Nearly three years after I welcomed his fine disc of Strauss songs built around the humorous Krämerspiegel, Op 66 (7/21), here comes Daniel Behle with a serious statement: an album featuring not only orchestral versions of a handful of Strauss songs but extracts from three Wagner operas. It’s worth noting, though, that the release comes hot on the heels of the tenor singing Lohengrin in Amsterdam: this represents a lot more than just wishful thinking on his part.

That outing in Amsterdam seems to have split Wagnerian opinion, some welcoming the freshness of his approach, others dismissing the voice as simply too light for such assignments. Somewhat frustratingly, this craftily engineered release makes it a little difficult to judge for oneself, Behle seeming to get a helping hand against a full-sounding orchestra – Thomas Rösner and the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra offer good support throughout.

The timbre itself is some way from what we’re used to in this repertoire. And the feeling isn’t restricted to the Wagner: I miss the exultant passion that a richer-voiced singer can bring to Strauss’s ‘Cäcilie’, for example, or the opening-up that ‘Befreit’ calls for at its big climax, even if the detail of Behle’s singing elsewhere in the song is welcome.

It’s a similar story in the Wagner. The tenor’s intelligence and his experience as a lieder singer and Mozart interpreter bring their own rewards. He certainly conveys desperation in Tannhäuser’s Narration, vision in Lohengrin’s and optimism in the Meistersinger Prize Song. But it’s difficult to escape the feeling that this is a David stepping into Walther’s shoes. Currently, one feels, any Sachs would have his work cut out to make those shoes fit entirely convincingly. I can’t really see the essentially lyric character of Behle’s voice changing much, but it will nevertheless be interesting to follow how he grows into the repertoire.