With each reacquaintance‚ Gedda goes up the ladder of my own personal hierarchy towards the position he evidently should have held in the first place. This is a live recital with audience‚ and‚ as in the joyous Salzburg concert (CDH5 6535­2‚ issued in EMI’s Festspieldokumente series‚ 1994‚ and lamentably absent from the current catalogue)‚ Gedda’s outgoing presence makes itself felt even when all we have is the sound. The sweetness and purity of his tone impress afresh‚ and so‚ yet again‚ do the breadth of his culture and musicianship and the skill in communication that seems to be his as if by nature. In a way it’s a pity to mention that earlier record‚ not only because of its tantalising unavailability but because‚ in the few items the two programmes have in common‚ it (the Salzburg recital) is distinctly preferable. The difference may owe much to the pianists. Most inescapable is the change which comes over Poulenc’s Air champêtre as one turns from Hermann Reutter’s accompaniment in the present recital to Erik Werba’s at Salzburg‚ Reutter’s being much too heavy while Werba’s perfectly matches Gedda’s singing with a grace and lightness of his own. The contrast is underlined if Reutter’s handling of Voyage à Paris is compared with the composer’s‚ or even if his playing of Schubert’s Song of Florio meets up with the far more specific insight of Graham Johnson’s. Reutter is also represented as a composer‚ with his Epitaph for a Poet having its première. The notes to this important disc are woefully inadequate and tell nothing about the work except that it was written ‘for the American poet William Faulkner’. Faulkner was‚ of course‚ one of the most distinguished novelists of his time. In what sense the epitaph is ‘for’ him‚ and how as a poet‚ goes without comment‚ and no text or synopsis is provided. But now – to put the balance right at last – this is still a record to treasure. The two Bach arias with flute obbligato are beautifully performed. The Schubert and Strauss groups – a finely conceived‚ perfectly ‘realised’ Du bist die Ruh in the one‚ Die Nacht in the other are quite excellent. Everything reinforces the appreciation of Gedda‚ and here he is in his prime.