On a rising crest of a wave, British-Italian tenor Freddie De Tommaso seems likely to add to the approving clamour that greeted last year's debut collection of Italian songs, Passione, with this rousingly, rapturously sung sophomore survey of arias and duets by Puccini and Bizet.
Already drawing favourable comparisons with Caruso and Pavarotti, Tommaso's voice finds a place all its own somewhere in between those extremes of poetry and power. If there's a more reliable touchstone, it's surely the mahogany-dark, liquidly flowing expressiveness of Franco Corelli.
Echoes of Caruso are certainly there in the achingly contained ecstasy of Carmen's Flower Song and the sweet-sour poetry of Madama Butterfly's Vogliateme bene, although Tommaso (superbly supported by Natalya Romaniw in the Puccini) claims both as his own with warm, rounded vowels, lyrical legato, heartfelt involvement and a persuasively ardent way with both music and words.
Pavarotti comparisons rest on Nessun dorma, where Tommaso stakes an appreciable competitive claim. Emotionally and melodically centred, his voice seems to deepen even as it blooms to meet the grandstanding demands of opera's most famous aria. So, too, in E lucevan le stelle from Tosca, which claims the lion's share here.
Comparisons aside, Tommaso delivers on his own, richly resourced, terms. Lise Davidsen proves to be a vivid companion in a quartet of Tosca duets, Ah, quegli occhi showing off the tenor to especially refulgent effect, and Aigul Akhmetshina is altogether vivacious in two Carmen dialogues.
Strong support is provided by a faultless Philharmonia Orchestra in excellent recorded sound, eloquently conducted by the well-seasoned opera veteran, Paolo Arrivabeni. On the strength of what's here, Decca's claim for Tommaso as Il Tenoré may well be justified.
"It was a rare thrill to hear a tenor voice of this ease and brilliance. The new Pavarotti? We've heard that before. This time it might just be true" (Observer, UK)
"Singing sensation of the moment." (BBC Radio 4)