Happy endings are not the rule in opera. Usually, someone dies. José Carreras, who sings in Davies Symphony Hall next Sunday, has played hundreds of death scenes onstage. But his heroic refusal to do so in real life has resulted in a happy ending.

The brilliant Spanish tenor was told in 1987 that he had leukemia and that his chances of survival were slim. He was 40 years old. His illness seemed an affront to the natural order, striking down one of the world's most beloved singers in his youthful prime. The music world went into premature mourning. In Verona, a production of "La Traviata" was dedicated to him, complete with a moment of silence. Record companies rushed plans for memorial issues of his best-loved performances.

Carreras then did the almost impossible. He triumphed over the disease and returned to the stage in 1989 -- a fairy-tale comeback in his native Barcelona that has been followed by several memorable appearances, as well as by the incomparable series of Three Tenors concerts with his colleagues Placido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti.

Carreras' first American concert was in Seattle, home of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, where the singer's life was saved after painful bone-marrow transplants and debilitating radiotherapy. Since then, Carreras has been devoting much of his time and his music to raising money to help others afflicted with leukemia.

Now, as before, the Carreras sound is sweet and instantly recognizable. He has a dark timbre, especially in the middle voice, that suggests heroic weight without losing the flexibility of lighter voices. He is what used to be called a spinto, an all-but-lost vocal category that is ideal for Verdi roles. It is not a large voice: His sound is closer to that of a cello than a trumpet.

His vocal gifts were refined in three very busy seasons in the early 1970s with the San Francisco Opera and the New York City Opera, a time the tenor recalls as an invalu able experience. International fame came with Franco Zeffirelli's production of "La Boheme" for La Scala, which toured the world in 1976 and led to the tenor's major engagements in London's Covent Garden, Vienna State Opera and the Met. His move into heavier roles, under the tutelage of Herbert von Karajan, met with surprise and not a little critical hostility. Yet his musical honesty -- not to mention his burnished timbre -- have proved disarming. No, this is not the voice that immediately comes to mind for Radames or Don Carlo. But listeners' knowledge and love of Verdi has only been deepened by Carreras' forays into those roles.

His recorded legacy is extensive. His first studio opera recording, made in New York in his sophomore year at City Opera in 1972, is Rossini's comic "La pietra del paragone." Never one to take bootleg pirates to court, Carreras has been captured live more than most contemporary artists, resulting in one of the best- documented operatic careers in history. The unauthorized live recordings, from his historic U.S. recital debut in Carmel to the series of comeback concerts in 1989-90, as well as the Tokyo "Traviata" with Renata Scotto and several Met pirates that are hard to find outside Europe, are the objects of cult adoration. His studio recordings round out a portrait of one of the century's most exciting singers. Here are 10 favorites, a sampling of greatness on record.

-- Donizetti: "Lucia di Lammermoor" (Philips). Carreras is always at his best singing opposite his compatriot Montserrat Caballe, and this 1977 recording of an opera he has sung since the beginning of his career is a real treasure. From Edgardo's impetuous entrance, "Lucia, perdona . . . ," right through the heartbreaking "Tu che a Dio spiegasti l'ali," this is quintessential Carreras.

-- Donizetti: "L'Elisir d'Amore" (Philips). Another early role, one he sang in San Francisco in 1975 and had almost abandoned by 1985 when he made this surprise recording with a radiant Katia Ricciarelli. Carreras here is Pavarotti's only serious challenger on records as Nemorino, the country bumpkin with the voice of gold.

-- Giordano: "Andrea Chenier" (CBS-Sony). Eva Marton was still in fine, steely voice when she was cast opposite Carreras for Giordano's potboiler about the French Revolution, and the pair's ascent to the guillotine alone is worth the price of this set.

-- Mascagni: "Cavalleria Rusticana" and Leoncavallo: "Pagliacci" (EMI). Veteran opera lovers often compared early Carreras with the great Giuseppe di Stefano, and these are the two operas that justify the comparison. As both Turiddu and Canio, the tenor is as devastat ing in his dramatic honesty as he is incandescent in his singing. He is paired with Caballe in one opera, Scotto in the other, with Riccardo Muti conducting both. You really can't go wrong with this set.

-- Massenet: "Werther" (Philips). It had to happen: Carreras and Frederica von Stade are an ideal vocal match, and this 1980 recording is indispensable for fans of both. One might quibble about the tenor's accent or his French style, but there is no mistaking the truth of his emotional portrayal of Goethe's tragic poet.

-- Offenbach: "La Perichole" (EMI). Carreras' street singer, Piquillo, is a comic gem well worth searching out, and there's a terrific vocal blend of Carreras' honeyed tenor with Teresa Berganza's lusty mezzo-soprano in this 1981 romp conducted by Michel Plasson. -- Puccini: "La Boheme" (Philips). There is no sweeter Rodolfo on records: Not Domingo, not Pavarotti, not even Bjoerling or Gigli. Puccini's Bohemian poet in love is a role Carreras was born to sing, and he sings it passionately in this 1979 Covent Garden recording conducted by Sir Colin Davis.

-- Verdi: "Don Carlo" (EMI). How to choose a single Carreras record ing of Verdi? The task is difficult, but this 1978 "Don Carlo" with the Berlin Philharmonic under the direction of von Karajan is a landmark in the tenor's career and a staggering achievement not only by Carreras in the title role but also by Mirella Freni as Elisabetta, Piero Cappuccilli as Rodrigo and Agnes Baltsa as the Princess of Eboli. No one since Maria Callas risked so much, or profited so much, by coming under von Karajan's vocal tutelage: Carreras sings as if his life depended on it, and the results are spectacular.

-- "José Carreras: First American Recital" and "José Carreras in Recital: Return to the United States, 1989" (Legato Classics). Carreras' first American recital happened in Carmel on Oct. 14, 1975. His heroic comeback after conquering leukemia was on May 4, 1989, in Seattle. Ed Rosen's Legato Classics -- a private label to which music history is much indebted -- captured both live, and the two CDs are invaluable. One touching moment among many is Bellini's "Vaga luna che inargenti," which Carreras sings in both. The hues are darker in the later concert, the radiant bloom at the top miraculously the same and the phrasing a lesson in bel canto for both the young tenor and the veteran: legato, portamento and expression all used with technical perfection and poetic discretion. The words shape the music, and that music rings out in full splendor. There is patience in the way he communicates the story within each song, fervor in every utterance. Then as now, there is only one Carreras.

CARRERAS IN CONCERT

José Carreras performs a sold-out concert at 7:30 p.m. next Sunday at Davies Symphony Hall, 201 Van Ness Ave., San Francisco. Call (415) 864-6000.

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