David Mellor explores the recorded legacy of great artists of the past in conversation with distinguished figures from the musical world today.
As a boy, Luciano Pavarotti was inspired by the historic tenors he heard on his father's 78s and the family radio. Today he analyses the spell they still cast over him and his fellow singers and opera lovers. Including excerpts from Pavarotti's own early recordings of Donizetti's La Fille du regiment and Verdi's
Requiem, plus arias and songs sung by Caruso, Gigli, Lanza, Schipa, di Stefano, del Monaco, Kraus, Bjorling and Bergonzi - and the whole of Act 4 of Verdi's Rigoletto recorded live in 1944 by Toscanini with Jan Peerce as the Duke. Discs