For the final recital in the Lane Gallery's brief Russian Season, Judith Mok sang a selection of songs by Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, Shostakovich and Stravinsky. To say that the first tow of these composers wore their hearts upon their sleeves would be an understatement, so unbridled is the passion expressed in their settings. The singer and accompanist, Dearbhla Collins, rose to the challenge and gave full value to words and music, ensuring that what might have seemed exaggerated was dramatically convincing.

To be present at such a full-blooded performance was a real treat, all the more so as the gentler moments were rendered with a exquisite restraint. Tchaikovsky's So Soon Forgotten (Zabit' tak skoro) was an overwhelming outburst, but the central episode, where the lover recalls the moon shining through the window and the breeze stirring the curtains, was a moment of ethereal calm.

After four songs by Tchaikovsky there were five by Rachmaninov, including the wordless Vocalise Op 34 No 14. It was hard to believe there was no text, for Judith Mok shaped the long flowing phrases with such a variety of feeling that she could have been performing a dramatic aria.

The Girl, from Shostakovich's Yiddish Songs, provided a transition to the five songs by Stravinsky, mostly settings of nonsense rhymes. Here the interest is not in melody but in elan: the performers readily adapted. Judith Mok is able to give her voice a Russian inflection, so one can feel transported well beyond the boundaries of Western Europe: one can feel the authority of her interpretation and appreciate that one has been present at a rare occasion.