BRITTEN's Cantata Misericordium is a beautiful and moving work, compressing into 20 minutes much of what is said more dramatically, and at greater length, in the War Requiem and the three church parables of the same period. But its brevity and subtlety, which might be considered its special virtues, seem to have been its undoing. Unlike these other works, it has almost vanished from the repertoire, even though its message, that of the Good Samaritan, is more vital than ever.

So Perth's performance of it in church surroundings Britten himself would have favoured, was a timely act of restitution by a festival which in recent years has made a major feature of Britten's music. Placing it alongside Faure's Requiem, a work which similarly proclaims the value of understatement, was moreover an inspired idea, ensuring that both composers were heard to advantage.

Conducting his annually recruited festival forces, John Currie obtained performances whose points of climax sounded all the better for emerging from such a soft-grained, often mistily luminous background of choral and orchestral tone.

Choosing two young soloists - Mark Wilde and Daniel Broad - from his Albert Herring cast for the roles of the Traveller and Samaritan was similarly inspired, helping to make the one work seem an obverse of the other.

The music was unerringly paced, touchingly voiced, and articulated with meticulous clarity. The same could be said for the Faure, sung in John Rutter's restrained arrangement. In this, the same tenor and baritone were joined by Susan Leslie, heard to sweet and steady effect in the Pie Jesu.