The result is studded with performances heroic and tender. Kaufmann shows his outstanding dynamic and expressive range, from a close-miked, intimate whisper to gloriously powerful, full-throttle sound. Occasionally the voice threatens to burst the music’s boundaries, for example the overblown ending of Mendelssohn’s ‘Auf Flügeln des Gesanges’, but the singing is mostly magnificent and impressive.

This is a very different Kaufmann, far away from the pressures of the big opera stages, relaxed and clearly in his element, allowing his natural artistry and affinity for the repertoire to shine through...Admittedly those years of singing the biggest operatic repertoire have taken their toll. You notice a certain amount of strain and effort, a lack of honeyed tone...But there’s ample recompense in the richness and the power of the voice and the charisma.

The album was recorded ‘in private quarters’ in Munich after studios were closed for obvious reasons, and there’s a lovely, unbuttoned intimacy to these performances which is quite unlike anything they’ve previously set down in more conventional recording-conditions. The choice of repertoire, too, is freer and more wide-ranging than we’d usually expect from the pair…A blessed hour indeed.