DONIZETTI. SONGS. Ian Caddy (bass-bar); Melvyn Tan (fp). Meridian (F) KE77183; (CD) CDE84183 (62 minutes: ADD). Texts and translations included. Recorded in association with the Donizetti Society and the Mayr+Donizetti Collaboration.

Italian songs – Canto d'Ugolino. L'amor funesto (with Sebastian Comberti, vc). Il trovatore in caricatura. Spirto di Dio benefico. Viva ii matrimonio. French songs – Le renégat. Noé, scène du Deluge. Le départ pour la chasse (with Anthony Halstead, hn). Un coeur pour abri. La hart (chant diabolique).

This is the kind of record which might, and should not, go under in the flood: there are so many desirable and out-of-the-way issues appearing just at the moment that a public spoiled for choice may well miss just such items as this. The singer has not one of the world's greatest voices, and the composer is not among the great songwriters; even so, the programme here (far stronger than the insipid trifles that commonly represent Donizetti in song recitals) is both novel and worthwhile, and it would be pleasant to think that among the more golden-toned of our singers there may be some discerning enough to envy Ian Caddy's management of his resources.

His voice is absolutely steady throughout its range: when he sings loudly it shows not the faintest sign of spreading, and his quiet singing is well supported without resorting to a loose mix of head-tone. He sings well in both Italian and French (but particularly well, I think, in French). As an experienced actor-singer he presents the songs vividly as to an audience there and then in front of him, and there is no overplaying of either tragedy or comedy. Melvyn Tan accompanies admirably, and the fortepiano helps considerably to make acceptable piano parts which are generally conventional and sometimes not very pianistic. The horn and cello obbligatos add colour and variety, and are also finely played. The programme is effectively arranged and the recorded sound is mercifully free from inappropriate reverberence. There are two booklets, one containing a thoughtful introductory note, while the other has texts and translations.

The texts begin with a large part of the Ugolino Canto in Dante. Donizetti selected his verses and set them for Lablache in 1828, and when Rossini heard what he was up to he scented hubris. It was indeed a doubtful undertaking (and the well-nourished basso, later to be the first Don Pasquale, was perhaps not ideally suited to portray the shade of the nobleman who died of starvation). Yet there is a sympathetic imagination at work, with power and pathos at command. The other dramatic pieces, the prayer of Noah and the monologue of the apostate, again attempt more than the expressive resources of Italian music at this time could quite cope with; but again there is a genuine interest. A more complete success in a more modest enterprise attends the delightful Viva ii matrimonio and Le depart pour la chasse. Un coeur pour abri has a charming refrain and La hart (chant diabolique), with its eldritch invocations, allows the singer to round off his excellent recital with a well-turned cadenza and trill. JBS