Kaufmann is a consummate artist who rethinks everything that he sings…You can almost forgive the hooded, crooner-like tone that [he] favours when his characters are interrogating their souls. At last comes the best. Two magnificent numbers from Berlioz…You can happily exchange a slightly uncertain opening phrase in the aria from Les Troyens for the muscular hero caught between love and duty who emerges a moment later.

Some of the finest singing on the disc comes in the duets. Kaufmann is joined by the classy French baritone Ludovic Tézier for the duet from The Pearl Fishers, their voices blending like coffee and cream, while Sonya Yoncheva is a delicious temptress in an excerpt from Massenet’s Manon.

To my mind, the finest recording he’s made in a decade...it’s the tantalising glimpses of roles which may never feature in Kaufmann’s stage repertoire that are the real plums of this album for me: Berlioz’s Énee, Meyerbeer’s Vasco de Gama and Rodrigue from Massenet’s Le Cid bear testimony to a voice that’s ageing quite spectacularly.

Favourites such as the Flower Song from Carmen, Roméo’s Ah! Lève-toi, soleil (Gounod) and Faust’s Merci, doux crépuscule (Berlioz) are sung with dark, thrilling tone, and he is responsive to dynamics. There’s a hint of strain in Massenet’s Manon duet with Yoncheva, but he floats airy head voice in the Pearl Fishers duet with Tézier.

There should be no carping at his finely judged phrasing, his psychological acuity and, when he hits a sweet spot, sheer seductive swagger. His and Tézier’s searing delivery of the famous duet from Bizet’s The Pearl Fishers is as good as any you will hear on record...As the repertoire gets heavier, so the album builds to a terrific climax.