There is not much suggestion of curiosity in Simon Keenlyside’s enquiries about the much-commended Sylvia, and if he has any personal feelings about the lady he conceals them behind a somewhat severe exterior. That is the first song of his opening Schubert group, and his last, the famous “Ständchen”, rather similarly discourages any sense of involvement. On the other hand, he sings both songs in such a way as to make it clear, if we did not know it already, that here is a singer with an unusually fine voice and full mastery of its usage: and for that is due more thanks than we (critics at any rate) usually show. In between these have come other songs, most memorably the sublime “Himmelsfunken”, that have more successfully engaged the imagination. Still, there has not as yet been, I would say, much in the way of communication.

One sometimes wonders what difference it would make were the order of performance to be reversed. By the end of the recital we are on quite intimate terms, but they have been attained gradually, stage by stage. Hugo Wolf is at his most welcoming in “Der Knabe und das Immelein” and Keenlyside is at his most responsive in “An die Geliebte”. Then, after the interval, all is French. Fauré’s “Aubade” brings charm to the programme. “En sourdine” matches tone to the half-closed eye, and the sleepy mood is sustained in “Green”. Keenlyside is at his best in “Notre amour” – and very French. In Ravel’s Histoires naturelles, the words clear and well pointed, we listen intently as to a master story-teller.

In all this he has more than the support of the pianist, Malcolm Martineau: he has a collaborator in whom the life of texts as well as the music is experienced and communicated unfailingly. And often both artists perform uncannily as one – I was present at the first of the two concerts with this programme and remember feeling in Wolf’s “Gesang Weylas” that it was as though the harp-like accompaniment was actually in the singer’s hands. Incidentally, there are discrepancies, of order and content, between the programme here and as printed: it’s perhaps a minority complaint but I slightly wish something had been said in the booklet.