Not at all my usual cup of tea, but I found this small-scale music-making completely beguiling. The 'To Julia' cycle, with the piano and string quartet accompaniment, was particularly effectve and uplifting. Quilter's music cedes nothing whatsoever of beauty or emotional content to the lieder tradition. Nor do these singers and musicians.
As I am not accustomed to listening to this kind of music, I was not previously aware of a single one of the performers. That is my loss, because they are all remarkable musicians - it is a dreadful shame that musicians of this exceptional calibre cannot achieve the wide exposure due to them in today's musical world.
It is invidious to pick out one from such a talented group, but I was particularly struck by Lisa Milne's beautiful, clear, bell-like soprano and her perfect intonation and diction. One can actually clearly hear and understand every single word she sings. If this sounds obvious and simplistic, you haven't heard much contemporary sung English music.
Full marks to Naxos for an excellent recording and the notes with the words of all the poems.
Worth several times the price!