For the ninth volume of his Brahms series, Graham Johnson is joined by Robin Tritschler – the third tenor to feature. For a handful of delightful duets, the soprano Harriet Burns returns for a cameo after taking centre stage with Vol 8 (10/19). As before, the pianist has chosen a programme that spans Brahms’s whole song-writing career and culminates with a selection from his 49 Deutsche Volkslieder.

The mood is predominantly reflective, gently folkish and naive throughout, which proves a good match for Tritschler’s youthful, firm tenor and bright, straightforward interpretations. He captures beautifully the artlessness of the early ‘Mondnacht’ and the urgency of ‘In der Fremde’ – two songs based on poems famously set by Schumann. He’s superb in the folk songs themselves, as well as such irresistible folky numbers as ‘Sonntag’. ‘This is one of those songs that could mean nothing, or everything’, writes Johnson of ‘Maienkätzchen’, and he and Tritschler are adept at striking an ideal here and elsewhere to convey both.

The hits that pop up, too, are in good hands: ‘Feldeinsamkeit’, paired with the wonderful ‘Waldeinsamkeit’, is allowed to float seductively, with Johnson’s accompaniment a marvel of delicacy. ‘Vergebliches Ständchen’, with Burns joining in, is a delight. She sings brightly, even if, as Richard Wigmore noted for Vol 8, she could make more of consonants. Her rich timbre is maybe not the ideal match for Tritschler’s, either, which can take on a slight nasal quality (with ‘o’ and ‘a’ sounds not always ideally distinguishable) in the more forceful moments.

That’s to nitpick, though. With the usual high-quality documentation and engineering, this is an excellent addition to this series, and one that amply demonstrates what a superb Lieder singer Tritschler is.