Payne’s deep connections with past historical figures are most widely recognized through his completion of Elgar sketches and in-depth studies of Bridge and Schoenberg. In the notes to his song’s first performance, he describes engagement with Ursula’s text as a kind of love affair, a statement which may indicate the immersion or character adoption he sometimes undertakes as part of the compositional process. In ‘The Headland’, the piano textures consist ofrapid figurations whose  gestures and detail depict a landscape in the vein of English impressionism. Against this backdrop, broad, bold vocal strokes exploit extremes of register and dynamic to provide colour and power – dramatic shifts from darkness to light. One is reminded here of the broad sweep of pastoral landscape and connotations of religious enlightenment that are associated with the English lyric tradition. (Lee Tsang, 2010)