In a short note in the booklet of his new album, tenor Ilker Arcayürek explains that he wanted to avoid another ‘Best of Schubert’ programme and use instead the composer’s songs to tell a story. The story he and pianist Simon Lepper tell – a trajectory of fresh love gradually fading – is admittedly not a new one; nor is the idea of splitting up a lieder album into chapters, here ‘Love’, ‘Longing’, ‘The Quest for Inner Peace’, ‘Resignation’ and ‘Redemption’.

But it’s a beautifully curated selection, mixing songs familiar and less well-known, and one that provides a deeply satisfying listening experience. It also offers an excellent showcase for the tenor’s gifts. He starts off bright and breezy in the opening trio of shorter songs, with Lepper relishing the high spirits of such songs as ‘Fischerweise’ and ‘Liebhaber in allen Gestalten’, and grows increasingly moving as the mood becomes more introspective.

His tone is bright, open and honest, and though it can turn a little raw under pressure, is particularly well suited to the more plangent numbers, which show off his beautiful piano timbre and long legato lines. The pair create a beautiful sense of stillness in ‘Du bist die Ruh’, and offer especially moving performances of ‘Die Götter Griechenlands’ and the late ‘Des Fisches Liebesglück’, which on its own constitutes the final ‘Redemption’ chapter.

Other highlights include a beautiful ‘Auf dem Wasser zu Singen’, a gently persistent ‘An die Sterne’, an imposing ‘Der Unglückliche’ and an unusually heartfelt ‘Der Wanderer’, where Lepper is superb in building up the piano’s opening dissonances to suggest the forbidding landscapes of the poem’s opening. Indeed, tenor and pianist work seamlessly throughout to produce performances that are wonderfully atmospheric and communicate music and text instinctively and powerfully. With luxurious presentation completing the package, this is a rewarding, easily recommendable release.