With the 70th birthday of arch-diva Montserrat Caballé at hand, major classical record companies are falling over one another in releasing appropriate tribute packages. BMG has three of them in the pipeline, and EMI has launched a double-disc "very best" already. Decca's handsome double-disc edition Vissi d'arte: The Magnificent Voice of Montserrat Caballé should not go ignored. Decca has thankfully shied away from the typical "best of" and/or "greatest hits" monikers and has focused instead on Caballé's marvelous instrument itself -- probably necessary as all of these selections consist of excerpts from complete opera sets, rather than selections from recital-styled albums. These recordings were made from 1970 to 1984, an entirely comfortable period for Caballé's voice. In addition to the usual suspect arias and ensembles from operas such as Così fan tutte, Turandot, Tosca, and Norma, there are representative slices drawn from such rarities as Verdi's Il Corsaro and I Masnadieri and Rossini's Elisabetta. Almost all of the selections are drawn from Italian opera, save those from Meyerbeer's Les Hugenots, Gustave Charpentier's Louise, and the finale from Richard Strauss' Salome. There is no bad Caballé here, and the sound quality is consistent (and good) throughout. Nonetheless, a small number of these excerpts feature Caballé in secondary parts or as a member of an ensemble cast -- a less than ideal situation given that Caballé is the main subject of the compilation. Depending on what you are looking for in a Caballé collection, this may be viewed as an entry that is at least different from the rest, and may help shed some light into corners of Caballé's career that are not visible at a cursory glance.
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