Thanks for posting that Michael. I love Tosti's
Ideale at 25:15. There's no doubt he is incredible.... probably the greatest, but I'd also have to agree with the great man himself (Luciano) and include a few others, most notably Mario Lanza.
There were a couple of performances in Luciano's career that really launched him:
1. One was (I think) when he was starting out in 1963 and stood in for an ill Guiseppe di Stefano in La Boheme and sang the most incredible
Che Gelida Manina. In the performance of this he sings the most incredible high C, after the note which you can hear the audience's collective gasp at how incredible he was (3:15 to 3:35 listen VERY carefully). It's and old noisy recording, BUT what musicality.....
2. The second item that really gets me and is the aria that had him crowned "King of the High C s" is
"Ah! Mes Amis", from Donizetti's,
La Fille du Regiment in which he sings 9 flawless high C s. If you want the vibe listen to all of this item from the opera or atleast
from about 3:40 onwards - Incredible !!!.
3. I said two, but there is a third that I need to also find where he ends with a top D.
EDIT: It's
Posente Amore from
Rigoletto, from 3:35 onwards
And then of course there are the very entertaining 3 Tenor concerts which really launched him on the world stage to everyone: opera lover or otherwise.
Best
JA
PS: the most incredible quartet in opera: The Rigoletto Quartet with Sutherland, Pavarotti, Jones, Nucci. 1987. Watch Dame Joan Steal the show at the end (but watch it all)...