Last updated 05:36, Friday, 25 July 2008

Vaughan Williams and English SongFor 50 minutes the talented duo of tenor, Stephen Anthony Brown, accompanied on the piano by Paul Jeanes, delighted their listeners with an exquisite performance of English songs.

The programme opened with three songs by William Sterndale Bennett, a little known composer of the mid 19th century (now undergoing something of a revival) whose chosen compositions gave a glimpse of a skilful, mature and sensitive composer. Steven Brown’s beautiful performance of them left one wanting more – and curious as to how this man’s music could have faded into almost total obscurity.

Equally unknown, at least to the writer, were three pieces set by Charles W Orr to AE Houseman’s A Shropshire Lad. Houseman’s seminal work has inspired many composers and it was refreshing to hear unfamiliar offerings of old favourites, although there was more than a whiff of the earlier, and more established, settings of George Butterworth about The lads in their hundreds and Is my team ploughing?

The recital, which also included songs by Parry and Gurney, ended with three pieces by Vaughan Williams and two by Benjamin Britten. VW’s The Water Mill was perhaps the least successful song of the concert, a little hurried and with an uncertain entry and one slight loss of way, but these were fleeting and Stephen Brown’s artistry, breadth of dynamic range, wonderfully expressive countenance and clarity of articulation, coupled with immaculate playing from Paul Jeanes, left the audience in no doubt of the undeniable beauty of English song.

ANTHONY PEACOCK