There is a nostalgic air to this recital, issued to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Barbara Hendricks’ début in 1974. As she explains in her booklet-note, most of the arias are from operas she has sung during her career. She was a spirited Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier, and she has yet to graduate to the Marschallin, but the Countess is the next best thing – better in a way, since she gets the stage to herself for the last 20 minutes: even that all-important Major Domo who announces ‘Frau Gräfin, das Souper ist serviert’ is absent here. Anyway, Paavo Järvi conducts with gentlemanly concern for Hendricks. She sounds a trifle mature for Tatyana now, although she makes a brave stab at the Russian text, and in the reflective section towards the end she fines down her tone to suggest youthfulness.

Hendricks has lived a good deal in Paris and in the arias by Bizet and Debussy she sings in clear, well-articulated French. It almost goes without saying that she is more convincing in Micaela’s aria from Carmen than she is in the Habañera. The anguished solo for the Prodigal Son’s mother from Debussy’s cantata is even better.

The verismo arias are more problematic. Both numbers by Catalani and Cilea are sung with plenty of feeling, the pressure Hendricks puts on her voice at the climactic moments leads to an unattractive tremolo. ‘Un bel dì’ starts well enough, but not even at ‘Butterfly! Dalla lontano’ did I feel that this was a natural for her. ‘O mio babbino caro’ works just fine, as it should.

The one item in English, ‘No word from Tom’, is a reminder of Hendricks’ success in the video recording of The Rake’s Progress. This role, Anne Trulove, rather than Carmen or Adriana, shows her positive qualities. The Capriccio scene closes the recital and is the best thing here. An occasion for celebration, of a much-loved artist, and a fervent believer in the power of music to speak across every kind of barrier. Long may she prosper.