Jean-Marc Salzmann (baritone), Jeff Cohen (piano)

Under the title Massenet And His Students, Sunday's recital took the listener on a voyage round the Mediterranean. It was divided into five sections - Provence, Italy, the Middle East, Greece and Spain - each including a number of songs by Massenet; the students represented were Ernst Moret, Reynaldo Hahn, Charles Koechlin, Ernest Chausson and Maurice Ravel, all dating from the latter half of the 19th century.

One has become used to the half-lights of Debussy and FaurΘ, so one immediately noticed the full-bloodedness of Salzmann's singing and the far-from-retiring piano accompaniments of Jeff Cohen.

It was not that the performers could not modulate to an exquisite reticence, as in Moret's ╘te Ton Voile, but they chose on the whole to emphasise a Mediterranean brightness, as in Ravel's Five Greek Folksongs.

The nine songs by Massenet were so good that one wondered why they are not heard more often; the infectious high spirits of L'Improvisateur and Souvenir De Venise, the beguiling simplicity of Chant Provenτal and the subtle scene-painting of Vers BethlΘem, in which the Holy Family hear the sound of angels' wings, explained why Massenet influenced his talented pupils.

The mostly unfamiliar repertoire (who was Ernest Moret?) was a voyage of discovery, greatly helped by the provision of the texts of all the songs, and the audience responded enthusiastically to the obvious enthusiasm of the performers, not to mention their ability to put across the spirit and atmosphere of each song, from the almost macabre gloom of Koechlin's La PriΦre Du Mort to the inebriated jollity of Ravel's Chanson └ Boire.