The previous comment does not make justice to Pavarotti. Live recordings cannot be compared with studio recordings. Certainly there are recordings in which Pavarotti's voice is fresher, in which he sings much better, etc... but come on, are they live or in studio? You just cannot compare. How many repetitions does it take to have a fine studio recording of a given song? 5? 10? 15? what's more.. how many different recordings are pasted together in a seemingly single track? If a singer does not like a given phrase, then he would sing this phrase again and again until it is OK, and then this is cut and glued into a previous take.

I own the DVD where this recording comes from, and the atmosphere is magic, you can feel the immense presence of this singer in front of a whole opera house, alone with a pianist, singing with an amazing talent an original and carefully chosen repertoire. The small mistakes that one hears... sorry, but this adds magic to this music. I know of very few (...I cannot think of any actually, but there probably are a couple around) singers that allow a live CD to go to press like this.

My best moment in this CD : Massenet's "Pourquoi me reveiller".

In owning this CD, I am given the privaledge of hearing several rarely performed let alone recorded songs for voice and piano. This attribute led me to buy this disk lest ye not forget that Pavarotti himself is the vocalist. This fact naturally leads one to assume that these pieces are sung here to near perfection and style. I found that this is not the case. The recording itself is not even fully satisfactory. In one of the last tracks, either Pavarotti has left the stage and is singing in the audience or the microphone was covered suddenly with tupperware. The sound is oddly muffled. It is noticable throughout this recital that Pavarotti is not in "good voice". I am a fan of such a fine artist as Pavarotti, but found this CD to showcase his vocal abilities in a poor light. Hearing him reach from below and often never gaining his famous brilliant tone in the upper regester is a big dissapointment. Even on some selections, he takes liberties with the music that seem wrong or just plain inaccurate. Whatever the reason, this was apparently not one of his better evenings. It should be noted however that the Bellini portion of the recital is magnificent and given a firey treatment. I listen to this CD for its choice of literature and try to disregard the poor singing. If you love Pavarotti for his voice and love to hear him sing... do not buy this disk. If these songs are of interest to you and this CD affords you with the unique opportunity to hear them played and sung live... do buy this CD. I enjoy the recording, but remain dissatisfied with our old stand-by, Pavarotti. These songs are beautifully crafted masterpieces and derserve a hearing.

Pavarotti proves why he is the Master in this "unplugged" performance. Man and piano. A true "find" for any Pavarotti and opera fan. It is truly amazing this brilliant recital has been kept under wraps until now.

IT TAKES A GREAT DEAL OF 'FORTITUDE' TO PERFORM LIVE WITHOUT FULL ORCHESTRA. YOUR REVIEWER (R. LEVINE) PROBABLY DOES NOT RECOGNIZE THIS DISTINCTION. I DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHY IT WAS NOT DISTRIBUTED VIA DECCA LONDON. THIS IS A RARE RECITAL C.D. ONE WITH MAESTRO'S FAVORITES WHICH GENERALLY ARE NOT SUNG IN CONCERT. LOVABLE 'LA GIROMETTA', 'UN AURA AMOROSA',HIS MASTERFUL 'UNA FURTIVA LAGRIMA' & POURUOI ME REVEILLER' AND THE VERY INTENSE 'LA MIA LETIZIA INFONDERE' ARE EACH WORTH THE PRICE OF THE C.D. ALONE.THIS GRATIFIES MY MEMORY WHEN HE SANG 'UNA FURTIVA LAGRIMA' AT HIS 30th. MET GALA LAST YEAR. WHEN HE APPEARED ON STAGE, I HAD 'LAGRIMA' IN MY EYE ALSO. TWENTY THREE (23) SOULFUL RENDITIONS AND THE GREAT LEONE MAGIERA AT THE PIANO. LISTEN YOURSELF AND IF YOU DO NOT LIKE IT, SEND IT TO ME AND I WILL PAY YOU YOUR COST. RINGRAZIARE AMAZON

I bought this as a replacement for a broken CD because I really enjoyed all the tracks on this particular Pavarotti work.