Coates, Elgar, Coward: Orchestral Music
Geoffrey Corbett, Eric Coates, Sir Malcolm Sargent
***
Four 1950s Decca records of popular English music, newly remastered and issued complete for the first time on CD.
Better than anyone else, Eric Coates and Sir Noël Coward captured the moods of middle-class, mid-century England at its most optimistic – and in other ways most nostalgic, comforting their audiences and distracting them from their troubles with music as changeable as the weather if orchestrated always on the sunny side. The revival of interest in British light music makes this collection all the more appealing, featuring first recordings of three extended orchestral suites by Coates (recorded 1949-1954) and Coward’s London Morning ballet (1959, still in mono).
TRACK LIST
CD 1
ERIC COATES (1881–1957)
The Three Elizabeths – Suite
Four Centuries – Suite
The Three Bears – A Phantasy
The Dance of the Orange Blossoms (The Jester at the Wedding)
The Three Men – Suite
New Symphony Orchestra of London
Eric Coates
CD 2
ALBERT COATES
Suite from the Dramatic Music of Henry Purcell
SIR EDWARD ELGAR (1857–1934)
Variations on an Original Theme, Op. 36 ‘Enigma’
London Symphony Orchestra
Sir Malcolm Sargent
SIR NOËL COWARD (1899–1973)
London Morning
Orchestrated by Gordon Jacob
London Philharmonic Orchestra
Geoffrey Corbett
FIRST CD RELEASE ON DECCA