This gala event crept in under the wing of the Cheltenham festival and attracted the sort of numbers that artistic director Michael Berkeley can only dream about for his musical, Gold Cups. For the audience, the pairing of José Carreras and Bryn Terfel was irresistible. At one point, a brightly coloured hot-air balloon straying over the hilly horizon added a touch of visual drama and suggested the imminent, spectacular arrival of a second tenor or - musically, better still - a soprano. But the balloon drifted off into the distance, leaving us with the musically thin alternation of tenor and bass-baritone popular and crossover numbers, with not even a Pearl Fishers by way of a proper duet.
However, Carreras, elegant as ever, was in strong voice, still capable of stirring the heart with his passionate declamation. Wisely, he avoided the usual tenor arias, opting instead for Spanish and Neapolitan songs that brought a sultry Mediterranean air to the green and pleasant surroundings. He was most persuasive in the Caruso favourites, Cardillo's Core 'ngrato and Gastaldon's Musica Proibita.
Bryn Terfel was billed as special guest, but, in the absence of introductions or even greeting from Carreras until late on, it was thanks to his genial warmth and ebullience that this evening took off. Terfel never brings anything less than total conviction, whatever his repertoire, and here Tchaikovsky's None But the Lonely Heart caused more than the odd flutter.
Terfel betrayed his relative youth not just in the singing, but in his ability to use the microphones to his advantage. The grey plastic semi-dome that does duty for these outdoor events is a nightmare in acoustic and amplification terms, but Terfel got around it, as did conductor David Giménez and the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra.
Carreras fared less well, but in the context of this fundraising event (for his international foundation as well as the local leukemia charity), it was genuinely moving when there was unquenchable fire in his sound - and Terfel's brotherly handshake seemed to acknowledge as much.
