Coates, Elgar, Coward: Orchestral Music

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.

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's 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.

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's 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.

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's Enigma Variations with a suite of theatrical music by Purcell as arranged by the conductor Albert Coates (no relation of Eric).

"Another suite of excellent musical journalism, recorded with all appropriate point and vigour … Blessings on deft providers of such things!" Gramophone, October 1950 (The Three Men)

"It all sounds disarmingly simple … yet no other contemporary composer, except possibly Leroy Anderson, seems to have mastered the secret … The performance under the composer's direction may be taken to be definitive." High Fidelity, September 1953 (The Three Elizabeths)

"A most satisfying performance … More excellent sound from Decca: the Coronation seems to have made quite a difference - richer, riper, more resonant." High Fidelity, September 1953 (Enigma Variations)

"Sir 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." The Record Guide, 1955 (Enigma Variations)

"Full of interest from beginning to end. Playing and recording are both excellent." Gramophone, November 1959 (London Morning)