Leighton: Earth, Sweet Earth; Britten: Winter Words/ James Gilchrist (tenor), Anna Tilbrook (piano)

The first time you hear Earth, Sweet Earth (Laudes Terrae) by Kenneth Leighton (1929-88), the piano introduction is so elaborate, pensive and self-sufficient you forget the voice will enter at all. James Gilchrist makes the same observation in his programme note for these settings of Gerard Manley Hopkins, given vividly nuanced performances by the British tenor and his regular duo partner Anna Tilbrook. Each word is clear, each pianistic colour brought out. Paired, fittingly, with Winter Words by Leighton's contemporary Benjamin Britten, this haunting disc provides a fierce elegy to our lost Eden. Tilbrook and Gilchrist have also just released Schubert's Schwanengesang and Beethoven's An die ferne Geliebte on Orchid Classics, strongly recommended.