Magic Flute (Mozart). Aria: Queen of the Night (sung in German). Biassy (based on Prelude No 16 by JS Bach. Sung in Russian). Die Fledermaus (Johann Strauss II). Adele's Laughing Song. Like a Bird (Jenkins-McMoon). Florence Foster Jenkins (soprano), Cosme McMoon (piano). HMV 7EB6022

Mrs Foster Jenkins reduces me to convulsions of tearful hysteria. She is out and away the funniest singer on record. With a faint background of authentic singing technique and no breath support whatever she has a go, the gamest, doggedest go, at such showpieces as the Queen of Night and Adele's laughing song – with wild hit or miss shots at the high staccato ornaments which send the listener rolling about on the floor. 

Some people might call it a cruel joke – like mocking a lame old ballerina trying to dance a Swan Queen. But it is not that, because Mrs Foster Jenkins (while preserving a serious approach to her lunatic art - any suggestion of burlesque would ruin the joke) evidently entered into the spirit of the hilarious tributes it evoked. She loved her own singing. If it made other people weep with laughter - what then? 'People may say I can't sing,' she said, 'but no one can say I didn't sing.' Philip Hope-Wallace