The leading tenor roles of this tradition require facility and strength at the top of the voice plus power and flexibility lower down - all of which Hymel supplies; in fact, he is clearly optimum casting for many of these roles today. His French, while not of native standard, is excellent...the choral and orchestral surround is impressive under conductor Emmanuel Villaume, who has a keen instinct for tempo.

Hymel shows off his personal blend of heroism and trumpetingly delivered high notes in this recital.

In this elusive voice type, Hymel has few rivals...[his] distinctive timbre has the veneer of a baritone with a nice medium-size vibrato, though just under the surface is a tenor-esque brightness...Hymel also has keen instincts for building long-term climaxes in this music and making them ring out spectacularly...So he also has the killer instincts of a star tenor.

This beautifully curated and unusual programme explores the development of the French heroic tenor over the course of a hundred years or so..What makes Hymel stand out is that he’s endowed with an almost freakish combination of vocal qualities which hardly ever come together in one singer: sheer horse-power and absolute ease in the highest register...he can pop out top Cs ‘til the cows come home, and in fact there are 19 of them on this disc!

[Énée and Arnaud's] two big arias recorded here display the many glories of Hymel’s voice: its brilliant attack, its dark-timbred middle and lower registers, to which he adds a bright, gleaming top, throwing out high Bs, Cs and C sharps without a hint of effort or fear...Sublime.

Hymel certainly is convincing: his is a vibrant voice with a steely cutting edge, easy-sounding high notes and intense tone...Confirmed French–opera fans should love it, but there is enough variety to grab the uninitiated listener, too.

Mr. Hymel’s muscular, almost metallic voice accomplishes the paradoxical feat of making this grueling music sound simultaneously absolutely secure and death-defying...Hymel goes on to demonstrate he is capable of more than just feats of strength...he makes this warhorse aria ['O Paradis!'] sound like a fresh discovery.

Hymel sings with a clean sweetness of tone and a particular facility above the stave: his French diction is conscientious rather than idiomatic. He can toss off the fireworks...with aplomb, but it is in the intense lyricism of the invocation from Berlioz’s La Damnation de Faust and “Inspirez-moi” from Gounod’s La Reine de Saba that he excels.

The voice is strong, tightly-focused, darkly coloured and unusually even across all registers. He easily manages those “Howzat!” moments up on high that bring many tenor arias to a close. Yet he’s equally expressive shading his voice in his middle pitch, almost cradling the listener with intimacy.