Ivor Gurney/Anthony Rolfe Johnson

Every now and then the world throws a serendipitous combination of talents, personalities or events that leave us with something very special to inspire us and be treasured. Since I came across this beautiful song by Ivor Gurney the other day it has completely filled my mind and my inner ear to the point of distraction. I cannot escape its achingly lovely and poignant melody and the way it so perfectly expresses W.B.Yeats's words.

But almost more wonderful still is the stupendously sensitive and sublime singing of Anthony Rolfe Johnson. What a voice! What breath control! It takes a good man to be able to sing like this, not only a master of his craft but truly good of heart. A simple son of the soil, and a farmer before he was a professional singer, it should not surprise us that he can 'get inside' Gurney whose love of the natural world was so profound.

Although his sad loss to the musical world last year has robbed us of a voice that I believe is the finest England produced in the last 40 years, we have recordings like this to remind of his musicianship and his deep humanity. God keep you, Tony.