Born in Bolton and still fondly remembered in his native Lancashire, Thomas Pitfield (1903‑99) could not have wished for more dedicated or shapely advocacy than he enjoys here from tenor James Gilchrist and pianist Nathan Williamson. Pitfield left us over 150 songs, and the vast majority of the 28 items gathered here were plucked from a 1989 volume published by Forsyth’s of Manchester, hand-picked and handsomely illustrated by the composer (who was also a gifted calligrapher, poet and cabinetmaker) and featuring an affectionate foreword by John McCabe. (Other composition pupils during Pitfield’s 26-year tenure at the Royal Manchester College of Music included John Ogdon, Ronald Stevenson and David Ellis.)

The introductory setting of Charles Kingsley’s ‘The Sands of Dee’ sets the bar high, attaining a level of inspiration effortlessly maintained by a pair of Pushkin settings (‘The Wagon of Life’ and ‘The Unfulfilled’) and the bewitching ‘Winter Evening: Dunham Park’. Other highlights from this 55-minute programme comprise folk-song arrangements from England (‘The Carrion Crow’) and Ireland (‘So far from my country’), an adaptation of Scottish dialect words (‘Faithful Johnny’) and a popular French nursery tune (‘In the Moonlight’). And who could resist the spooky, ‘things that go bump in the night’ atmosphere of ‘Shadow March’ (to words by Robert Louis Stevenson) or the the piano’s delicious imitation of the ticking belfry clock that launches ‘In an Old Country Church’? This last-named joins other standout treatments of Pitfield’s own verse (of which over 260 specimens survive) such as ‘The Child Hears Rain at Night’, ‘Birds about the Morning Air’, ‘September Lovers’ and ‘Song of Compassion’. There’s also something of a surprise in the shape of ‘Skeleton Bride’, a spoken recitation of a memorably wry and caustic poem by Preston-born Phoebe Hesketh (1909-2005): premiered by Sheila Barlow with John McCabe at the piano, it was subsequently recorded by the legendary BBC broadcaster Richard Baker accompanied by Keith Swallow.

Beautifully recorded by Oscar Torres in Surrey’s Menuhin Hall, it all adds up to a winning journey of discovery as well as a quietly compelling portrait that reveals Pitfield as a composer deserving of far wider exposure than he has hitherto received.