The introductory essay to this volume of songs is by the pianist Graham Lloyd, who describes his music as ‘unashamedly romantic in style’. In as far as it is the obvious alternative to most modern -isms, ‘romantic’ may be an apt term; yet at his best, as in the cycle Invite, to Eternity, Venables impresses as a songwriter in the line of, say Gerald Finzi, and ‘romantic’ seems not quite the word for that.