What did we really hear????

Hi all,
My dear late teacher,Jerry Lo Monaco,once told me that his teacher,
Mr.Stanley,told him on one occasion that what we hear of Caruso on
recordings is about one third of what he was live!! Can you just
imagine what that must have been like? The only way I can picture this
is by listening to the voice of the great Richard Tucker, the closest
voice in my memory to that of Caruso owing to the combination of both
lyricism and dramatic power as with Caruso (not the style or quality.)
Since i did hear Tucker numerous times, I can listen to his recordings
with my "ear into the past" as I do with all the artists I heard from
1951 to the present. At the same time,I can hear what I "imagine" some
of those I never heard might have been like, but since I was never
present at their live performances, I am only imagining what they might
have been like.
For example, perhaps the live experience of some might have been a
let-down from what I hear on records, or i might have been totally
flabbergasted at the sounds in the house.
It is virtually impossible for one generation to transmit totally
accurately what we heard and what the next generation thinks it hears
on recordings, no matter how well-recorded a singer ight be. For
example, I do not care if you turn your volume control all the way up
while playing a Birgit Nilsson recording..you still cannot imagine what
that was like in live performance.

For those of you who are oldies like myself, are there any
singers whom you feel are either improved on recordings,compared to
what you recall live, or others whose recordings do not approach what
the "whole package " was on stage. My best examples might be Jan
Peerce,who can sound glorious on a recording (witness the RCA Rigoletto
as a prime example) but whose singing in person I found rather
mediocre,despite the fine musicianship, or on the other hand, the art
of Beverly Sills, whose recordings to me never captured the true
magnificence of the lady in many of her roles onstage.

I always attempt to offer younger opera lovers something that
approaches reality when i play them some of my favorites.One of the
examples is when Renata Tebaldi,on the earlier Aida recording with Del
Monaco, appears to totally obliterate the entire orchestra and chorus
on the B flat toward the end of the Triumphal Scene (Page 198 in
Schirmer, very top B flat on top of page) just before the
"Preghiam,preghiam of the bassos);similarly, if you are lucky enough to
own the Met 1956 Forza broadcast, go to Tucker's final B natural on the
words " chiegga il guerrier" at the end of the "Sleale" duet. I think
these might be the closest to what I heard live.

On the other hand, do NOT think that Giuseppe Campora's voice on
the soundtrack of the filmed Aida with Sofia Loren as Renata Tebaldi is
anything like what we heard at the Met;similarly,if Leontyne Price ever
sounded live as she does on many of her Verdi recordings in top notes
sung forte,I would give up Zinka Milanov!
Hope this makes you even more confused........Love Charlie