For listeners looking for more music composed by Benjamin Britten or more music composed by Nicholas Maw, this program will be lacking. For listeners looking for more songs sung by tenor Philip Langridge, this program will be wanting. But for listeners looking for a sensitive, soulful, and completely successful recital of English music for voice and guitar and for guitar alone, this program will be ideal. Framed by arrangements for voice and guitar of two lute songs by John Dowland are song cycles for voice and guitar and variations for solo guitar by Britten and Maw on themes by Dowland and Mendelssohn. Langridge's singing is still clear, pure, and moving; Stephen Marchionda's guitar playing is crisp, warm, and virtuosic; and their partnership is easy, elegant, and affecting. While the repertoire may be a bit too fay or a little too etiolated for listeners looking for the more robust charm of German lieder, for listeners who are already half in love with quieter delights of English song, this disc will be deeply pleasurable. Chandos' sound is rich and close.
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