Fauré: Le secret Op. 23 No. 3

Dame Kiri’s voice is multi-tracked. ‘Nine versions of me,’ explains the New Zealand superstar. ‘We call it the Kiri Chorus!’ Jenkins found the results fascinating. ‘We’ve laid her upon herself and the sound’s quite magical. It’s different to anything else. It’s not done in a pop way where people very often add vibrato and make it match so that the voice is pulsing on the wave. She just sings it – and she sings it how she feels it. Against that, when we need a more kind of tribal earthy kind of element, I’ve used some Adiemus style voices.’

Gabriel Bacquier has already, in his lifetime, entered the hallowed halls of great French singers. An incomparable actor, endowed with exceptional vocal means and an unbelievably rich timbre, he carried the art of interpretation to the highest level. For the first time on CD, Decca have issued a collection highlighting this baritone’s remarkable career.

A stunning debut album from an up and coming young opera singer, Ilona Domnich. This diverse album covers a range of styles, as Ilona says …”some of the songs are very difficult. For instance some parts of the Strauss songs are very acrobatic, on the other hand the lyrical Italian songs, while ostensibly less technically demanding, call for intense musicality and sensitivity”