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The bass Peter Kellner, making his Met debut as Colline, sang a full-bodied “Vecchia zimarra,” sober without trudging.

The baritone Alexey Lavrov was a wry and resonant Schaunard, and the bass David Soar a confident Colline, mellow and unpretentious in his fourth-act aria, “Vecchia zimarra.”

The other three bohemians were all excellent: Massimo Cavalletti as Marcello, Patrick Carfizzi as Schaunard and Nicolas Testé, making his house debut as Colline with an elegantly sung “Vecchia zimarra.”

"Vecchia zimarra, senti" the bass "Coat Song" from La Boheme, and "Magische Note," an aria from Goldmark's Queen of Sheba that contains a rare recorded example of Caruso's using falsetto, are the most unusual items.

“Zimarra”: X. Barbier de Montault, Traité pratique de la construction, &c., des églises, ii.