The century's greatest singers in Puccini (Romophone)

For many of today's opera fans they're just names on paper - nice one, then, for Romophone to remind us that Melba, Gigli, Schipa, Caruso et al were, first and foremost, great sounds. You'll have to steel yourself for the inevitable hissing and crackling: given that some of these recordings date from the first decade of the century, its a miracle they can be heard at all, and Romophone's method of transferring them to CD is apparently somewhat miraculous in itself. This is a taster album for a series of complete editions by the various singers, and if John McCormack's luminous performance of Che Gelida Manina, or Claudio Muzio's extraordinary Tosca, don't send you scurrying off in search of the full monty, nothing will.

Arminta Wallace