The Town Hall recitals of 1959 and 1960 were recorded by RCA, which issued most of the two programmes on a pair of LPs. The discs were immediately seized upon as collectors’ items, becoming even more treasured and eagerly sought for when they went out of print.

What first attracted listeners to Valletti’s singing was the distinctive and attractive texture of the voice itself. Its lean, perfectly focused timbre may lack the honeyed sweetness of, say, Tito Schipa or Ferruccio Tagliavini, two of Valletti’s most distinguished predecessors in his vocal category, and the tone could thin out in the very top register when put under pressure, but there are plenty of vocal virtues to admire here: the clean attack, pure vowel sounds, a purling legato, seamless register alignment, fabulous diction, and a pianissimo without resort to falsetto.

Valletti also possessed an easy agility available to few other Italian tenors who sang the bel canto repertoire in those days, as well as an unerring ear that could pitch the notes of a tricky Hugo Wolf song with absolute precision. His voice had an appealingly plangent tang that gave his sound its individuality, along with a touch of poignant vulnerability that graced both his song interpretations and the portrayals of the heartsick young operatic heroes that were his speciality. All these good things are enhanced by Valletti’s patrician musicianship and impeccable taste, energised by an extraordinarily expressive vitality, masterly control of every musical situation, and a lively engagement with the composer that animates every measure.

In addition to his two Town Hall recitals, Valletti recorded three song albums for RCA in their New York studios and the earliest one, from June of 1958, is included here.