Here is a soprano, apparently in her youthful prime, gifted with a warmly sympathetic voice and feelings to match; the voice is well placed and suited to the repertoire, the feelings are not (I would think) guided by any particularly strong imagination, but are responsive to music and words and ring true. That said, we are faced with an immediate diversion, for second in the programme is the Love duet from Madama Butterfly, and once the tenor enters the interest shifts to him. This is not because he immediately registers as the better singer but that he clearly is special. Of course we know him of old, but his special quality is unmistakable anyway.

Giacomini’s is an Otello voice: his call to the maid Suzuki to close the shutters rings out like a command to the Captain of the Guard. By his side, Butterfly becomes Desdemona, her “rinegata ma felice” easily adaptable to fit the circumstances. Also we are inevitably fascinated by the condition of his voice, not entirely even or pliable but still distinguished by that extraordinary breadth and depth of tone out of which the high As and B flats emerge like the bright swords which Otello orders back into their sheaths.

Babajanyan remains nominally the principal singer in the recital and we duly take note. Armenian by birth, she has made her career largely in Germany, singing an impressive range of lyric and lyric-dramatic roles including Norma and the Forza Leonora. She phrases well, as in the “Vissi d’arte”, and is capable of a finely sustained soft high A, as in “Senza mamma”. There is a slight tendency for the tone to spread in quicker and more strenuous passages (we hear it in the Manon Lescaut duet), and that gives warning of limits she would be wise to observe. Best are her quite lovely performances of Liù’s arias in Turandot. These, however, are followed by Giacomini singing “Nessun dorma”, taking (what I can’t recall having heard before) both “vinceròs” in one breath. And with that the recital ends, the tenor triumphant. There are faults no doubt – but (and this is another “outsize pearl of British understatement”) it’s not bad for an old gentleman of 68!