One should not, I suppose, talk of “nailing” composers, particularly one so sensitive as Ivor Gurney. But it is a strange experience, here in this chronological selection of his songs, to watch him become himself (via, in turn, Stanford, Quilter, Brahms and Duparc) only to be left unsure of what that self really is. He seems to have lost dependency on others in the 1916/17 songs and to be confident of his own identity by late 1919, with Walking Song, Lights out and (1920) Black Stitchel. Yet, fine as these are, his musical character remains elusive. With the last of them, Western Sailors (1926), one feels he has achieved mastery – but of what exactly?

Well, one comes to such things with time, perhaps, and certainly this recital provides an opportunity, one without precedent in that eight of the songs are announced as first recordings (and, surprisingly, Western Sailors is among them). They are also presented in the company of other composers, congenial spirits one would imagine, two of whom also have songs recorded for the first time. Of John Sanders and Christian Wilson it might be wished that perhaps some more robust idiom had been theirs. With Ian Venables the gift for song seems much more innate, with his Robert Graves setting, Flying Crooked, a particularly delightful example.

Roderick Williams again shows his merit within the strong English baritone tradition. Not all of these songs fall easily on the voice: Song of Silence and The White Cascade ask for quiet singing in an uncomfortable region of the baritone range. Williams does well, singing with admirable control. Susie Allan is the able pianist, and the disc is well supported by an informative booklet with clearly printed texts.