The ‘liriche da camera’ which punctuate Verdi’s long career, often served as a forging ground for his treatment of dramatic verse. If Italy’s greatest opera composer was at his best in writing melodies that communicate a character’s emotions, that skill was also ideally applied to his song writing which, on this recording, touches on subjects as diverse as the stars, seduction, chimney-sweeps, exile, wine and devotion to the Holy Virgin. Dennis O’Neill, a leading Verdi specialist, has been described by The Gramophone as ‘the most Italianate of British tenors for many a long day’.