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The sole vocal entry on a new Divine Art CD featuring music of the short-lived William Baines (1899-1923: a victim of tuberculosis) is also the only world première recording on the disc. For Five Songs, Gordon Pullin’s well-modulated tenor voice merges expressively with Duncan Honeybourne’s piano. Four of these five songs last less than two minutes, the fifth only two-and-a-half, and these miniatures are very much of their time: they are Impressionistic, pleasant, with some well-done tone-painting (especially in the second, Fern Song), but are ultimately not particularly consequential – although Baines’ determination to keep the words clearly audible while having the piano paint scenic backgrounds is admirable. The remaining works on the disc, although not world premières, are somewhat more substantive, at least in toto – none of them individually stands out as exceptional music-making except the first and longest, Paradise Gardens, an expressive and well-paced 10-and-a-half-minute journey to and exploration of a pleasantly manicured outdoor world. The Naïad and The Island of the Fay are single-movement portrayals of their subject matter that use the piano effectively, showing considerable command of the instrument’s expressive potential. The other pieces here are multi-movement suites: Silverpoints has four portrayals, Tides two, Pictures of Light three, and each of the Eight Preludes conjures up a different small scene (six of the eight bear specific titles). Baines is shown here as a miniaturist with harmonic and expressive orientations similar to those of other composers of the early 20^th century, such as Debussy and Ravel. His ability to evoke a scene within a few minutes is impressive, and if much of this material is of the salon-music type, it is not really “light” music but is expressive and heartfelt, clearly exemplifying its time period if not really exploring new directions or dimensions. The CD ends with an extended “tribute” piece called At the Grave of William Baines by Robin Walker (born 1953).