Album: Dvorak/Rachmaninov/Tchaikovsky etc, Slavic Heroes – Mariusz Kwiecien (Harmonia Mundi)

Handsomely accompanied by the Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra under Lukasz Borowicz, Kwiecien's debut recital opens with a reprise of the role that made him famous, Eugene Onegin.

Like Tchaikovsky's hero, Kwiecien's programme vacillates between hauteur and abandon, contrasting various arias with no apparent strain. The Czech repertoire ("Certova Stena" and "Selma Sedlak") is on a more intimate scale, but "Hymn to Apollo" from Szymanowski's King Roger is divine.