This second volume of Britten orchestral songs features his two arguably best-known works in the genre, together with a major vocal work from the very last years of the composer’s life. The masterly Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings is an extraordinary example of Britten’s ability to set an anthology of texts bound together by a similar theme, in this case, the world of night, sleep and dreams. Composed as a companion piece to the Serenade, the Nocturne employs a more ambiguous harmonic language. Here the tenor solo is joined by seven solo instruments, each imparting a different tone colour to each setting. Phaedra represents the distillation of a lifetime’s expertise in operatic composition and remains one of the most dramatic cantatas for soprano in the repertoire.