What a delicious prospect is in store for the listener, therefore, when this giant’s work is interpreted by the sublime talents of no less a performer than Barbara Cook; add to that mixture the production pedigree of Peter Katz, a full-scale orchestra under the direction of Wally Harper as well as extensive, authoritative sleeve notes and this album would have to figure high for inclusion on any discerning cabaret aficionado’s top ten list.

Barbara Cook has been getting better and better with every passing year and here she excels again as, one after another, timeless classics are brought back to life and nurtured until, like the Edelweiss of which she sings, they bloom forever. Barbara Cook manages to combine faultless technique with highly sympathetic interpretations, to the extent that not just words but even syllables within them are coloured and decorated to enhance their meaning and import. In an age when it seems that a few episodes in a TV soap are all the training you need to have before landing a plum role in a musical, Barbara Cook remains a beacon of excellence, both in quality and the way in which her experience enhances her art.

Where else but with ‘Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’’ should one start? Ms Cook summons all the lyrical charm and sense of a new dawn that lies within the song but which is sometimes sacrificed on stage by male leads in search of a more virile characterisation. Starting with a breathless gallop and slowing to a more sedate trot, ‘Surrey with the Fringe on Top’ receives an interesting treatment, prompting the listener to speculate on why the singer restricted herself to singing only the more boastful element of the lyrics, it would have been wonderful to hear her complete the highly romantic and tender second half of the song, but what she does she does with an enormous sense of fun and no little brassiness either.

‘This Nearly Was Mine’ brings out many of this singer’s finest qualities, not lest of which is her ability to colour individual words such as ‘paradise’ without distracting from the rest of the line; the medley of ‘Don’t Ever Leave Me’ and ‘All The Things You Are’ is particularly memorable for the superb orchestration that accompanies it. The ending, with singer still in the second song whilst the orchestra returns to the first, is exquisite. Barbara Cook is by no means averse to a bit of fun either, and she lets go several times, notably in ‘Lover Come Back to Me and ‘The Gentleman is a Dope’.

With singer, lyricist, producer and orchestra in perfect harmony, few albums can match this one in pedigree, quality or stature; it really is all the things you dare hope it will be.