Preserving Pavarotti’s (Pretend) Perfection

Any opera buff can tell you the legendary story of the night that Pavarotti was booed off the stage at La Scala after he cracked a high note. But a new DVD release of that very performance of Verdi’s “Don Carlo” is mysteriously missing the infamous mishap. The record company EMI has, in fact, patched the offending moment with a better take. Why? Simply because they can – after all, “live performances can [now] be edited as easily as studio work.”