British Light Music Classics, Vol. 4

Here's another CD to add to our ever-popular ‘British Light Music Classics’ series, again under the sprightly baton of Ronald Corp. The mixture is as before—lots of well-known melodies, the titles and composers of which we all have trouble remembering, except perhaps for Eric Coates's By the sleepy lagoon (forever associated with 'Desert Island Discs'), In a Monastery Garden, and perhaps Jamaican Rumba. Marching Strings will be familiar to all as the signature tune of 'Top of the Form'. A couple of the titles seem not to have been heard for many years, although once popular, such as The Doge's March from 'The Merchant of Venice' incidental music, and particularly the haunting Keltic Lament of John Foulds which it seems hasn't been recorded in many a long year. The CD also contains a complete performance of the Petite Suite de Concert of Coleridge-Taylor, containing the well-known Demande et Réponse ('Question and Answer').

All of the music on this album is also available as part of the specially priced box set British Light Music Classics: ‘Golden nostalgia with fidelity to a long departed but by many still cherished past. Riches indeed!’ (MusicWeb International).

CDA67400  75 minutes 48 seconds
EDITOR'S CHOICE (GRAMOPHONE)
BEST BUY (CLASSIC FM MAGAZINE)
‘Ronald Corp has few rivals in conveying one prerequisite element of this repertoire—charm’ (BBC Music Magazine)
‘Respectfully and meticulously played … this impeccably produced program—like its three predecessors—remains a precedent-setting endeavour that is sure to elicit grateful appreciation from many q ...
‘The playing struck me as even finer than in the past and the sound … first class, as before’ (Hi-Fi News)