The newest volume of Stone Records’ complete Wolf series mixes young and old, early and late. Into the second category go the valedictory Michelangelo Lieder. In the first belong seven Goethe and Mörike settings plus two sets of six songs published, thanks to the financial support of Wolf’s friend Friedrich Eckstein, in the late 1880s but dating from the previous decade.

All of them show Wolf’s individual voice breaking through from the influence of Schubert and Schumann. There are several already masterful strophic songs (such as the beautiful ‘Sehnsucht’) and tastes of the characteristic sprightly mischief that would become such a hallmark for the composer.

And here too we largely have the young voices that have been the rule throughout the series. Thomas Hobbs brings a sweet, light, pleasingly plangent tenor tone to his assignments, and a lovely chaste, wide-eyed feel to ‘Wanderers Nachtlied’. Lydia Teuscher sings brightly in her songs, but also creates a moving portrait in Wolf’s remarkable early Gretchen song. William Berger projects with firm focus, and perhaps a touch too much tension, but relaxes nicely into a touching account of ‘Sehnsucht’.

Which leaves the veteran Robert Holl. He certainly can’t be accused of tension, singing with relaxed grandeur and a weather-beaten gravitas that suits his moving, melancholy account of the Michelangelo Songs perfectly. He does rather chew at his words, and there’s no disguising the wobble and occasional nasal quality of his tone, but his sheer authority and experience serve him well.

There’s supremely musical and vividly characterful piano-playing from Sholto Kynoch throughout, and the recorded sound, though on the close side, is excellent. Another fine instalment.