Juan Diego Flórez is known first as a Rossini tenor and then rather more broadly as a singer in the bel canto tradition. And that, of course, is rather different from Puccini and the verismo school where tenors sob and declaim and the music palpitates. In this recital Flórez, still a model of good vocal manners compared with most, comes nearer to satisfying the taste which up to now has admiringly acknowledged him but never quite taken him, palpitating, to the heart.

About these songs it is tempting to be broad-minded, but they are really very third-rate. If there is an exception, it is the group, its items scattered through the programme, by “Chabaca Granda” (real name Isabel Grada y Larca) and “Anon”, with arrangements by Flórez himself for a small band of players. These have some rhythmic suppleness and a refined texture of sound. Otherwise the orchestrations are luxuriously thick, over-elaborate or brassily crude. Worse, the songs rarely fulfill their apparent promise of a good tune. The first does: Granada, which flourishes its vulgarity like a flashy travel-poster, but undeniably has a Good Tune to offer.

But still there is Flórez. His voice is splendidly clear-cut: it tells of youth and health, energy and enthusiasm. The magnificent high notes ring out to thrilling effect, exhibited with a freedom and panache which the bel canto tradition rarely encourages. They will probably recruit a whole battalion of new fans.