Recitals by Carolyn Sampson or Roderick Williams are always keenly anticipated, but a disc from both of them together is a red-letter day for lovers of song. Add the sensitive and astute Joseph Middleton on piano and it’s a case of hang out the bunting!

The premise of Sounds and Sweet Airs may seem straightforward – a collection of 37 settings of Shakespeare through the ages – but the results are anything but. Time and again, a judicious juxtaposition leads us to a richer and deeper appreciation of these timeless texts and what they have meant to people, from 18th-century London to 20th-century Paris.

Like a play, the recital is divided into five acts with prologue and epilogue, opening with three duets. John Ireland’s Full fathom five is a charmer, a scampering ditty with lively canonic effects. Vaughan Williams’ Dirge for Fidele (a setting of Fear no more the heat o’ the sun from Cymbeline) is a real find, a work oozing sweetness and balm. The moment...