There are no known recordings of Gayarre, who died when sound recording technology was still in its earliest infancy. What we know of his voice comes from contemporary accounts. The playwright and music critic George Bernard Shaw reproached Gayarre during his London appearances for displaying an excessive vibrato and "artificial" vocal mannerisms. Italian and Spanish critics, however, were more admiring of Gayarre's voice and style. Their collective opinions are encapsulated by the following assessment published in the 1963 Ricordi "Enciclopedia della musica":