01. Ron Goodwin: 633 Squadron [2'39]
02. Vivian Ellis: Coronation Scot [2'46]
03. Robert Farnon: Westminster Waltz [2'51]
04. Eric Coates: London Suite - Knightsbridge. March [4'14]
05. Eric Coates: London Suite - Covent Garden. Tarantelle [4'53]
06. Charles Ancliffe: Nights Of Gladness [4'50]
07. Trad. (arr. Peter Hope): Mexican Hat Dance [4'22]
08. Ronald Binge: Sailing By [2'43]
09. Haydn Wood: London Landmarks Suite - The Horse Guards, Whitehall [3'39]
10. Ronald Binge: Elizabethan Serenade [2'51]
11. Trevor Duncan: Little Suite - March [3'06]
12. Arthur Benjamin: Jamaican Rumba [2'16]
13. Ernest Tomlinson: Silverthorne Suite - Concert Jig [3'41]
14. Eric Coates: By The Sleepy Lagoon [3'51]
15. Edward White: Puffin' Billy [3'44]
16. Anthony Collins: Vanity Fair [3'53]
17. Robert Farnon: Jumping Bean [2'23]
18. Ernest Bucalossi: The Grasshoppers' Dance [2'57]
19. Arthur Wood: Barwick Green (My Native Heath) [3'11]
20. Eric Coates: The Dam Busters March [3'34]
BBC Concert Orchestra conducted by Vernon Handley
Sony Essential Masterworks 88697707372 [recorded April 1997; first CD issue on BMG's CLASSIC fM label in 1997; this digital release 2010]
[digital download; flacs, cover and back scans, no booklet]
Recording venue: Not knownRecording engineer: Andrew Groves; Producer: Andrew Walton
Some lightweight fare for the holiday season. This recording first appeared on a label for the British radio station CLASSIC fM where it was saddled with the naff title "The Essential British Light Music Collection". It's later release on Sony's Essential Masterworks label has a equally naff title. Who decides what is 'Essential' or 'Best'? I can easily do without Ron Goodwin's 633 Squadron. And how do Robert Farnon and Arthur Benjamin qualify as British? These titles must put off many prospective purchasers just as much as the use of 'Project', 'Journey' or 'Tour'.
Nevertheless this is a generally well thought out collection of familiar and less well known works given lively performances throughout by Handley and his orchestra. Indeed, a bit too lively for my taste in some cases. I much prefer Adrian Boult's more leisurely recording of The Dambusters for Lyrita, for instance and Anthony Collins' charming Vanity Fair is a bit prosaic. Not something one can often say about Handley's conducting. Other works do benefit from Handley's approach though.
As with so many digital downloads, this came without any documentation and I have included a poor back scan sourced from the internet together with cover and back scans of the original CfM issue.