taking in Nyman’s work is something of a near religious experience – surely there can be few (if any) composers that paint a scene so graphic and vivid with just sound, so attaching his music to poetry brought to us by the first world war makes this a very special experience indeed.

Here he has crafted an eloquent song cycle, presented in two groups of four songs, each preceded by several instrumental movements. The texts were all written by poets who - with the exception of the English artist-poet, David Bomberg - sadly lost their lives during the First World War. moving stuff.