This is a very handsome project by Decca/London worthy of one of its most beloved artists.No need to extoll the quality of the ...  Read More

This is a very handsome project by Decca/London worthy of one of its most beloved artists.No need to extoll the quality of the recordings contained in the set, suffice it to say it spans Pavarotti's first decade as a Decca artist, partnered in the majority of the operas by one of Decca's other great exponent, Joan Sutherland.The set is a very beautiful package, Lp sized, with a lavish booklet, plus three inserts containing the Cds proper, plus a bonus Vinyl the size of a 45 rpm record.The main reason for purchasing the set, though, is the admirable remasterings of ALL the recordings in it.It boasts a new 96khz/24 bit processing (apparently stemming from the original master tapes), what seems to be the new trend in the industry, (cf. the upcoming Callas Remastered Edition due in a couple of weeks, which sounds fantastic even in its iTunes preview), and well worth the double dip.In one word, the music sounds absolutely STUNNING: brilliant, airy, with great presence and warm bass, bringing out the wonderful acoustics of the several great recording venues. Of special notice is Turandot's brilliant orchestration which comes glittering out of Kingsway Hall!Highly reccomended even for those who already own the prevoius Cd incarnations.  Read Less

When I saw this beautifully wrapped up box set at the retail store, I gasped and hesitated for a moment, for the sheer fact tha...  Read More

When I saw this beautifully wrapped up box set at the retail store, I gasped and hesitated for a moment, for the sheer fact that I ALREADY owned 80 per cent of its contents. However, the allure of a young Pavarotti proved far greater - and the fact that all the discs are now re-mastered to play in better sound than their original releases.When I opened up this big box, my jaw dropped lower and lower with the beautiful contents and wonderful line-up. This is a real 'tribute', not just an ordinary box set!!!No libretto but a big pictorial of Luciano's early years, done in state of the art details and tremendously good coverages.The 27-disc contains mainly operas with Pavarotti, Sutherland and Bonynge in the early years (up to 1974). Needless to say, Pavarotti's voice was glorious, a true force of nature, and his artistic honesty fully in tact during this stage of his illustrious career.The big treat to lovers of opera and fans of Pavarotti like me, is that in this fabulous set, there is one small vinyl of Pavarotti's earliest London recordings. For a vinyl lover like myself, I almost wept for joy upon the sight of this big 'bonus'! For all opera lovers, we all know that Pav sounded truly magical on vinyl!If you ask me to choose one of the BEST disc in this fabulous album, it would have to be Solti's Verdi Requiem, showcasing Pavarotti, Sutherland, Horne and Tavela, recorded in 1967. This ranks pari passu with the same year's live recording with Herbert von Karajan, Cossotto, Price and Ghiaurov, also featuring Pavarotti as tenor.All-time great operatic recordings of course include Donizetti (Regiment, L'esir, Favorita), Bellini (Tenda, Puritani, Sonnambula), Verdi (Rigoletto, La Traviata); Puccini (Turandot, Boheme), featuring major sopranos in the persons of Joan Sutherland and Mirella Freni, with the great Caballe.The concert recitals are similarly terrific, with one live one in which Pav sung works of Handel (!) and other baroque pieces, accompanied by Bonynge. These recital CDs contain extra tracks that were not in their original releases, and the extras add up to an entire CD's time, so it should actually be 28 CDs instead of 27.Seems that Decca will release Editions 2 and 3. Despite that, this first and earliest Edition 1 must prevail over the later ones, given that Decca last year released a dual CD representing, very sadly, most of Pavarotti's later and far less successful attempts.A MUST even if you already owned some of the contents.  Read Less