Warm, comfortable and evocative (of hunts and purple glens, alpine innocence and golden sunsets), the horn goes well with voice and piano, and it is not surprising to learn that the combination enjoyed a spell of popularity in the nineteenth century. Nor does it come as a surprise to have it now introduced into the record catalogue by Sutherland and Bonynge, while the choice of Barry Tuckwell to complete the trio is welcome in the extreme. But what a pity there isn't some better music. The easy flow of melodic prettiness is all very well, but most of these songs strike me as being scarcely more memorable than their twentieth-century antithesis, the thing of plinks and plonks and no tune at all. Then there are the piano parts where the left hand is practically inert, while the right doodles some arpeggios: there's an occasional exception, where a livelier rhythm takes over or the wind blows in the poem while scales and other signs of life occupy the right hand for a time, but generally interest is minimal. So it would seem that most depends on the horn, but if so then it is really for nothing much more than its colour, its decorative properties, for there are no obbligatos here of the musically inventive type such as are plentiful in arias by Bach or Mozart.
The performances are accomplished and tasteful, but, since there is little call for subtlety, what these songs need above all is a fresh-sounding voice. Sutherland's tone is still remarkably pure, but the unsteadiness and other limitations tell of the years. In the first song, Denza's J'ai peur de l'aimer, the tessitura is low, and the sound, though not young, is pleasant and appropriate; but no, this is not typical, and the voice which might just possibly have saved the songs is not there.
For their parts, Tuckwell and Bonynge make the most of their opportunities, and at least all three artists convey a sense of enjoyment. The programme has not been completed without research, most of it credited to John Humphries, and Bonynge has rearranged for horn some obbligatos originally written for cello. The recorded sound is well balanced and clear, the presentation well set out and informative.'