London was the last stop on tenor Rolando Villazón's tour of his latest album, ¡México!, named after his native country and vaguely tied into the 200th anniversary of Mexican independence and the centenary of the country's revolution. Neither of those weighty matters featured in any audible way in his generous selection of Mexican songs, which was more crossover than classical, comprising items familiar either as light concert encores, or from the cocktail lounge.

The result showed Villazón on happier form than did his Handel programme earlier in the year, which cruelly exposed the weaknesses in his current vocal estate. The pieces here, by figures such as Alberto Domínguez and Consuelo Velázquez, played by a 12-piece band called the Bolívar Soloists in soft-focus arrangements that robbed them of the striking character they deserve, are a lot easier to negotiate. Even so, it was clear that the lowest notes of Villazón's voice remain negligible, and he rarely approached the top notes on which tenor reputations depend. His delivery in the first half was on the careful side, though he gained in confidence after the interval. There was still a fair bit of tension in the voice, with little of the light and shade that can make such slight but engaging material magical in the right hands. Pressing hard on it throughout, Villazón sometimes pushed his voice above the note and occasionally sounded throaty and stressed.

Fortunately, he retains sufficient performance skills to compensate for diminished resources with his warmth of personality and vitality. Even if he's no longer the class vocal act he was a few years ago, he consistently won the audience's responsive support.