Goethe warmed to [Tomášek], declaring that his Mignon songs showed true understanding of his poetry…his delightful, often salonesque, piano writing is palpably enjoyed by Roger Vignoles, and Renata Pokupic's winey mezzo, whose slightly accented German and rolled 'r's has an apt flavour and timbre.

While Tomášek had a gift for shapely, oten plaintive melody, in an idiom somewhere between Mozart and Schubert, he never hijacks a poem to create a new musical-dramatic entity, as Schubert famously did…there is much to charm and delight here…[and] the Croatian mezzo Renata Pokupić is a persuasive Tomášek advocate.

Many of Tomášek’s songs are little gems in their own right, and you can hear why Goethe himself approved of settings including Heldenröslein...Pokupić’s supple, gleaming mezzo-soprano could use a notch more colour at times, but is eloquent nonetheless, and pianist Roger Vignoles makes each song sound its best.