The introductory essay speaks of the antipathy felt by many musical people towards the school of Italian opera represented here, and cites EJ Dent’s reference to its ‘evil example’. It is quite possible that if these objectors had heard the tenor’s music sung in the way Alagna sings on this disc, they (or some of them – I don’t think anything would have changed Dent’s opinion) might have been more tolerant. Alagna is emotionally restrained, and lightens the emotionalism further by taking rather quicker speeds, minimising declamatory emphasis and almost entirely doing without sobs. That other expedient of emotional tenors, the intrusive ‘H’, is also foresworn, whereas care for shapely phrasing has clearly been cultivated. He expresses sadness effectively, and (rarer gift in tenors of this type) has learnt to make the voice smile.

Alas, the arias themselves respond only up to a point: there was something about the old style they positively liked. Take those from Leoncavallo’s La bohème: Alagna sings them intelligently, musically and with fine tone, but all the time they’re begging for that more generous investment of affection, breadth and intensity brought to them by Caruso. Or Chénier’s improvviso: it thrives in an element of danger, whether the fiery conviction of Martinelli or the freer manner of Tamagno. Others, such as Maurizio’s ‘dolcissima effigie’ in Adriana Lecouvreur, feed on the open-heartedness of Pertile, with his capacity for violent assault one moment and breathtaking refinement the next. Of course it’s most ungrateful to point to these archetypes of the past when Alagna is in many ways among their rightful successors; and it’s true that his well-mannered reduction of emotional intensity makes the programme more listenable as a sequence. Still, the truth about verismo has to be told.

The selection is good, with a welcome admixture of rarities. One ‘Nessun dorma’ might be thought enough, but it was a good idea to finish with a suggestion of context and the full chorus to end with. Chorus and orchestra do good work under Mark Elder. Alagna sometimes sings sharp; most often he sings extremely well.