Geoffrey Bush made a significant contribution to English song, while Joseph Horovitz’s modest but equally varied contribution includes Lady Macbeth, a powerful, harmonically astringent scena, as well as witty cabaret items and one song which, in its late-Romantic nostalgia, reveals his Viennese roots. Bush’s Cuisine Provençale has elements of an operatic drama, while the cycle Yesterday enshrines ballad simplicity and deft word-painting. Mirabile Misterium sets medieval texts which explore various types of ecstasy, and archy at the zoo demonstrates Bush’s zest and wit.

Born in Vienna, Joseph Horovitz moved to England in 1938. He is a prolific composer in many genres, from ballets and operas to concertos; and from musical scores for television plays to films including Tarzan’s Three Challenges (1963). His interest in writing for the clarinet grew out of his friendship with Gervase de Peyer, whom he met when they were students at the Royal College of Music in London in 1948, and they later went on to study in Paris together.

Soprano Susanna Fairbairn was a 2013 Park Lane Young Artist, and winner of the Selma D and Leon Fishbach Memorial Prize at the 2014 London Handel Singing Competition.

Pianist Matthew Schellhorn has given performances in major venues throughout the UK, including Wigmore Hall and the Purcell Room, and has performed live numerous times on BBC Radio 3. He has also been featured on Classic FM.