DALLAS -- Tenor Jose Carreras stepped out of the shadow of Domingo and Pavarotti last night to present a simple, tasteful recital at Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center.

Though it was presented as a profit-making venture by a Salt Lake City-based management firm -- with no connection to any local worthy cause or performing arts group -- the odor of greed that hangs over the typical Pavarotti amplified arena show or the "Three Tenors" spectacle was missing.

The program was made up entirely of traditional art songs by Italian and Hispanic composers set to texts in Italian, Spanish and French -- three by Leoncavallo, two by Puccini, one by Ginastera, one by Bellini and nine by less familiar composers. All were selected to show off Carreras' still substantial 50-something voice; if there was very little adventure here, there was nothing to object to either, except that it was pretty much a program of encores, and, until the final set of Leoncavallo and Puccini songs, it seemed almost like the same song over and over.

Carreras is just the fellow to carry a program like this off, with that honest, handsome Catalan face, that voice that, while not strikingly beautiful, is strikingly accurate and expressive and just the right level of histrionic.

While falling back on an airy head voice for those few occasions that called for soft singing in the upper range, he was consistently compelling. In the absence of program notes or translations, we didn't always know exactly what he was singing about, but we always felt a sense of convincing communication -- and frequent operatic passion.

Italian pianist Lorenzo Bavaj accompanied, always in the background, taking advantage of frequent chances to match the volume of a naturally powerful singer. At the conclusion, despite demands for `Granada' or `Nessun dorma' from the cheering audience in the three- quarters full house, Carreras encored with two more songs of the same ilk as the rest of the recital before switching to English and singing farewell with his hero Mario Lanza's signature piece, `With a Song in My Heart.'

Wayne Lee Gay, (817) 390-7756
Send comments to wlgay@star-telegram.com

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