The history of EMI's mammoth "The Record of Singing" is complicated. To simplify matters, Volumes I and II (the brainchild of Vivian Liff) were published in 1977 and 1979 on LP and were accompanied by fascinating books by Michael Scott (who died in 2019). The series continued, though without the contribution of Mr Scott, who later wrote biographies of Enrico Caruso, Maria Callas and Rachmaninoff.

In 2009, Tony Locantro was instrumental in EMI's publication of "The Very Best of Volumes I-IV," from 1899 to 1952, on ten Compact Discs. Even in a reduced edition, it is a magnificent accomplishment. For this listener, highlights include Gilda Dalla Rizza ("Isabeau") and Aureliano Pertile ("Adriana Lecouvreur").

Several highly-significant singers were inexplicably omitted from the CD release, yet had been in the original: Giuseppe Anselmi ("Serse"), Lina Cavalieri ("Manon Lescaut"), Erik Schmedes ("Tiefland"), Magda Olivero ("Turandot") and Viorica Ursuleac ("Arabella").