Caruso: The Greatest Tenor in the World. RCA 74321 63469 2.

Caruso: The Greatest Tenor in the World. RCA 74321 63469 2.

This two-disc set is a part of RCA's "Artists of the Century" series, a series that also includes Jussi Bjorling, Leontyne Price, Mario Lanza, and others. The selections here sound no different than RCA has previously issued on CD, but there is a generous number of them, 42 arias in all, and they are conveniently arranged by recording date, starting in 1902 and ending in 1920, shortly before Caruso's death. Oddly, his very first and last recordings are tagged on at the end.

The engineers at RCA cleaned up the sonics considerably, but, understandably, Caruso's later recordings still sound smoother and less noisy than his earlier ones. What is missing from these digitally enhanced efforts is the sonic bloom, the richness, the resonance, that accompanies the originals when played through a wind-up Victrola. A couple of years ago, a friend who owns such an antique device played a few of Caruso's recordings through it and allowed me to compare them with RCA's then-newly remastered CD versions. Noise and all, we both preferred the old sound. Nevertheless, this set makes a handy compilation for showing off what may, indeed, have been "the greatest tenor in the world." And it makes a wonderful listening experience for your audiophile friends when they come calling. Especially if you don't want them back.