Babs back at 83 with music to melt the soul

On her first new album for seven years, the incomparable Barbra Streisand returns with a collection of duets both supremely stylish and commendably ambitious.

- Barbra Streisand

She has never knowingly stood still in her music or movie career. Now 83, she would surely be forgiven if she wanted to take her foot off the pedal a touch. Not a chance.

Here we have an immaculately crafted spectrum of top-shelf material - Paul McCartney's My Valentine, James Taylor's Secret O' Life, Sting’s Fragile, to name but a few - delivered in a sequence of refreshingly boutique interpretations.