Today’s most sought-after tenor Jonas Kaufmann began his Barbican residency with a recital of much more out-of-the-way fare than his habitual Verdi, Wagner or Strauss. The first half was devoted to Schumann’s setting of 12 songs by a Doctor Kerner, now only remembered through this association. Broadly romantic and slightly pallid compared with Schumann’s better-known cycles such as Dichterliebe, they nevertheless gave full scope for Kaufmann to amaze with his utter control and warmth of tone, capable of turning from stormy power to the most fragile pianissimo floating on the edge of audibility.

Honour must also be paid to the supreme artistry of accompanist Helmut Deutsch, matching him at every turn as they stepped sideways into French repertoire with Henri Duparc’s Mélodies (Baudelaire and others), then forward to Benjamin Britten’s passionate Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo. It offered a generous catalogue of what this charismatic tenor can do in recital.