Eric Coates/sir Malcolm Sargen - Coates, Elgar, Coward: Orchestral Music [CD]

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Four 1950s Decca records of popular English music, newly remastered and issued complete for the first time on CD. \r
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Better than anyone else, Eric Coates and Sir Noel Coward captured the moods of middle-class, mid-century England at its most optimistic \u2013 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\u2019s London Morning ballet. \r
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The Three Bears is a brief orchestral fantasy on the tale of Goldilocks, illustrated by Coates with a Straussian pictorial relish. The Three Men captures the characters of a trio of English archetypes, in the country, in the city and at sea and The Three Elizabeths present a gallery of royal portraits, unified by a motto theme made famous as the signature tune to the BBC\u2019s film adaptation of The Forsyte Saga. Perhaps his most developed score, The Four Centuries crosses the ages from seventeenth-century pageantry, through the age of the waltz to the hectic world of big-band jazz. \r
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As a former professional violist working under Sir Henry Wood and Sir Thomas Beecham, Coates knew how to tell a story through notes with the fewest notes and the most character. Coward\u2019s success was also built on economy of means, with words as well as notes. Orchestrated by Gordon Jacob, his score for London Morning deftly sketches one scene after another: a suburban family, a girl teasing a sentry and a bobby on the beat, all to the familiar accompaniment of rain and bells. \r
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As a conductor rather than composer, Sir Malcolm Sargent embodied English music-making of the 1950s no less than Coward or Coates. This collection is completed with a new remastering of his 1953 Decca album, pairing Elgar\u2019s Enigma Variations with a suite of theatrical music by Purcell as arranged by the conductor Albert Coates (no relation of Eric).\r
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\u201cAnother suite of excellent musical journalism, recorded with all appropriate point and vigour \u2026 Blessings on deft providers of such things!\u201d Gramophone, October 1950 (The Three Men)\r
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\u201cIt all sounds disarmingly simple \u2026 yet no other contemporary composer, except possibly Leroy Anderson, seems to have mastered the secret \u2026 The performance under the composer\u2019s direction may be taken to be definitive.\u201d High Fidelity, September 1953 (The Three Elizabeths)\r
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\u201cA most satisfying performance \u2026 More excellent sound from Decca: the Coronation seems to have made quite a difference \u2013 richer, riper, more resonant.\u201d High Fidelity, September 1953 (Enigma Variations)\r
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\u201cSir Malcolm secures a performance that is both careful and enthusiastic; the tempi are sensible, the solos are beautifully played, and the recording is well managed.\u201d The Record Guide, 1955 (Enigma Variations)\r
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\u201cFull of interest from beginning to end. Playing and recording are both excellent.\u201d Gramophone, November 1959 (London Morning)

ERIC COATES: The Three Elizabeths \u2013 Suite

ALBERT COATES: Suite From The Dramatic Music Of Henry Purcell

Four Centuries \u2013 Suite

SIR EDWARD ELGAR: Variations On An Original Theme, Op. 36 \u2018Enigma\u2019

The Three Bears \u2013 A Phantasy

SIR NOEL COWARD: London Morning (arr. Jacob)

The Dance Of The Orange

The Three Men \u2013 Suite