Britten the pacifist and sceptic, one of the most erudite vocal composers since Schubert and Wolf, has much to tell us; and certain words by the world-weary, almost late-medieval contemporary of Shakespeare, John Donne, will still resonate in an open heart some 80 years after their musical setting. For the German-speaking tenor, whose greatest delight lies in the shaping of a recit, At the Railway Station, Upway offers an utterly singular concept of musical speech animation and storytelling. And indeed, the tenor perhaps takes the greatest pleasure of all in singing Britten's songs, on either side of the English Channel; for these are works conceived in and for the tenor sound, written expressly with it in mind.