It would do nobody a service or kindness to try to find grounds for recommending this. Neither in quality of voice nor in style does it satisfy, and there is little of interest or communicated vividness in the presentation of the songs to compensate. Even if the voice were in good condition, it is not—and had not been for some years before the singer's grave illness—an apt instrument for songs such as these. Most of them are delicate little melodies, and while they have no need of the power and breadth of tone that Carreras brings to them they do require a much more sweet and ingratiating lyric quality than he has to offer, together with a smoother and more polished manner of production. Carreras, with a beat now uncomfortably persistent on sustained notes, has an impure element mixed in with the metal of his louder tones, and he rarely sings a phrase in which the essential evenness is not affected by these qualities or by a roughness of emphasis, intrusive aspirate or indulgent head-voice. In a generalized way he impresses as singing sincerely, and yet intelligently directed sincerity usually has the effect of making songs come to life in a special, personal way, and that is not so here. His expressiveness admits of loudness and softness, sadness and determination, but there is not much variety or life beyond this. It is also unfortunate that by and large these are songs with exceptionally boring accompaniments; only the lightest of touches will redeem them, and that is not forthcoming. Nor does the reverberant acoustic help.
One item should be plucked out and kept. In Bellini's song La ricordanza the melody is that of the soprano aria ''Qui la voce'' in I puritani: quietly sung, it presents Carreras at his present best and as the melody passes from voice to piano there are moments of genuine beauty.'