barnesandnoble.com: On your latest CD of Schubert songs, SPIRIT OF LOVE, you're accompanied by your sister, Jennifer. Has anyone has ever mistaken you two for TV's Partridge Family?

Ian Partridge: Funnily enough, on a concert tour to Syria in the 1970s, we went to a town called Homs and had to fight our way through an enormous crowd to get in. When we came out onstage we got a great reception because the audience thought they'd come to hear the "Partridge Family." By the second half, most of them had left!

bn.com: You've also performed "An Evening with Queen Victoria" with Prunella Scales ( known for her role in the TV sitcom "Fawlty Towers") in which you sing songs by Victoria's husband, Prince Albert. How do you rate Albert as a composer?

IP: I've done well over 300 performances of "An Evening with Queen Victoria." Prunella Scales is a wonderful artist, with a great love of music and an excellent ear. I like Prince Albert's songs very much - he wrote lovely melodies. When we performed in Brunei we had to audition before the performance, because Pru might have shown too much leg in the little dance she does when she falls in love with Prince Albert.

bn.com: You've worked closely with Benjamin Britten and his companion, Peter Pears. Did they give you any musical advice?

IP: Although I worked with Benjamin Britten quite a few times, I didn't know him well. Peter Pears was very supportive, advising me to sing through phrases more. I remember taking part in a concert performance of Britten's opera "Gloriana" on the day President Kennedy, a man that Britten admired, was shot. We kept the news from him until after the concert.

bn.com: You also recorded Schönberg's "Die Jakobsleiter" with Pierre Boulez. What's he like to work with?

IP: Boulez was a delight to work with. I've enjoyed doing recordings and concerts with him, including many performances of Stravinsky's "Le Rossignol" as well as more standard repertoire, especially a gorgeous oratorio by Schumann, "Der Rose Pilgerfahrt."

bn.com: You recently sang the part of the Evangelist on a recording of the SAINT MATTHEW PASSION by Trond Kverno, a contemporary Norwegian composer. It takes nerve to write a SAINT MATTHEW PASSION after Bach, doesn't it?

IP: Kverno's MATTHEW PASSION is a powerful work -- one and a half hours of unaccompanied singing. I think the strengths of the work lie in his choral writing. The story is told as it was in Heinrich Schütz's Passions, but with a modern version of plainsong.

bn.com: You recently performed a recital of Mozart songs with pianist Murray Perahia.

IP: Singing with Perahia was a real highlight for me. What a beautiful touch! I shall hear for evermore the superb way he played the run at that begins and ends the song "An Chloë."

bn.com: Last May you gave a master class at the Royal College of Music about the composer Frank Bridge, who was Britten's teacher.

IP: Frank Bridge's songs are outstanding. There are about 50 of them, but only a handful are sung today. He's a fine setter of words and composes very interesting accompaniments. He also uses a wide variety of styles. Do you know his orchestral rhapsody "Enter Spring"? If not, please listen to it!

bn.com: Do you listen to many recordings?

IP: I listen to CDs avidly. My favorite tenor from way back was Tito Schipa, especially in his early recordings. He was very elegant. I like Aksel Schiotz, particularly in lieder, Jussi Björling, and English tenors like Heddle Nash and Webster Booth.

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