'Themed song recitals can go either way: embrace the listener through exploratory ingenuity, or become stifled by self-confinement. With one as imaginatively-devised as this, versatile soprano Harriet Burns and pianist Ian Tindale are on fertile ground. Conceptually, they leave themselves ample freedom to explore “metaphorical, literal and mystical” ways to fall. As such, the theme becomes intriguingly subliminal, ultimate enjoyment arising from a colourful range of repertoire and styles, from Coleridge-Taylor, Quilter and Vaughan Williams to Judith Weir, James MacMillan, even the whimsical frippery of Donald Swann. More obscure names widen the fascination : Christopher Churcher’s shimmering Skysongs, Muriel Herbert’s seductive Renouncement, Morfydd Owen’s folksy William among them. Burns is a dramatic tour de force in Weir’s unaccompanied King Harald’s Saga; Tindale asserts his own solo prowess in Cheryl Frances-Hoad’s star falling. Together they form a symbiotic, often captivating duo.'