When I was talking to Renata Tebaldi a few years ago‚ she told me that she found recording a very difficult experience. She missed the stimulation of an audience‚ and in the early days the engineers used to insist that she turn her head away from the microphone at each climactic note; this was because her voice was so powerful that the equipment couldn’t deal with it. It’s all the more impressive then‚ given the power of her voice‚ how consistent it remained throughout the 20 years this collection covers. Like every singer‚ she had her vocal problems from time to time‚ but she maintained the wonderfully even tone‚ and smooth legato‚ even at the moments of high drama. Reviewing the recent Tebaldi CD in ‘The Singers’ series (12/01)‚ Alan Blyth found the selection not really representative. This more generous survey is much more satisfying. The earliest items‚ ‘Ritorna vincitor!’ and ‘Tacea la notte’‚ are both from her first session in Geneva in 1949‚ conducted by Alberto Erede; the latest are the group of three Rossini songs with Richard Bonynge from 1969. The items have been chosen to demonstrate Tebaldi’s range as singer and actress. The closing scene from Adriana‚ the tense game of poker from Fanciulla‚ and the horrific last moment of Il tabarro show off Tebaldi the verismo specialist. She doesn’t overdo the naming of the cards‚ ‘Regina’ and then ‘Tre assi e un paio!’‚ and she has a formidable opponent in Cornell MacNeil as Jack Rance. Decca provides no texts‚ translations or synopses‚ so anyone unfamiliar with this or any of the other operas will wonder just what’s going on. All the Puccini items are very fine‚ culminating in the aria and duet from the end of Act 1 of La bohème‚ with Bergonzi as Rodolfo. There are two moments when the engineer has had to make a rather unfortunate fade­out‚ first in the Traviata scene‚ just after ‘Gran dio!’ (which is itself wonderful) and then‚ even more frustrating‚ in the Don Carlo extract. Though a good idea to choose this duet – in the theatre it often passes so swiftly that one hardly has a chance to notice what superb characterisation is there in the music – surely it would have been better to keep on going through the quartet. Although the Don Carlo‚ Ballo and Gioconda scenes all come from the mid­1960s‚ the period after Tebaldi ‘remade’ her voice aiming to create a darker sound‚ in no way does the voice appear to have deteriorated. The Rossini songs bring a lovely sense of fun‚ which was one of the characteristics of Tebaldi the recitalist‚ and although the Italian words sit uncomfortably on the melody‚ Karajan steers her through ‘Vilja’ with great style. Tebaldi told me that she would never have been able to appear in Suor Angelica on stage‚ for even when recording the part she cried so much she could hardly get through it. It is this total commitment and sincerity that shines through all Tebaldi’s work. It’s easy to hear how much she loved singing‚ and relished the Italian language. For those who never heard her‚ this is a fine 80th birthday celebration.