Here comes the new tenor on the block. Rolando Villazón’s first disc on Virgin Classics turned up only a day or two after his début at Covent Garden, barely time for the cheers to have died away. In the leading role of Les Contes d’Hoffmann he had raised spirits and lifted hopes – a memorably vivid portrayal, equally believable as Hoffmann the ardent young lover or the sunken-eyed old sot, and tirelessly sung, even if his voice sounded a tad small in the Royal Opera House.

This disc might have been expected to provide a souvenir snapshot, but it doesn’t quite. The voice that sounded slim, lithe, intently focused in the theatre is more resilient here and comes with a grainy quality that is not unpleasant, but certainly sets it aside from the purity of any native Italian. If Villazón’s recording career progresses as hoped, his tenor will be instantly recognisable, a very personal sound that distinguishes him from Alagna or Álvarez or other contemporaries.

On stage his Hoffmann lit up the performance most brightly when he displayed the light and shade in his singing, and so it is here. The short aria from I Lombardi, briskly dispatched by Viotti, shows the singer’s quick reflexes as he deftly catches expressive details on the wing. The L’elisir d’amore and La traviata arias – surely his home territory at this stage of his career – have some similar nuances, but could do with more. Even in the helpful ambience of Glyndebourne last year his Rodolfo in La bohème only scraped by with just enough depth of tone, but here he sounds made for the role, despite the fact that the recording dates from only a couple of months later. For comparison I selected at random eight leading tenors of today and yesterday, against each of whom Villazón acquitted himself honourably, though how thrilling Di Stefano was in Rigoletto – what a wonderful natural voice! This Mexican newcomer has no single knockout gift like that, but his strengths are many and varied – a healthy, youthful tenor, decent sense of line, and a young man’s ardour and energy.

He is well served by the recording, which does not promote Viotti’s Kapellmeisterish accompaniments too forwardly. The booklet comes with texts and translations, but not a word about the singer himself. Maybe Virgin Classics felt that the best of Villazón’s biography lies in the future. Fingers crossed – let’s hope they are right.