YOKOHAMA, Japan (AP) - Very few soccer players make it to four World Cups. The Three Tenors did.

Continuing the tradition they started in Rome on the eve of the 1990 tournament final, Luciano Pavarotti ( news - web sites), Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras gathered Thursday night for what was billed as "The Three Tenors Last Concert in Japan 2002."

Whether this was the last Three Tenors concert ever, or just the final one in Japan, remains unclear; there are no current plans for further concerts. But to answer the biggest question first, yes, the fat man sang.

Pavarotti said earlier this week that he intends to retire on Oct. 12, 2005, his 70th birthday. Last month, he canceled his last two scheduled appearances at the Metropolitan Opera ( news - web sites), leading The New York Post to run a front-page banner headline: "FAT MAN WON'T SING."

His only performance since then had been the May 28 "Pavarotti & Friends" annual charity concert in Modena, Italy, where he was reported to have sounded hoarse during a pop duet with Andrea Bocelli ( news - web sites).

Singing Thursday before a large backdrop of Mount Fuji, Pavarotti was in as decent voice as he has been lately. He performed three arias: "Recondita armonia" from Puccini's "Tosca," Leoncavallo's "Mattinata" and "Nessun dorma" from Puccini's "Turandot," which became his signature tune when it was used as the theme for the 1990 World Cup.

He cheats a lot these days, cutting notes short, changing some to piano. The climactic "Vincero!" that ends "Nessun Dorma" sounded lower than the B-natural Puccini intended, and instead of dramatically singing some parts of the medleys and encores, he stared straight at the TelePrompTer between himself and the conductor.

Also, the reverb on the amplification equipment in the oval arena was turned up so high that it sounded like one of Bocelli's recordings.

That said, the sweetness and ping in Pavarotti's voice remain. Holding a huge white handkerchief in his left hand, he still exuded tremendous charm.

Domingo, 61, is the only one of the three regularly performing on the world's great stages, and he is the most intelligent musician among them, pulling out glasses to read the sheet music of Japanese and Korean songs that were part of the second medley. Showing the conducting side of his career, he repeatedly signaled the audience when to clap and when to stop during the "Brindisi" from Verdi's "La Traviata."

Carreras, 55, has even more vocal difficulties than Pavarotti these days, nearly every high note sounding thin and strained.

The program was much the same as the previous 28 Three Tenors concerts, with Domingo singing Sorozabal's "No puede ser," and "E lucevan le stelle" from "Tosca," and Carreras performing "Lamento di Federico" from Cilea's "L'Arlesiana."

As in the concerts in 1994 at Los Angeles and 1998 at Paris, the medleys included a goofy choice. This one was the Beatles' "Yesterday," marked by the trio's heavily accented English.

After the 1990 concert at Rome's Baths of Caracalla, the Three Tenors became a megaevent, playing Dodger Stadium in 1994 and Paris' Champs de Mars in 1998 - where they sang with the Eiffel Tower in the background and drew 150,000 listeners. They used top orchestras and high-profile conductors, such as Zubin Mehta and James Levine, and issued three best-selling recordings.

This performance was downsized, in an area configured for a capacity of about 8,000, and they were backed by conductor Janos Acs and the Super World Orchestra. No plans to issue a recording have been announced.

As the trio went through two encores of the "Brindisi" - joined by sopranos Maki Mori, Mi Hae Park and Asako Tamura, and mezzo-sopranos Hyun Joo Chag, Hyun Joo Kim and Aiko Kori - black curtains parted to reveal the South Korean and Japanese flags flanking the stage. And as they sang "O Sole Mio" for the second time, Pavarotti looked happy but a bit wistful. Like his opera career, the Three Tenors seem to be coming to an end.

Copyright © 2002 Associated Press.