Anyone who had the pleasure (?) of seeing the stars on parade miming to their own performances at the inception of the Olympic Games will know what to expect from the CD of that event, recorded in Barcelona last winter. It has to be said that, listening at home away from the hype and razzmatazz of the Olympics, I found my enjoyment severely restricted. With all the singers around the age of 50 or above, you can't expect voices in prime condition—apart from Domingo's, but then its owner is an exception to most rules. His performance of ''O souverain, o juge'' has a Caruso-like power, both vocal and emotional, and his ''Spirto gentil'' also calls to mind his great predecessor, the line seamless, the tone still succulent, the only blemish being a top C sounding as if it were added in from a different take. Then Berganza, almost but not quite, defies the passing years, spirited and incisive as of old as Isabella, newly impassioned as Thomas's Mignon in a piece that she hasn't recorded before. Some of the bloom is off the tone, but the sound remains beautiful and mercifully steady. The strength is also diminished. So it is in Caballe's contributions: we hear the diva in miniature. ''Casta diva'', two verses but no cabaletta, is refined, musing (as it should be) but very small in scale. ''Il est doux'' is now beyond her.
The heavy beat in Carreras's tone and its tarnished state are indeed hard to bear, sad to hear. ''Vesti la giubba'' was surely an injudicious choice: even at his best Carreras wasn't a true Canio. We are consoled, in ''Niun mi tema'', by the poignancy of delivery for the want of true spinto sound. The involuntary beat in Aragall's voice is too distressing to contemplate, a lovely singer now in decline. Pons retains all his vocal powers but proves an uninteresting interpreter.
The accompaniments are discreet almost to the point of being tentative, and are distantly recorded, so that one wonders how much tracking on was involved. No texts or translations are provided but you can obtain them from BMG in Munich, a strange procedure. I prefer to draw a veil over the shenanigans of the medley, but those wanting what may become a collector's item in the future may well be attracted to the disc for that reason alone.'