It’s a depressingly familiar story: when José Carreras burst on the operatic scene in the late 1960s he had one of the finest lyric tenor voices of the post-war era. He then proceeded to abuse his voice by singing with reckless abandon and taking on dramatic heavy roles that coarsened it. The selections in EMI’s “Very Best Of …” series, recorded between the mid-1970s and mid-1980s, document how good he could sound even as he wore down his instrument. The set opens with excerpts from the Karajan recording of Aida, where it’s apparent (as throughout the set) that Carreras is singing with a full load of emotional intensity. He sounds wonderful in “Celeste Aida” and in the Nile and Tomb scenes, partnered by Mirella Freni’s Aida, Agnes Baltsa’s Amneris, and Piero Cappuccilli’s Amonasro. Another Karajan-led Verdi recording, of Don Carlo, is the source for three further excerpts in which Carreras displays golden-toned fervor. And Macduff’s aria from Macbeth, from 1976, shows him in his prime.
But the verismo excerpts are a let-down. In part, that’s due to Riccardo Muti’s rigid rhythms in the Cav and Pag scenes; but it’s also because the strain at Carreras’ top and bottom registers is beginning to show. The Turandot excerpts (including his Three Tenors partner’s signature “Nessum dorma”) simply aren’t very interesting. The same applies to most of Disc 2, devoted to French opera–Bizet’s “Flower Song” from Carmen, and arias by Gounod, Massenet, Halévy, Meyerbeer, Lalo, and Offenbach. There’s not a trace of authentic French style here and far too much muscle.
Phrasing and drama are notably absent from his “Rachel! Quand du Seigneur” from Halévy’s La Juive, subsumed in a generalized interpretive approach more appropriate to Italian verismo. Those faults are even more applicable to an “O paradis” shorn of wonder, a hefty “Salut! Demeure chaste et pure” from Faust, and the Massenet arias. In all of these, there’s much to admire in the voice, but more to deplore in the overly forceful singing. Fortunately, there’s a quality uptick in the Lalo “Vainement, ma bien-aimée” from Le Roi d’Ys, where Carreras lightens his voice–though he never challenges such expert practitioners of this delightful aria as Gedda and Vanzo. Four high-spirited snippets from the complete Offenbach La Perichole with Teresa Berganza finish off the disc with a smile. In sum, this is a set that includes some of Carreras’ better recordings made in or close to his prime, along with others best left out of a “very best” compilation.
