LOUD amplification does knot turn a modest tenor voice into a Caruso; not even when multiplied by three.
And why three young Irish singers with not a hint of Italianate tone between them should take on a programme based on what you might call the Mario Lanza repertoire is beyond me.
What the amplification did do at the NCH on Saturday was to distort whatever vocal gifts these artists have into an aural pea soup of unfocussed, and mainly very loud, sounds.
And this constant assault on the ears was compounded by Mark Armstrong and his 16 piece band who didn't so much accompany the singers as compete with them - and win.
Only Paul Hennessy's dryish and cabaret orientated voice took kindly to the microphones, but at the cost of the way they exposed his pidgin Italian and more than a hint of wobble on sustained notes. Niall Morris and James Drummond Nelson, both of them experienced opera and concert performers, sounded like parodies of themselves.
Mr Nelson's suave way with Lehar's Girls were made to love and kiss suited him well, however; and the three delivered Mr Armstrong's clever arrangement of Danny Boy rather pleasantly.
It was left to the accomplished oboe playing of David Agnew and the splendid soprano singing of Mary Callen Clarke to save the evening. She outsang the three men in every way, including volume, and coped with the menacing microphones by standing further back from than anybody else.
In the music hall ditty I Want To Sing In Opera, the line about changing her name to Clarkini in order to get a part in an opera prompted the question: when are we going to hear her considerable voice on the opera stage here again?