This is an interesting collection, and a fine introduction to Jose Carreras. His ravishing timbre and effortless high notes on the 70s recordings, in particular, will come as a big surprise to those who see him as the weakest of The Big Three. For in his heyday, Carreras was the finest tenor of his generation, and there is plenty of evidence here to back up this assertion. Sure, Pavarotti may have had push-button high Cs, but his timbre lacked the wonderfully velvet quality of Carreras' middle register. Worse still, Pavarotti has never had an ounce of Carreras' passion, preferring to sing notes rather than words. Carreras is the exact opposite. "Singing from the soul" is his stated musical philosophy, and fittingly the words mean everything to him.