This is a wonderful album:

The trouble with Missa Criolla is that it is THE tenor album that everyone plays at shows. People from other countries who come to CES listen to what dealers are playing, buy the same albums, and expect American audiophiles to salivate every time Jose C or Diana K starts to sing. And it ain't like that.

This opera critic confesses that when it comes to tenor recordings, I listen to the voice far more than to the recording. But I do know that Harry Pearson has waxed ecstatic about the natural perspective of the EMI Tosca with Roberto Alagna and Angela Gheorghiu. You've got two major tenor arias on that set. You can also find them on a 2008 EMI release, Roberto Alagna: The Tenor (although arkivmusic only sells them as mp3s). Just be sure you get versions with Pappano conducting.

Now, for the latest in tenor recording, as a point of comparison, I would check out Jonas Kaufmann's brilliant DG recording (Mozart Beethoven Wagner etc) cond. by Abbado, and Vittorio Grigolo's forthcoming Sony debut CD (coming October 5 in the U.S.). You can read my review of the latter at http://www.sfcv.org on September 28. Checking the SFCV archives will turn up my review of the former.

For a voice that is a challenge to reproduce, mainly because it's so naturally bright, check out recordings by Juan Diego Florez. Going back to analog, Franco Corelli. Farther back, to both 78 and LP, Jussi Bjoerling. His wasn't extremely bright; it was extremely gorgeous.

I was not aware of that. Haven't been at a hifi show in 20 odd years.

Quote:
But I do know that Harry Pearson has waxed ecstatic about the natural perspective of the EMI Tosca with Roberto Alagna and Angela Gheorghiu. You've got two major tenor arias on that set. You can also find them on a 2008 EMI release, Roberto Alagna: The Tenor (although arkivmusic only sells them as mp3s). Just be sure you get versions with Pappano conducting.

Available in FLAC format (16/44.1) from Passionato for $5.99 for a few more days. I'll be downloading tonight.

What mix reference do you mean? For setting up speaker placement? Or for a quick check to see if an unfamiliar recording mix facility has good monitors or maybe they are horribly wrong?
I use one CD for roughing in speaker placement because it reveals the human voice (a quick way to make improvements in placement) and I use a completely different handful of other CDs to check if a system simply has the goods or not.