As so often, Finzi's word-setting is wonderful - a gift to any singer with a feeling for words as well as notes. James Gilchrist plainly enjoys both aspects of this work. His phrasing is typically musical and he points key syllables with great care.

James Gilchrist's singing is guided by a refined (yet passionate) sensibility, just right for Finzi, and his voice has substantial reserves of resonance and power.

Competition on disc, for this solo cantata, is strong. But James Gilchrist's performance, if not quite as lyrically unbuttoned as the classic EMI recording by Wilfred Brown with the composer's son conducting, is perfectly judged, while David Hill's moulding of the opening string Intrada sets the tone exactly. The rest of the disc is made up of odds and ends. The Prelude for string orchestra is all that survives of Finzi's plan to compose a chamber symphony, while The Fall of the Leaf was to be the central panel of an orchestral triptych. Farewell to Arms, a pair of settings of 17th-century poems, neatly complements the Traherne, and Gilchrist treats them with as much care.

With his clear, even tone, unaffected sensitivity to the text and eloquent phrasing of Finzi's long, floating melodies, James Gilchrist again proves an ideally sympathetic interpreter of the composer. David Hill draws supple, fine-textured playing from the Bournemouth orchestra and, crucially, never allows Finzi's music to meander.