Reviewed by Steven Whitehead

Setting poems, especially well-loved ones, to music present a special kind of challenge to a composer. "The Holy Sonnets Of John Donne" that open this recital were written in the 17th century by one of England's finest poets. Britten wisely avoided setting them to a mock-Tudor pastiche and wrote music that is uniquely his. In fact Britten was writing in August 1945 soon after a tour of Nazi concentration camps with Yehudi Menuhin. The music is understandably bleak but still allows the passion of Donne's words to shine. The "Seven Sonnets Of Michelangelo" belong to the period when Britten begun to set foreign languages in an attempt to broaden his musical horizons. The lyrics (which are translated in the accompanying booklet) are about different aspects of love. The final cycle included here are eight settings of "Winter Words" by Thomas Hardy. Those who like Britten will think that this is a great CD and those who don't, won't. Whatever our response we should applaud the tenor Philip Langridge who gives his all and the skilful accompaniment of Steuart Bedford on the piano who illuminates the music without ever over-powering it.

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