October 24 - A boy soprano who, in his native Barcelona, used to storm around the house singing Verdi's "La donna e mobile," Jose Carreras emerged into adulthood with the most lyrically beautiful voice of the Three Tenors who went on to conquer the world.

Like his colleagues, Placido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti, Carreras made his reputation in the opera house and the recording studio, often opposite his mentor, soprano Montserrat Caballe, in bel canto roles such as Edgardo in "Lucia di Lammermoor" and the more forceful Cavaradossi in "Tosca."

But a decade younger than his rivals, and a still-handsome 52, for much of his career Carreras seemed stuck at No.- 3. This was especially true when he ran into vocal problems after tackling excessively dramatic parts under Austrian maestro Herbert von Karajan and when he was diagnosed with leukemia in 1987.

Despite a grim prognosis, Carreras beat the disease during a year of treatment that included bone marrow transplants in Seattle. His trauma led to the formation of the Three Tenors, who first performed during the World Cup soccer tournament in Rome in 1990, with proceeds benefiting the Jose Carreras International Leukemia Foundation.

As his popularity soared but his voice lowered and darkened, Carreras gained millions of new fans by moving into the crossover market, switching from Massenet and Verdi to Henry Mancini and Andrew Lloyd Webber. Accompanied on piano

The tenor will have only a piano accompanist for his recital at the Buell Theatre Friday night, his first Denver concert since an open-air appearance at Fiddler's Green in 1994.

"It will be a mixture from the 18th century to more contemporary music, Italian, French, some opera composers but not operatic works, just songs by Puccini or Leoncavallo composed for voice and piano and some Spanish compositions as well. It's what the audience expects me to sing in a recital," the tenor said in a phone interview.

He now limits himself to 40 or 50 appearances a year, with 15 to 20 operatic performances and the rest recitals and concerts.

In the wake of his brush with death, he's happy to have every one. "Don't even think about it"

"Let me be very open with you. I'm so happy singing at all, to be able to go on stage to communicate with people, particularly after the very difficult period in my life. Every single note I sing on stage for people - opera, recitals, concerts, open air concerts, in every way it's possible to be singing in front of an audience - I'm happy about. "I do a routine checkup every three months, which consists of a blood test. I feel so good, I don't even think about it and people have to remind me, "Next week you have to go." I'm out of any treatment and I don't have to follow any medication, so it's wonderful.

"I went through quite an extreme dramatic treatment at the edge of what a human being can take, but I do not at all want to sound like a victim. On the contrary, I consider myself a very, very fortunate, lucky man."

The natural sweetness of his voice 20 years ago has been replaced by a baritonal darkness, but, especially when he sings softly, the old Carreras timbre comes through.

"My whole body has changed and probably my brain has changed. But I think basically my voice is the same ... people still like it and the important thing is I can transmit some emotion to my audiences."

Comes with age

Just as Pavarotti has lost his trademark high C's, Carreras has to transpose downward - or sing in falsetto - the climactic notes of arias he once handled comfortably.

"This probably comes with age," he said. "I think it's nothing wrong with a tenor when he's older - I'm going to be 53 in December. It's nice. I'm not going to try to sing (the high role in) "Puritani' in the next 10 years."

His plans for the new millennium are to continue what he's doing for as long as it lasts.

What's his answer to the oft-repeated criticism that singing Radames, Don Carlos and other heavy roles for Karajan damaged his voice?

"Everybody's opinion is interesting and to be respected, but I don't know. I have to tell you, from the very beginning of my career I heard the same kinds of comments. I admit, of course, that I made some mistakes. There is no doubt about it. But the greatest successes of my career, like the "Forza del destino' I sang at La Scala, Milan, or the "Turandot' at the Vienna Staatsoper, were roles considered too heavy for me, or the "Don Carlos' I sang my very first year in Salzburg with Karajan in 1976."

Three tenors reunions

Most critics consider Carreras' 1970s recordings his finest, but the tenor disagrees. "Every period of somebody's career has different aspects, and an artist has different things to offer. I think my best recording, for what I expect of myself, is the "Manon Lescaut' I did with Kiri Te Kanawa and conductor Riccardo Chailly (in the mid-1980s). The emotions I was able to transmit in that recording are by far superior to the other recordings in which my voice was probably fresher. The important thing in opera is emotion, feeling and the dramatic situation."

The Three Tenors juggernaut continues this December with a Christmas gala in Vienna and Dec. 29 New Year's concert in San Jose, Calif., with another four or five reunions planned around the world for the year 2000, the Spaniard said.

"The three of us are very different, not only very different instruments but also personalities, mentalities and ways of expressing ourselves. "As for the specific quality of voice - and I'm sorry to include myself - I think they are beauti ful, the three of them, but for different reasons. Probably one of the secrets, if there is any secret to the success of the three of us singing together, is the fact that the voices are very different."

Old favorites

For his new album "Pure Passion" (Erato 27305), producer Nigel Wright and conductor Simon Lee teamed up with the tenor to convert 12 beloved light-classical melodies into songs. They commissioned Italian lyrics from the songwriting duo M. Bizzarri and G. Marcucci for Richard Addinsell's "Warsaw Concerto," Rachmaninoff's "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini," Tchaikovsky's "Marche Slave" and other favorites. Carreras said all the arrange ments were done with respect for the originals.

"We know we're at the edge of what certain people could consider not right. But I've heard many times orchestras and other musicians play tunes originally written for the voice. The great trumpet player Maurice Andre, whom I admire immensely, has a recording with just trumpet playing famous arias for tenor and soprano, so I don't see that what we've done is wrong."

An active foundation

Meanwhile, the tenor remains active with his Barcelona-based foundation, which funds research and other programs, especially bone marrow transplants. "I'm singing around 12 to 15 concerts a year to raise funds for the foundation," he said.

And after his appearances last season in Zurich and Washington, D.C., in the Wolf-Ferrari rarity "Sly," he plans further performances of the opera in Vienna and Barcelona and will record it.

"I'm looking to incorporate other operas like "Sly' into my repertoire, operas that haven't been very often performed and, in my opinion, would be very interesting for the audience."