Whilst agreeing with you, Don, there is still in England the incongruity of a certain classical way of singing (let's say an operatic style) performing, for instance, a sea shanty or one of the more earthy pieces. Whilst the incongruity is so obvious it can be quite entertaining in a comical way. There is no inverted snobbery here.

I'd certainly pay good money to hear Joan Sutherland singing The Ball of Kirriemuir for instance.

A good number of our folk songs came down from the 18th century theatre and started out as art songs, Spring Glee, Sweet Nightingale, Dame Durden, Sheep Shearing, Seeds of Love, Sprig of Thyme, Bushes and Briars etc. and I would have no qualms at these being sung in operatic style as they would have started out being sung in this way.

BTW I too am a big fan of listening to the arranged folk tunes of Britten, Vaughan Williams etc. They reach parts of my mind that folk songs sung by the likes of Harry Cox don't, but I like both equally.