The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center had a very good idea: a festival of English music, from the first third of the last century. And that idea is now being implemented: CMS will stage four concerts in all, the last taking place on February 25. Some of us — notably my colleague Fred Kirshnit — have complained of a paucity of English music in our city. The CMS festival is a fine remedy.

The festival is titled “An English Musical Renaissance,” and that is an apt name. In the Renaissance — the real Renaissance — and the early Baroque, there were three towering composers in England: Tallis, Byrd, and Purcell. (Some would throw in Dowland.) And then, there was hardly anything until almost 1900, when Elgar emerged. What happened? I once put this to the English filmmaker Tony Palmer. He said, “Don’t forget that honorary Englishman George Frederick Handel.” Yes, but a) he was born not long after Purcell, and b) he was an honorary Italian, too!

The first of the CMS concerts took place on Sunday afternoon, and it began with Purcell’s “Fantasia Upon One Note” for two violins, two violas, and cello. Hey, isn’t that cheating? I thought this was supposed to be music from the first third of the 20th century! Yes, but Purcell lays the ground. And his fantasy was played splendidly by the Orion String Quartet plus the second viola, Paul Neubauer. They were rich, inspired, and correct — correct but nicely free.

This same group moved on to the “Phantasy Quintet” by Vaughan Williams, composed in 1920. (Do you dig that spelling?) This is an endearing, four-movement work, and very, very British. You simply know the quality, or set of qualities, when you hear it. The slow movement is soft and beautiful, conveying what I can only describe as a happy melancholy. And our five players did well all through. In the Scherzo, they were lively but measured — the very definition, in fact, of lively but measured. And their dynamics were vivid. The final movement — Burlesca — is folkish, and the group employed just the right roughness.

One more piece before intermission: by the wonderfully named Sir Arthur Bliss. This was “Conversations,” written the same year as the Vaughan Williams, 1920. And for whom, or between whom, are these conversations? Flute, alto flute, oboe, English horn, violin, viola, and cello. The five sections all have names, such as “The Committee Meeting,” “In the Ball Room,” and “In the Tube at Oxford Circus.” Bliss has given us an example of program music, and it is uncorny and unforced — a pleasure.

CMS’s instrumentalists talked convincingly to one another, and to us. They were precise, charming, and not seldom whimsical. Stephen Taylor took care of both the oboe and the English horn. And he did so with his customary skill and musicality.

After intermission, we had a song cycle by Peter Warlock, who died in 1930 at age 36. This was “The Curlew” for tenor, flute, English horn, two violins, viola, and cello. (Come to think of it, that’s not far off from Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings, written about 20 years later.) Warlock draws his text from Yeats, and a curlew is a shorebird, incidentally. The cycle is desolate, bleak, and barely relieved. It makes “Winterreise” sound like a polka. And the work begins with an English-horn solo, moving upward — reminiscent of the Willow Song from Verdi’s “Otello.”

The tenor was Russell Thomas, who stood out in a performance of “Fidelio” at the Metropolitan Opera last season. He had just a few lines, as the First Prisoner, but they were memorable: I wrote that he “used what you might call a melting trumpet.” He did not quite use a melting trumpet in the Warlock, but he sounded very good. He showed a rounded tenor, which is a relatively rare thing. And he negotiated his part ably. Also singing, and singing beautifully, was the cellist, Timothy Eddy.

And, before the concert ended, it was back to Bliss: this time his Quintet for Oboe, Two Violins, Viola, and Cello. Mr. Taylor again delivered, and so did his Orion friends. In the final movement, Bliss gets jiggy, giving us a taste of that merry, springy dance. It was hard not to smile.

As it is over CMS’s festival at large. Composers still to come include Bax, Delius, Parry, Bridge, Holst, and Walton. Lovers of English music can rejoice, whistling “Rule, Britannia,” if they like.