Owen Gilhooly (baritone), RTÉ NSO/Robert Houlihan RTÉ lyric fm CD135 ****

Frederick May (1911-85) led a life beset by tragedy. He studied with Vaughan Williams in London and secured a travelling studentship to study with Alban Berg in Vienna, but the great composer's death in 1935 intervened. He was also afflicted with tinnitus and seems to have completed just three concert works after 1940: the ambitious and deeply felt Songs from Prison(1941), a rather maudlin Suite of Irish Airs(1953) and the pastoral Sunlight and Shadow(1955). All of these feature on this centenary collection, along with the dark Scherzo(1933) and gentle Spring Nocturne(1937). The centenary also brings a celebration of his life and work through discussions and performances at the DIT Conservatory of Music and Drama tomorrow afternoon. This fascinating disc shows that one of Irish music's great might- have-beens was oriented more towards London than Vienna. See url.ie/dgar