Both of these cycles are finely written settings of poems for which the composer had a special affection, and they are sung by the artists to whom they were dedicated. Jill Gomez and Anthony Rolfe Johnson had both taken leading roles in Alwyn's opera Miss Julie, and the songs were offered as an expression of gratitude. Going with this is an appreciation of their voices and musicianship, Gomez so clear in tone and secure on high (there is a beautifully poised top C in the third song taken over a broad interval from below), and Rolfe Johnson so expert in coloration, with impressive resources of power to be drawn on at climaxes. The piano writing is also immensely skilful, as is the arrangement of the songs in sequence, so that (for example) the fifth song of Invocations, ''Spring Rain'' comes effectively, loosening the fingers after the chords and octaves of the fourth. Both pianists make much of their opportunities and are as 'authentic' in their work as the singers themselves.
Invocations comprises six songs, settings of poems by Alwyn's friend, Michael Armstrong, while A Leave-taking will in all probability afford most listeners an introduction to the poetry of John Leicester Warren, Baron de Tabley, a man of what they used to call many parts: botanist, author of A Guide to the Study of Bookplates (1880) and a poet who can write in his Study of a Spider:
Toper, whose lonely feasting chair
Sways in inhospitable air.
Alwyn has a fine sense of the song-maker's art in establishing a unity and allowing a difference. Particularly attractive are the ''Invocation to the Queen of Moonlight'', where there is an uncloying, delicate sweetness, and ''The Ocean Wood'' where the piano part enacts the sea-fantasy and the voice, catching the marine mystery, grows to a resounding climax. Forty-six minutes is rather short in playing-time, but it is easy to think of discs that last longer and have less on them.'