Roxanna Panufnik describes her invitation from Stephen Carpenter of the London Sinfonietta as ‘a composer’s dream’. She was given a free choice of texts, and the score tells consistently of enjoyment in the task. Vikram Seth’s cleverly rhymed fables provide attractive material for a composer with a sharp pictoral imagination, skill in orchestration and a sense of humour. The course seems set fair for her enjoyment in writing to find reciprocal pleasure in the listener.

But three singers are employed, and their part in the entertainment is more problematical. Two are characters (monkey, crocodile, frog, nightingale, etc); the third is cast as narrator, singing in what the context suggests may be a parody of the 12-tone style. I’m afraid that as far as this listener is concerned smiles at the joke are soured from the outset by the inherent unpleasantness of this idiom.

The edgy, uneven quality of Yvonne Howard’s voice makes matters worse, as does the feeling that the ‘character’ voices are often being asked to do things which, as singers, they should not. Patricia Rozario’s once lovely soprano voice seems now to be sadly compromised and, as the monkey, spends some of its remaining assets in remorseless passages of high-pitched laughter. Roderick Williams, whose fine voice is presently in full bloom, has some phrases near the end written inconsiderately high for the baritone followed by others at the low end of the range. The diction of all three is admirable, and that counts for much. The orchestral players combine skill with zest and are ably conducted by Sian Edwards.