A few years ago, you might have seen Donald Lane striding along the corridors of the Oxford hospitals, where he spent much of his working life as a consultant physician.

But since hanging up his stethoscope he has turned to composing — and now some of his songs are about to be given their first airing in a concert of English song at the Holywell Music Room.

The main piece of the evening is the song cycle Kings and Tanists, based on a series of poems by Irish poet James Stephens, a little-known contemporary of James Joyce.

For anyone wondering what a ‘tanist’ is, Donald is happy to explain: “It’s a very ancient word, and it’s concerned with the inheritance of the chieftainship or kingship particularly of Celtic clans.

“When one king is appointed, they then appoint a tanist who is to be the next king.

“The poems are about a retiring king describing for the youngster what psychological and spiritual progress he needs to go through to become fit to be a king.

“He talks about forgetting everything you’ve already learnt and starting again from a position of humility, looking at all the bad aspects of your previous life and the things you can change.

“So it’s about encouraging this youngster to really take seriously the task of inheriting.”

Kings and Tanists was written for tenor James Gilchrist, who was a boy chorister at New College with Donald’s son, and who also worked in the medical profession before becoming a full-time singer in 1996.

Catching up with James recently, I found him full of enthusiasm for the project.

“I’ve enjoyed getting to know these pieces very much indeed, and it’s lovely to get involved.

“Donald’s very good at finding the natural rhythm of the words, and painting a vocal line that seems to sit well with the text.

“He’s chosen texts that are very interesting, full of drama and visual imagery, and it’s exciting to get to grips with that.

“They’re very approachable and very intimate settings of musical poems, and I hope that everyone will enjoy hearing them.”

Also in the programme are some of Donald’s other songs, including settings of poems by WB Yeats and Edmund Spenser, interwoven with songs by Cecilia McDowall.

As the concert takes place during Valentine’s weekend, there are several love songs, as well as songs about birds, beasts and flowers.

“We’ve got quite a varied programme,” says Donald. “We’ve got some of Cecilia’s flute music and piano music, and her Christmas Eve at Sea, which is a lovely piece for tenor, and it finishes with another of my settings of a poem by James Stephens, In the Poppy Field, which is amusing — it’s about a slightly idiotic character who sees angels in the sky, scattering poppy seeds on the ground.

“Neither of us write in what I would call a spiky, contemporary, avant garde style. We both believe there’s such a thing as melody, and Cecilia’s particularly skilled with different rhythms, which makes a great difference to the whole thing.”

Joining James on the night will be his regular accompanist Anna Tilbrook, flautist Julian Sperry and soprano Jane Harrington.

“It’s a very powerful team, and they all seem to be very enthusiastic about it,” says Donald.

“I’m thrilled that they’re going to do it.”

An Evening of English Song is at the Holywell Music Room on Saturday, February 12. For more information and tickets, contact Donald on donald199@btinternet.com