The young Mexican tenor is an impressive artist, and much about his new recital hits the spot.

A rarely fine voice in its prime, a live responsive temperament, admirable vocal schooling, all fuelled by innate musical and dramatic feeling: these are some main ingredients… The solo from Les Pêcheurs de perles was chosen for last month's cover disc... and this alone must have encouraged many to wait no longer. A finely poised, long-phrased performance with sufficient of the dream about it and yet a sensitive awareness of modulations, light and shade... But the choice is wide. In the Italian repertoire it ranges from the gracefully lyrical serenade from Don Pasquale to the intensely felt aria of renunciation in Un ballo in maschera. In German, Villazón offers the gently voiced prayer of Alessandro Stradella and the famous aria from Martha... A sorrowful but not over-indulgent account of Lensky's aria in Eugene Onegin is a notable extension of the repertoire...