Alfredo Kraus was considered the "grand seigneur" among the tenors of his time, an outstanding stylist, an unrivalled knight of high C (and above) - an aristocrat of tenor bel canto - there were and are certainly more famous tenors, but hardly any have reached the class of Alfredo Kraus, the lightness, elegance and sensual charisma of his voice.

The present 20-CD set documents Kraus's early years from 1958-1963 in live recordings. After his stage debut in 1956 in Cairo, his career took off very quickly: Traviata alongside Maria Callas in Lisbon in 1958, followed by Rigoletto, Lucia, Barbiere at the great houses of Italy.

In these early years Kraus also sang the typical tenore lirico and tenor di grazia roles documented in this box, such as Nadir in Bizet's Les Pêcheurs de Perles (at that time in Italian) or Ernesto in Don Pasquale, the barely singable role of Arturo in Bellini's I Puritani, whose high D he well knew how to master, or the Nadir in Cherubini's rare Ali Baba.