Developed by English baritone Christopher Maltman while he was still studying at the Royal Academy of Music in London, this very cleverly designed programme on the theme of war is made up of a selection of lieder from three English composers. The first is George Butterworth, who died at the age of thirty-one during the Battle of the Somme in 1916 after being shot by a sniper in Pozières. The second is Ivor Gurney, a poet and composer who was also in the Battle of the Somme and suffered from chronic depression due to shell-shock in 1917. Last but not least is Arthur Somervell, a composer who was influenced by Mendelssohn and Brahms and was too old to fight. He is renowned for several of his song cycles, including the Four Songs of Innocence, which are about the war. To echo the songs of these three composers, Christopher Maltmann and pianist Joseph Middleton have chosen various composers to represent all of the nations that were in conflict from 1914-18: Schumann, Mahler, Wolf, Moussorgski, Ives, Fauré, Poulenc, Finzi and Ireland. A multilingual, sophisticated and sensitive programme that highlights the absurdity of war and the madness of men. © François Hudry/Qobuz