Marcus Farnsworth is spirited away by Britten

During his interview for Plushmusic.tv, singer Marcus Farnsworth was discussing the finer points of Benjamin Britten’s ‘A Poison Tree’ – the stand-out song in a set which propelled him and his pianist Elizabeth Burgess to the final of tonight’s Wigmore Hall Song Competition – when something caught his eye. Something that made him blanch. It turned out that the great man was scowling back at him from a nearby picture frame.

The walls in every room of Wigmore Hall are lined with photographs of illustrious visitors. The Hall takes justified pride in its friendliness, and in its care for its musicians. Nobody talks about the claustrophobia that can catch you unawares here. Nobody talks about the ghosts.

Or perhaps it’s simply that Marcus and his pianist Elizabeth Burgess have been living so closely to Britten’s settings of William Blake’s Songs and Proverbs. They’ve performed the song cycle twice in its entirety this summer, and they claim it’s the most intense set they’ve ever performed. ‘Britten really understands English,’ says Marcus. ‘Many composers have a problem with the choppiness of the language. But Britten had an extraordinary understanding of the poetry.’

Marcus and Elizabeth perform in the final of the Wigmore Hall/Kohn Foundation Song Competition tonight, Thursday 10 September. Plushmusic.tv will be streaming the entire evening from 6pm BST.