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Eric Coates: Orchestral Works, Vol. 4
BBC Philharmonic, John Wilson
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 12th July 2024
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalists 2024
It’s entertaining stuff, light and breezy, and expertly played. A delight.
Eric Coates: Orchestral Works, Vol. 4
BBC Philharmonic, John Wilson
Purchase product
Awards:
-
Presto Recording of the Week, 12th July 2024
-
Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalists 2024
It’s entertaining stuff, light and breezy, and expertly played. A delight.
About
John Wilson’s fourth volume devoted to music by Eric Coates opens with Music Everywhere, a rousing march that was commissioned by Britain’s first independent TV and radio service, Rediffusion, for use as its signature tune. The concert waltz Footlights is a life-affirming evocation of the glamour of the inter-war West End, created just weeks before the start of the Second World War. In wartime, as it turned out, the demand for refreshing, morale-boosting music would be higher than ever. Coates's ‘Souvenir’ I Sing to You was premièred on 14 March 1940 – the week in which wartime meat rationing was introduced in the UK. Composed for his young son Austin, The Three Bears Phantasy transports the Goldilocks fairytale firmly into the 1920s. From Meadow to Mayfair reflects Coates’s own journey from rural Nottinghamshire to life in London. Under the Stars, composed in 1928, marks the first inclusion by Coates of an alto saxophone in his orchestration. The Four Centuries Suite is one of Coates’s most substantial compositions – not only in length, but also in the size of the orchestra. Its four movements evoke the musical styles of the sevent eenth, eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries. Dedicated to his wife, Phyllis, the work is also a celebration of the couple’s lifelong love of dancing.
Contents and tracklist
Spotlight on this release
Awards and reviews
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Presto Recording of the Week12th July 2024
-
Presto Recordings of the YearFinalists 2024
October 2024
It’s entertaining stuff, light and breezy, and expertly played. A delight.
August 2024
Of particular note in this fourth volume is the suite Four Centuries, a work right up John Wilson’s street...This evocation of 1930s dance styles is brilliantly executed by the BBC Philharmonic, with the sure hand of the conductor guiding them though an intoxicating cocktail.
July 2024
Wilson and his BBC Philharmonic forces duly negotiate it with great naturalness and with full awareness of its flinting moods… Once again this is a winner of a disc, Wilson effortlessly demonstrating that he continues to be the best conductor of Coates’ music around.
12th July 2024
Like all good fairy-tales, Coates’s musical narrative [in Goldilocks and the Three Bears] expertly balances light and dark elements:..The shorter, more quintessentially Coatesian pieces are all done with bags of charm, panache and attention to the fine details of the composer’s piquant orchestration.
12th July 2024
The Three Bears fantasy is a particular winner, also the Four Centuries suite. But every track is performed with the necessary blend of flair, finesse and, most importantly, love.