Douglas's remarks are accurate, precisely observed, and carefully calculated to provide the information most fans will want. Discussing Caruso, he mentions the "chiaroscuro" (control of light and dark shading) in his voice, his talent as a cartoonist and fondness for practical jokes, and a music teacher's verdict that Caruso's voice "is too small and sounds like the wind whistling through the windows." Among many other acute observations, he discusses the emotional intensity of Benjamino Gigli's singing, and the contrast between Jussi Bjoerling, a moody, complex, "northern" singer whose voice was "heavy with unshed tears " and his sunnier, Mediterranean colleagues. --Joe McLellan