encouraged by Freeman’s limpid touch, he finely captures the changing moods of the canticle My beloved is mine, from impassioned declamation to the stillness of ‘He is my Altar’ and the quiet rapture of the close. A lovely performance, this. Reservations creep in with the German songs...In Liszt’s Petrarch Sonnets Jackson has the right sort of voice and the right instincts.

This carefully-chosen programme reveals a combination of vocal heft and poetic sensibility which should make Jackson a superb future Peter Grimes. Purcell’s Man is for the Woman Made, despatched with crystal-clear diction and supported by exuberant playing from Freeman, makes for a spirited opener, whilst the more introverted Schumann songs (a clarion-toned Widmung stands out) are sung with real ardour and tenderness.