Pavarotti was simultaneously a throwback and an innovator onstage, says Mark Swed, and regardless of what you thought of his career decisions, he changed the opera world forever. “The simple fact is that Pavarotti did own the stage, and when he opened his mouth, when that sound so fresh and alive and gorgeous, like nothing I have ever heard before or since, generously poured forth, there was no resisting the big, happy guy… Pavarotti was a phenomenon, and to behold it, to share in it, was wondrous.”