With each season soprano Sophie Bevan grows in artistic stature and when taking breaks from her distinguished operatic career, she has always felt supremely comfortable performing songs. Her enduring partnership with Sebastian Wybrew began as students at the Royal College of Music and this, their debut release on Wigmore Hall Live, captures her beguiling artistry and astonishing vocal gifts.

A recital to commemorate the anniversary of the beginning of the First World War, Songs of Vain Glory draws from a wider range of songs in English depicting the excitement, disillusionment and peace of those who must leave to fight and the love, fear and loss of those left behind. From the timeless, astral perspective of Finzi's 'At a lunar eclipse' to the oceanic depths of Elgar's 'Submarines' and the cosy evergreen 'We'll gather lilacs'.