There's some miscasting, as in Placido Domingo's "Un aura amorosa" from Mozart's Cosi fan tutte, where his vocal heft and unidiomatic singing do neither him nor the aria much good. Fortunately, the producers also include Domingo's "Celeste Aida" from the 1974 complete Aida with Muti to redress the balance. As with all such unthemed multi-singer compilations, there are some jarring lurches from track to track as we're whipped from one acoustic setting to the next and from scene to out-of-context scene--Verdi's "Anvil Chorus" (Muti and the La Scala chorus) to Dessay's Queen of the Night and then to Traviata's ballroom for Alagna and Gheorghiu in the "Libiamo" duet.

The set should have a cover sticker warning snobs that it's not for them. Who is it for? One, it's for EMI, working yet another compilation set into the mix to generate a few more bucks from its deep catalogue at minimal cost while plugging its current stars in hope that the aura of Callas & Co. will rub off on them. Two, it's for neophytes to the world of opera, attracted by good voices singing good tunes. They may--or may not--graduate to the snob ranks some day, but why not feed them quality alternatives to the Bocellis of the world? Third, it's for opera lovers who may have all this material in their collections but who'd welcome a convenient "greatest hits" album for the car. I'm not ashamed to say that I'm one of them--this set's been a constant treadmill companion, helping defeat the boredom of dreaded exercise. So snobs may sneer, but I say, "let 'em."