certainly one of the most beautiful and beautifully produced books of opera photography ever. For someone who knows opera some of the picture choices will seem a litle strange, but for anyone who loves the theatre and opera and photography, it's something you want to look at over and over. Luscious, rich images. It is not a book by Joe Volpe or Joe Clark as is listed here - it is a book of photographs by Nancy Ellison, a really exceptional photographer.

(AP) - Coffee-table books are aptly named for the spot in the living room that's ideal for displaying and browsing through these oversized and often lavishly illustrated volumes.
Among recent coffee-table books are some especially large volumes that owners will be proud to display, even though the hulk and bulk of the books might leave little room on the tabletop for more than a small decaf and the remote....

Finally, the fat lady sings in "In Grand Style: The Glory of the Metropolitan Opera" (Rizzoli, $85).
Nancy Ellison's photographic night - make that 20 nights - at the opera is displayed in a horizontal volume titled In Grand Style: The Glory of the Metropolitan Opera (Rizzoli) that opens to 86 centimetres across.
In an essay and 215 colour photos, Ellison takes readers backstage and onstage at the famed New York opera house for performances of 20 works, including Aida, Carmen, La Boheme, Otello, Pagliacci and Tannhauser.
The book's foreword is by Joseph Volpe, general manager of the Met since 1990 and until his official retirement in August. Also contributing to the text are Joseph Clark, the Met's technical director, and James Levine, its musical director.
Among the stars seen performing in photos are Placido Domingo and Renee Fleming, and Luciano Pavarotti, whose farewell performance in Puccini's Tosca provides an apt coda to this lavish volume.

RON BERTHEL

The author of several popular books of photography, among them The Ballet Book, a tribute to American Ballet Theatre, and The Romance of Martha's Vineyard, Nancy Ellison is at her most effective when covering a subject she loves. Ellison has long been a passionate, generous supporter of the Metropolitan Opera; her insider's knowledge of the company is revealed in the striking images she produced over the course of fourteen months spent observing the Met at work: the massed squadrons of Aida supernumeraries waiting for their entrance; the bittersweet company farewell of Luciano Pavarotti in Tosca; the triumphant Met debut of Angela Denoke as the Marschallin. Weighing in at seven pounds and measuring a strapping seventeen-and one-quarter inches in width, In Grand Style devotes most of its big pages to the era's stop stars in performance, but there are also offbeat shots taken from the wings or snapped in rehearsal. Easily the most amusing of these features Placido Domingo in preparation for Cyrano; the tenor sits patiently, his own street wear augmented by Cyrano's dashing suede boots- and a less-than-dashing oversized false nose.
Each of the twenty Met productions covered is given its own section of the book, headed by a brief listing of the credits and casting for the performance in question. The absence of captions identifying individual performers is a puzzling (and serious) editorial quirk; a less damaging omission - but a stumbling block for those not yet initiated into the world of these productions - is the decision to omit a recap of stage action for the opera pictured, which would put these images into some kind of context. Vivid as Ellison's shots of the final act of Samson et Dalila are, readers unfamiliar with bacchanal protocol will be bond to wonder just what the scantily costumed people are up to on pages 116-125. Similarly, the significance of Karita Mattilla's complete lack of costume in Salome might have been explained - or, as the very least, the caution offered that displays such as that on page 193 are not seen regularly at the Met. But Ellison's ability to communicate her own passion for the Met through her photographs - whatever the opera, performer or moment captured - is compelling; the cumulative effect of these images provides a portrait not only of the Met but of one of its greatest fans.
E. PAUL DRISCOLL