A present pour vous

For anyone who's having a last-minute Christmas present panic, or who simply wants to hear something utterly delectable instead of the unending stream of noxious news being poured into our ears as if we were so many unsuspecting old Hamlets, I strongly recommend nipping out to buy Opera Rara's new recording of Offenbach rarities, Entre Nous. It's irresistibly funny, sparkling and diverting. There's a grand 'snow finale' from Le voyage de la lune, in which the singers shiver and trill in tune, a funeral oration to a parrot which has died of constipation, a rondo du paté with a chorus in praise of ham, a pair of yodelling German army colonels and numerous other ludicrous delights. Absolute bliss.