There's something reassuringly timeless about the British lute songs and folk music that make up Andreas Scholl's latest recital programme. On a cold, dark Sunday afternoon, it seemed the aural equivalent of comfort food.

Among the ever-increasing number of world-class counter-tenors, Scholl has strong competition, but for sheer beauty of voice he's still probably unbeatable. These songs - mostly slow, contemplative and relatively simple - might seem the ideal vehicle for that beauty. But, in fact, they don't always bring out his very best.

For a start, they are all in English. Scholl can be a very communicative singer in or out of his native German, but on this occasion he didn't always succeed in getting the words over clearly enough, unless giving a phrase special emphasis. And many lie quite low in his range, where his voice is a little less brilliant and his pitch can become insecure.

He has performed some of these songs here before; the fact that his interpretations haven't changed much is not necessarily a bad thing, although this did take the edge off the performance's sense of exploration and spontaneity.

That's not to say these impressions were absent, or that Scholl's finest singing always seemed so very far away. Unaccompanied, he delivered the folk song King Henry captivatingly, like a troubadour bringing news of a royal death.

In the other numbers, he was partnered by the lutenist Karl-Ernst Schroeder, who brought his own imaginative accompaniments to the folk songs, and whose three solo items were played lovingly in an introverted manner that made us feel we were eavesdropping on a private performance.

Things livened up in the second half with Dowland's Can She Excuse My Wrongs? And in two songs by Thomas Campion, we were finally reminded that, when the fashionable young Jacobean man wasn't sighing over a disdainful maid, he was being smuttily suggestive about the ones that hadn't got away.

The encore was Handel's aria Verdi Prati from Alcina, its languid orchestral accompaniment skilfully arranged for lute by Schroeder to surprisingly good effect. And, in the space of a few minutes, it reminded us what an outstanding Handel singer Scholl is. Maybe next time he'll indulge us with some more of the baroque repertoire in which he really shines.

· Further performance tonight. Box office: 020-7935 2141.