Writing songs brought out the best in Samuel Barber. He had an ear for good texts and responded to them concisely and precisely, an impression reinforced by this double CD, which brings together all the songs he is known to have written. These include 19 that haven’t been recorded before, many dating from Barber’s earliest days as a composer – but that is no drawback when you consider that he was still a student when he made his masterly setting of Matthew Arnold’s poem Dover Beach.
