs and arias. EJ Johnson

All Music Guide

Romantica: The Very Best of Luciano Pavarotti doubles as a compilation of career highlights and as the sort of "love songs" collection record companies often release just before Valentine's Day. The careers of classical artists, particularly opera singers, don't usually lend themselves well to this sort of treatment, in which arias are excerpted from operas out of context as if they were pop songs. But Pavarotti has straddled the classical and pop worlds, and he has a large audience of fans who have never stepped into an opera house but are happy to hear him perform the pieces he frequently sings in concert. The album does make some attempt to trace his history, including tracks dating back to 1971's "Una Furtiva Lagrima" from Donizetti's L'Elisir D'Amore, accompanied by early booster Richard Bonynge conducting the English Chamber Orchestra, and also including "Che Gelida Manina" from Puccini's La Bohème, which recalls Pavarotti's debut at La Scala, a 1973 recording with Herbert Von Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic. Such works are balanced by popular songs like "O Sole Mio" and "Funiculi, Funiculà," and the album's romantic theme is furthered by the inclusion of such tracks as "Passione." The collection concludes, appropriately, with "Nessun Dorma" from Puccini's Turandot, an aria that has come to be closely associated with the singer. Romantica may not be the type of album that will appeal to opera fans, but for the mass of more casual admirers of Pavarotti, it may be the one disc of his they will want in their collections. William Ruhlmann