Search - Luciano Pavarotti :: Ti Adoro

The voice, it must be said, is under great strain, but hard-core Pavarotti fans might want this anyway. There are lots of recording gimmicks--echoes, reverberation, overdubbing--and, at times, Pavarotti tries a jazzy style at which he's not very good. There's a big high C at the close of one song which is uncomfortable but shows a certain bravery, and the final song is sung in a sort of Sting-like high register which sounds totally alien. Those who never heard Pavarotti before 1990 will have no idea what all the fuss was about if they judge him by this CD; those who have loved and/or admired him all these years may be saddened and puzzled. An oddity, to be sure. --Robert Levine