This enthralling new recording from Mark Padmore and Roger Vignoles finds its emotional heart in the theme of youth, and in particular the passage of time inherent in this all-too-transient phase of human existence. Opening with Boyhoods End by Sir Michael Tippett (whose centenary falls in 2005), we are transported through Gerald Finzis wondrous A Young Mans Exhortationto the poetry of Thomas Hardyto three rarely performed works by Benjamin Britten. Who are these children?, twelve songs to words by William Soutar, is a fascinating response to the themes of innocent childhood (the Scottish songs) and the tragic loss of this childhood (the English songswritten as a reaction to war-time photographs published in 1941). The Sechs Holderlin-Fragemente have been neglected on the concert platform, not least because they are rare in Brittens song output as being in German. The music owes something to its composers love of the lieder of Hugo Wolf. Um Mitternacht is Brittens only setting of Goethe. There is some evidence that a cycle was planned, but in the event this single song had to wait till 1994 before it was published as part of the collection A Red Cockatoo & other songs. Roger Vignoles sensitively brings life to the piano accompaniments beneath the ardent tenor of Mark Padmore, as performances and programme combine to create a most satisfying recital.