One of our most respected commentators on classical music, and a composer of refined choral and ensemble scores, Bayan Northcott has chosen words by Thomas Hardy for his contribution to the 20th anniversary celebrations of the leading new-music record label NMC.

Commissioned as part of the 4-CD boxed set, The NMC Songbook, where it appears alongside contributions from more than 100 British composers, Poet and Star is a duet for soprano, tenor and piano and is a highly atmospheric setting of o...