There is a lot of pleasure to be had from this disc, which finds Alagna, now approaching his late fifties, in mainly excellent voice, though he tends to sing loudly throughout. He is, however, an intelligent artist making the most of his words. The same can be said of Kurzak, though she tends to be the nymph/seducer, both in her vocalising and in the accompanying pictures.

[Alagna’s] Italianate timbre and open-hearted, open-throated sound is ideal…Characterisation is limited, although their singing is never less than lovely. Bohème’s ‘O soave fanciulla’ is ideal, though with a beautifully floated final note from Kurzak, and they save the very best until last: a glorious Butterfly love duet that is both tender and ardent.

He and Kurzak are both on top form in a repertoire that has long been a strong suit for him and is increasingly becoming so for her, too; there’s no sense of push, just a natural development of her voice. Alagna is obviously the more mature singer of the two, but there’s still plenty of juice in his tone and his high notes ring out…Fans of either singer – or both, will not be disappointed.