A couple of good reasons to go pop

Luciano Pavarotti is no stranger to pop -- he has performed with artists ranging from Bono to Mariah Carey, and his operatic recordings as part of the Three Tenors have achieved crossover success.

Yet it took years for him to finally record his first pop CD, “Ti Adoro.”

“I don’t want to make pop music,” the 68-year-old opera legend said recently at his Central Park apartment. “I think it wasn’t truly necessary going into a field that was not mine.”

His hesitation was not because of a dislike of pop music -- in fact, Pavarotti has long mingled with pop stars in his series of charity concerts, “Pavarotti & Friends,” where he has performed with artists as varied as Ricky Martin and James Brown.

“[Some say the] word ‘pop’ is a derogatory word to say ‘not important’ -- I do not accept that,” Pavarotti says. “If the word ‘classic’ is the word to say ‘boring,’ I do not accept. There is good and bad music.”

Yet for years he rebuffed attempts by his record label, Decca, to record a nonclassical album, as many of his operatic peers have done.

He was finally persuaded after one of his three adult daughters prodded him to listen to material she thought would be perfect for his voice.

The result is a collection of sweeping ballads that has been a top seller on the classical crossover charts since its release in late September.

Pavarotti says recording the disc, which contains all new songs, was even harder than preparing for one of his operatic roles.

“If you think that I learn 11 or 12 songs in one month, and they are far from my work, it’s more challenging, certainly,” he says.

Pavarotti’s new material comes amid a series of transitions for the superstar.

He’s preparing to retire from staged operas -- he makes his final appearance at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in March. The scheduled performance comes almost two years after Pavarotti canceled what was thought to be his last performance at the Met because of illness.

His last-minute cancellation caused a firestorm, and some in the crowd booed when Met officials announced he would not be performing.

When asked about the incident, Pavarotti simply sighs.

“I’m coming back with ‘Tosca,’ because they made such a big fuss,” he says. “I am singing three performance ... three for one!”

He brushes aside criticism that he should have told the audience in person he was ill.

“If you are sick, you are sick -- the audience is intelligent,” he says, before mimicking what he would have said in a faux hoarse voice. “Here I am, I have left the bed, to come here, to tell you, that I cannot talk,” he says. “Unnecessary.”

Pavarotti says he is not retiring from the stage because of his voice and boasts it is as strong as ever: “I do not push it too much. I take very good care of my voice, in choosing the right repertoire.”

Yet Pavarotti clearly looks less interested in performing these days than in doting on his youngest child, 1-year-old Alice, to whom his new album is dedicated. Late last year, he married his longtime companion and Alice’s mother, Nicoletta Mantovani.