Beecham had his 'lollipops', short works he used as encores and Sir John Barbirolli had his favourites, too, but more often than not he included them in his lighter Hallé programmes or as Promenade Concert encores. He never regarded popular pieces as beneath his notice or in any snobbish light – they were pieces thousands of people liked to hear and their popularity was a sign of how good they were as music. He grew up in Edwardian London where the theatre orchestras revelled in the music of Edward German and Lionel Monckton. As a child he listened to the band playing in Lincoln’s Inn Gardens and that was where he decided he wanted to be a conductor. We can be sure that it was there he first heard the William Tell ballet music, the Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana and the Dance of the Hours. He loved them then and he loved them all his life. So when he conducted them – as the performances on this disc eloquently testify – he lavished as much artistry on them as he did on symphonies by Elgar and Mahler. No one in the audience could fail to know that he loved these pieces, he communicated his affection with a smile, with a little extra touch of showmanship, with a glance round at the audience to see if they were enjoying it as much as he was. The last two tracks of this disc comprise a brief snatch of Sir John rehearsing for a stereophonic test ‘take’ of Shepherd’s Hey, which is here issued for the first time.