As an example of an opera singer putting his special gifts to the service of popular music‚ this is altogether one of the happiest I have come across. Indeed I don’t think I have ever heard these marvellous songs so consistently beautifully performed. It helps‚ of course‚ that ‘Some Enchanted Evening’ was written for an operatic bass­baritone. Yet other numbers such as ‘Oh‚ what a beautiful morning’‚ so closely associated with Gordon MacRae‚ come across equally well. Terfel even performs those written for actors or female singers so convincingly as to make them completely his own. True‚ there is little attempt at a Cockney accent in ‘Get me to the church on time’; but I don’t suppose Terfel doing Stanley Holloway impressions would go down too well. Certainly there’s characterisation in the lead­up to ‘On the street where you live’‚ and for the most part he gives us just the sort of vernacular‚ non­operatic performances these numbers need. His command of pianissimo is used to marvellous effect‚ and the way the voice swells at ‘He is wonderful’ is quite thrilling. Sensitive conducting and authentic orchestrations play their full part in creating a totally absorbing effect. The pity is that‚ after sustaining such an elevated standard for over 70 minutes‚ the mood is destroyed by ending with Irving Berlin’s White Christmas‚ a cheap gimmick that has nothing to do with what has gone before. That apart‚ this really is something wonderful.