One school of thought has it that poetry should never be set to music, because it is word-music and does not need the notes.

But what if the poetry has disappeared largely from public view and requires a new presentation to survive for future generations?The fact that talented composer John Frith is living in Masefield's home town of Ledbury must be viewed as a fortunate coincidence.Frith's setting of eight Masefield poems stretched the Ledbury Community Choir to its limits. But the world premiere performance in Ledbury's Community Hall on Sunday was surely a triumph, although I had a few reservations.Only two of the poems, Cargoes and Sea-Fever, are still relatively well-known these days.In introducing the poems, the chairman of the John Masefield Society, Peter Carter pointed out that Masefield was probably the last massively popular major poet before the advent of modernism and modern academic criticism.Indeed, the words and the sentiments on the page can seem rather dated.But Frith's setting of Cargoes in particular was imaginative and thrilling. Put the work on CD, and I can see this becoming a Classic FM favourite."Sea Fever" as a song, surprisingly, lacked the uneartly cry of the verse, and the night's rendition of "Beauty" was the only song that seemed under-rehearsed.Only the male section of the choir sang "Beauty", and they were overpowered by the wind section and strings.The most dramatic setting was the grand finale, "A Wanderer's Song". This was powerful and challenging.Frith has made great use of his strings and flutes throughout the work, and I was continually reminded, in a postive way,of Hollywood film music from the 1930s.This, of course, was Masefield's own era. The most accessible song for me was "Trade Winds", which had a lively Latin rhythm.The composer, who sang with the choir, has clearly made enormous musical efforts to add variety and make each poem speak afresh.I look forward to a CD and the chance to consider this remarkable work again.