I love this but it's not for beginners! Paul Jackson was a musicology professor and opera house manager, one of those old-school folk whose knowledge of opera runs not just to performers and arias but to individual lines and specific notes. This is the first of a trilogy covering the Metropolitan Opera broadcasts - those incredible bastions of culture that reached more than 10 million Americans every Saturday for decades - from the commencement in 1931 through to 1976.

Jackson meticulously examines each season, the known recordings and those which didn't survive, tracking the performers, the conductors, the critics, and the blessed music. There's only so much interest in reading someone's explanation of audio recordings, especially when they're as detailed as this, but Jackson provides huge amounts of insight for those of us who share his passion. The book is a lot, in that often he will cite specific lines or words (in the original language) and uses extensive musical terminology, so you'll need to have the knowledge or the willingness to take the plunge.

A great benefit in the 30 years since this work was published is that many of the surviving recordings, almost inaccessible 30 years ago outside of bootleg circles, are now easily available, either on Youtube or the Met's own streaming service. As a guidebook for these recordings, although not the original intended purpose, this book is a godsend, and a fascinating one at that. ( )