The one thing that might be regretted about Joseph Calleja’s first recital (5/04) was that it left so little room for improvement. In this second disc he sings in a similar repertoire with similar excellence, the voice still fresh and young, the element of flicker-vibrato unobtrusively giving flavour and zest, the style delightfully combining its essential foundation of legato with an imaginative feeling for light and shade.

As on the previous outing, he shows himself to be particularly well suited to Donizetti. The tessitura exactly fits the natural placing of the voice, so that the arias from Il Duca d’Alba and Dom Sébastien are sung with poise, the high notes taken with an ease which is positively joyful. The melody of ‘Spirto gentil’ flows broadly, the expression catching at the sorrow if not the bitterness of the disillusioned lover.

‘Una furtiva lagrima’ has its due complement of vocal graces, and in spirit suggests a very apt Nemorino (as indeed did the opera’s other well known solo, ‘Quanto è bella’, in the earlier recital). There is also some stylish Bellini: a graceful ‘Son già lontani’ from I puritani and the duet from La sonnambula sung with the delightful Anna Netrebko. He also goes into the (more or less) expected French repertoire, with a sensitive account of the Dream Song from Manon and an even more delicious dreaminess in Nadir’s romance from Les pêcheurs de perles. In the Offenbach song his voice takes on a brighter edge, suggesting that he has Jussi Björling in mind. At other times (in the lush little bonne bouche from Maristella, for instance) the voice most often evoked is that of Giacomo Lauri-Volpi.

I don’t hear much of Gigli (who recorded that aria) – or of Calleja’s contemporary and potential rival, Rolando Villazón. They’re so alike in the fine shading which characterises the work of each, and (despite having the flicker-element in common) so very different in timbre. Villazón at present seems to be the developing artist, but we’re lucky to have both, each currently in his youthful prime.