PRESIDENT of the Ryedale Festival for the past 17 years and its presiding genius for much longer than that, John Warrack reached his 90th birthday in February.

His contribution to the festival has been immense: overtly in his urbane and informative programme notes and as witty translator for virtually every production by the Festival Opera, but behind the scenes as a shrewd and astute oracle on all matters musical, he has been unfailingly generous with his time.

So it was only right that the festival should offer its grateful congratulations with a programme of his own choosing. As author of major books on Weber and Tchaikovsky, he naturally selected them first, adding five nicely judged settings by his father Guy and grandfather John, and ending with Schumann’s song-cycle of poems by Eichendorff, the Liederkreis Op 39.

Two promising singers in their early twenties should have shared the first half. Weber’s 90-odd songs are not widely known, but they are always entertaining. As a pianist himself, he knew how to craft idiomatic accompaniments. In the hands of Christopher Glynn they emerged with clarity and style.

The soprano Harriet Burns and the tenor Kieran Carrel were persuasive advocates. Burns dealt prettily with The Violet in the Valley and Carrel enjoyed the boisterous fun of Round Dance. They also well captured the pervading, Russian melancholy of Tchaikovsky; the provocative Pimpinella and a serenading Don Juan considerably lightened the mood.

Carrel brought theatrical skills to Weber’s Four Temperaments – a lover’s varied responses to moods – before Benjamin Appl applied his very considerable artistry to the Liederkreis. The more intimate songs were especially captivating. He was confiding in Silence, wide-eyed in Moonlit Night, nostalgic in A Distant Land, creepily crepuscular in Twilight (signing off with spoken words). But there was also ecstasy in a distant land and a brilliantly effervescent Spring Night. Schubert’s An die Musik made an enthralling bonus.

In the morning, Robert Hollingworth conducted The 24 in Bach: a Lutheran Mass and Cantata 178, with a fine (unnamed) chamber orchestra. The choir was forthright and well-blended, and there were especially impressive arias from bass Eamon Dougan and tenor Nicholas Mulroy. Alex Jennings declaimed two Hopkins poems, beautifully.