 | Now aged 58, and very much in the twilight of his career, Jose Carreras is often dismissed by arbiters of public taste as the least accomplished of The Three Tenors. Yet to many who heard him in his heyday during the 1970s, there was no greater contemporary tenor. Possessed of one of the most ravishing timbres on record, the young Carreras was also no shirker in the high-note department, as this 1977 album thrillingly demonstrates. But more than that, he was - and still is - a vocal poet whose musical credo, Singing from the soul, has always set him apart from his more famous, but infinitely duller, colleagues.
Jose Carreras: A Zarzuela Recital is a recent reissue of the tenor's finest album. Just 31 when he recorded this collection of Spanish arias, Carreras is in the best vocal and interpretive form of his life, imbuing each number with his sensuous legato and romantic phrasing. Straightforward and often Puccini-esque in their appeal, these melodic gems showcase a tenor who deserves to be remembered for the vocal giant that he was.
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