Christoph Prégardien is still one of the finest, most thoughtful Lieder singers active today, and this new recital, presenting nine settings of Ernst Schulze alongside ‘eight songs to favourite poets’ is a typically considered affair. And what becomes immediately clear is that the tenor, though his voice has lost some of its honeyed bloom with the passing of the years, is a master of marshalling his still considerable resources. Some phrases fail to fill out in the way one would ideally like, admittedly, but the artistry is never in doubt: one soon forgets about the former and simply marvels at the latter, defined by a naturally communicative and open-hearted way with the words and a quiet, natural sensitivity.

The tenor also benefits from superlative support from Julius Drake. Well captured in a wide, realistic sonic picture, Drake is responsive and intelligent, his playing full of detail but never stealing the limelight. Listen, for example, to the wonderful bounce he brings to ‘Lebensmuth’, the way he turns ‘Im Walde’ (the Schlegel setting on track 13) into a miniature tone-poem, or the delicacy he conjures up in ‘Im Frühling’, matched, incidentally, by some wonderfully artless singing from Prégardien.

The programme is also cleverly assembled, with the more predominantly through-composed second half bringing extra variety just before the (quasi-)strophic Schulze songs start to overstay their welcome. Matters grow increasingly introverted and thoughtful as we progress, too: ‘Im Jänner’, with its hints – as Richard Wigmore suggests in his booklet-note – of Winterreise, feels like the moment when the melancholy hinted at early in the disc becomes more pronounced. Then, in the second half, we have some real gems. ‘Nacht und Träume’ and the opening of ‘Du bist die Ruh’ are floated with with a disarming lightness, the latter’s heart-stopping climax realised with urgency. ‘Greisengesang’ has an imposing, moving seriousness, as do the substantial final two songs, the masterful performances of which leave you in no doubt that this is a song recital of considerable stature.