Anyone new to the art of English song in the 20th century should look no further than this delightful programme. Moreover, it is delivered by a true specialist, Roderick Williams, who, with his mellow tone and perfect intonation, somehow manages to find the right tempo, a range of the most appropriate nuances and the perfect emotional tenor for each song. He is also supported admirably by Susie Allan, who provides that complementary articulation and gesture from the piano.

Butterworth’s first collection of poems by Housman, A Shropshire Lad, is the most impeccable encapsulation of the poet’s biting cynicism and introspective melancholy, sentiments which are brought out here by Williams with a panache in the lyrical numbers such as ‘Loveliest of trees’ and ‘Look not in mine eyes’, with remonstration in ‘Think no more, lad’ and secrecy in ‘Is my team ploughing’. Other classic songs form part of the programme. Vaughan Williams’s early setting of ‘Silent Noon’ not only possesses an inspiring pathos but Williams’s golden vocal quality brings out the erotic nature of Rossetti’s colourful vocabulary (I’d love to hear him sing the even more erotic setting by Farrar). Quilter is aptly represented by the wistful ‘Weep you no more, sad fountains’, an affecting, plaintive utterance, and the range of Gurney’s prodigious yet complex output can be perceived in ‘Sleep’ (perhaps the finest setting of Beaumont and Fletcher’s poem), written while he was a student under Stanford, ‘Black Stitchel’, a stormy post-war reflection, and the enigmatically haunting ‘Lights Out’, written on the cusp of coherence.

While Ireland’s art as a song-writer is epitomised by ‘Sea Fever’, though sung here in a manner that avoids the established stereotypical demeanour of the ballad, the grey skies and ruminative character of the composer are beautifully embodied in ‘In Boyhood’ and ‘Youth’s Spring Tribute’. The metrically fluctuating ‘Jillian of Berry’ by Warlock and Moeran’s deeply expressive ‘The Pleasant Valley’ furnish contrasting interludes, as do the two delicious lyrics of Ian Venables (whose art has been clearly inspired by his English forebears), but Williams comes into his own in Finzi’s Shakespeare collection Let Us Garlands Bring, where the centrepiece, ‘Fear no more the heat o’ the sun’, embodies not only the composer’s inimitable powers of interpretation and vocal rhythm but also Williams’s ability to project and sustain Finzi’s long, lyrical melodic lines. This is a treat.