She begins with a nigh-on immaculate account of the waltz song from Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette. To the Mad scene from Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor…she brings a pure and ethereal tone, entering into the character and her poignant situation within a world of her own beyond earthly reality.

[Lucia’s Mad Scene] is impeccably sung and distinguished by some gorgeous limpid phrasing, even if it remains a little passive, dramatically speaking…The soprano sings the Linda di Chamounix aria exquisitely, and she offers more character and temperament, too, in the two extended Bellini scenes.

All showcase her beautiful, pearly timbre, her fluent coloratura — even if she lacks a proper trill — and confident, sweet high notes up to E flat...she is ideal for her unusually lyric and elegiac Lucia and Amina, both a far cry from the soubrettes we generally hear today. Sagripanti’s Milan orchestra are the perfect accompanists.

South African Yende has a delicious instrument, with a youthful quiver of passion to it, and a wonderfully secure technique. She has a tendency perhaps to embellish for its own sake – I yield to none in my admiration of vocal pyrotechnics – but sometimes it comes across as showy rather than dramatically driven. Yet she can certainly deliver the goods, with some wonderful acuti thrown in too.