« If I declare — as I do — that Bergonzi was the greatest Verdi tenor of the last century, I will undoubtedly call down on my head the advocates of several other likely candidates. So let me say at once that Caruso had the bigger and better voice, Martinelli an even more distinctive style, Pertile the more earthy, histrionic appeal, Björling the more aristocratic manner, Corelli the more exciting timbre, Pavarotti the more immediately recognizable tone. Yet none of these (or any reader's favourite candidate) seems quite such a natural, inevitable interpreter of Verdi, or indeed of Donizetti, as Bergonzi, and none was a better musician.
Bergonzi was, and is (on disc) the ideal exponent of just about every role in the Verdian repertory, as he showed in his legendary Philips album of virtually all the tenor arias in the master's oeuvre.» (Gramophone, July 2014 / Alan Blyth)