This Donizetti CD recital matches the similar collection of excerpts from Pavarotti's Verdi recordings reviewed last June (Decca CD 417 570-2DH) and it is desirable for much the same reason: you wouldn't necessarily want to play it through from beginning to end as a continuous programme but it is good to dip into, with its reminders of albums that have stayed on the shelves for years (nothing to do with their merits, simply that life isn't long enough) and its happy provision of highlights from sets one never got round to buying at the right time. Much of it is vintage Pavarotti. The three extracts from La favorita, for example, have him in turn tenderly lyrical with evident reserves of power, then strong in a more heroic style while never doing violence to the melodic line, finally (in ''Spirto gentil'') balancing admirably the claims of expressiveness against those of pure lyricism. He revives the Caruso favourites from Il duca d'Alba and Don Sebastiano, singing with fervour and marvellous freedom on high. Most brilliant and exhilarating of all is still the famous scene with chorus from La fille du regiment, where the tunes succeed each other as effortlessly as the top Cs, and where both are complemented by a lively humour and genial characterization.
Not everything is as happy as this. ''Una furtiva lagrima'' (though blessedly free from aspirates) is less than immaculate, and ''Com'e gentil'', the serenade from Don Pasquale, needs a lighter touch and a more graceful charm. The presentation leaves something to be desired in that the booklet, beyond indicating the start of a new track, does not distinguish clearly enough between the different excerpts from the same opera: one might well think that the second solo from La fille followed pretty directly after the first (which it does not), just as the second excerpt from Lucia closely follows the first (which it does). For those who do want to play the disc through as a continuous recital, the longer orchestral introductions and the occasional sound of another voice will be welcome—it's possible to have too much of even such a good thing as vintage Pavarotti.'