Cecil Armstrong Gibbs’ Shade and Shine (1958)

I recently wrote about Thomas Pitfield’s delightful Theme and Variations (1951), newly released on British Music for Strings, Vol. 4 (CPO 555452 2, 2025). This excellent album, performed by the Südwestdeutsches Kammerorchester Pforzheim under Douglas Bostock, also includes works by Gordon Jacob, Thomas Dunhill, Imogen Holst, and Alan Bush. Another piece that caught my ear was Cecil Armstrong Gibbs’s Shade and Shine (1958).

Cecil Armstrong Gibbs was born at The Vineyards, Great Baddow in Essex on 10 August 1889. He graduated in history (1911) and then music (1913) from Cambridge where he studied with Edward Dent, Cyril Rootham and Charles Wood. Ill health prevented him from enlisting during the First World War, and he spent those years teaching at Copthorne School in East Grinstead and later at the Wick School in Hove. The success of Walter de la Mare’s play Crossings (1919), for which Gibbs supplied incidental music, encouraged him to pursue formal study at the Royal College of Music, where his teachers included Vaughan Williams and Adrian Boult. He joined the RCM staff in 1921 and remained there until 1939. 

In the early 1920s Gibbs settled in Danbury, Essex, though wartime requisitioning of his house forced him to relocate to Windermere in Cumberland during the Second World War. He returned to Danbury afterwards and lived there until his death on 12 May 1960. Throughout these decades he was deeply involved with the National Federation of Music Festivals, eventually becoming its Vice‑President. Much of his output was written for amateur choirs, orchestras and theatres, yet there is a substantial body of work aimed squarely at the professional concert hall. His choral symphony Odysseus and the Symphony No. 3 Westmorland—written after the death of his son David in battle near the River Sangro—stand among his most powerful achievements. Singers value his extensive catalogue of solo songs, and instrumentalists continue to discover treasures in his chamber music.

Armstrong Gibbs’s Shade and Shine, completed on 14 June 1958, but published only in 2006, is a late and unexpectedly touching addition to his catalogue. The opening Prelude sets the tone: an inward meditation whose harmonic twists and turns and antique melodic inflections have more than a hint of Warlock’s melancholy lyricism. The Cradle Song that follows is one of Gibbs’s most winning inspiration - carefully shaped, deliciously tender but without overt sentimentality. The Intermezzo serves as the scherzo of the set, with lots of pizzicato, and buoyant charm. Quicksilver shifts of mood and deft scoring show Gibbs at his most companionable. The finale, a Humoresque, rounds the work off with characteristic grace.

Taken together, Shade and Shine offers a concise demonstration of CAG’s gifts - clarity of thought, melodic ease, and an instinct for writing music that speaks directly to performers and listeners alike.

Yet fashions change. By the time he wrote Shade and Shine, the market for such genteel, small‑scale pieces had evaporated. The post‑war musical climate was moving elsewhere, and Gibbs’s idiom - rooted in pastoral lyricism - no longer demanded attention. Shade and Shine remained unperformed for decades, a casualty of shifting taste. It was finally performed in 1992, long after his death, and offers a satisfying conclusion to his career.

Listen to Armstrong Gibbs’ Shade and Shine (1958) played by Südwestdeutsches Kammerorchester Pforzheim under Douglas Bostock on YouTube, here.

English Song Anthology: John Shirley-Quirk

Since 1971, my reference point in English art song has been John Shirley‑Quirk’s recording of Vaughan Williams’s Songs of Travel, accompanied by Viola Tunnard. This was coupled with more songs by RVW, John Ireland, Charles Villiers Stanford, Frederick Keel and Peter Warlock. (SAGA XID 5211 mono, 1963; STXID 5211 stereo, 1966). It has remained in my collection ever since as my personal “go‑to” recording of this incomparable song cycle, and that early encounter set a standard I have never felt the slightest need to revise. I feel privileged that this LP was my first introduction to English Lieder.

The present Heritage CD release is a concatenation of the 1963 album together with Butterworth’s Six Songs from A Shropshire Lad from Saga XID5260, 1966, and a selection from The Songs of John Ireland (Saga XID 5207, 1964). To muddle matters, Saga later issued a compilation (SAGA 5473, c.1980) that includes all the repertoire now gathered on this 2026 reissue. For the aficionado, Heritage previously issued English Song (2‑CD set, HTGCD 283/4, c.2014), presenting the complete 1960s Saga recordings across two discs. Sadly, that set has since disappeared from their catalogue.

There is no shortage of information about John Shirley-Quirk available on the internet as well as the considerable essay included in the present disc’s liner notes. However, a few words may be of interest to readers who are less familiar with his achievement.

He was born in Liverpool on 28 August 1931; he had an unusual musical formation. Upon graduating from Liverpool University with a degree in chemistry, he entered the Royal Air Force to fulfil his national service. On demob, Shirley-Quirk taught chemistry at Acton Technical College. While teaching, he studied singing, joining the Purcell Singers and eventually becoming a Vicar-Choral at St Paul’s Cathedral, London. Rising to prominence during the 1960s, he was associated with Benjamin Britten and joined the English Opera Group, where he defined several of Britten’s iconic baritone roles. He was equally successful in oratorio, bringing his talents to Bach, Handel, and Elgar: his recordings of the St Matthew Passion and The Dream of Gerontius remain widely respected. He collaborated with leading conductors of the day, including Britten, Boult, and Marriner.

A principal element of Shirley-Quirk’s career was his work as a recitalist, with a masterful command of French, German, and English song. His broad repertoire ranged from Purcell and Schubert to Finzi, Ireland, and Warlock. He was also a well-respected teacher and mentor, later joining the faculty at the Peabody Institute in Baltimore. John Shirley-Quirk died at the age of eighty-two in Bath on 7 April 2014.

The main event on this new Heritage disc is clearly RVW’s Songs of Travel, first performed on 2 December 1904. Two years after the composer’s death, the final number, I have trod the upward and the downward slope (published in 1960), was added to restore the cycle to its intended nine‑song form. The present recital offers the songs in the order Vaughan Williams conceived, rather than the complicated sequence in which they were originally published. This ordering reflects the composer’s own design, and the 1963 Saga recording was the first to present all nine songs in that intended sequence. This reissue is, therefore, a valuable historical document.

The listener new to this cycle can regard it as a kind of English Winterreise (or Scottish, as Robert Louis Stevenson was born in Edinburgh), where the singer, "always tramping away into the distance", enjoys the pleasures of the road, is ensnared by love, and ponders the mysteries of the universe, as well as giving his own epitaph in the final song. As a lovelorn teenager my favourite was Youth and Love – I was the lad that “Cries but a wayside word to her at the garden gate/Sings but a boyish stave and his face is gone” – torn between homely love and the desire for adventure. Now, as a seventy-something, I warm to The Infinite Shining Heaven with a falling star that seems to descend from the sky to offer personal comfort in one’s latter years.

Shirley-Quirk’s evocative account of Linden Lea, one of RVW’s early nods to folksong, is a gift to the listener. Equally remarkable is his performance of Silent Noon, surely one of the most beautiful songs in the entire English repertoire.

George Butterworth’s Six Songs from A Shropshire Lad sets well-known poems by A.E. Housman and was completed in 1911. This cycle is a finely constructed meditation on youth, transience, and the shadow of death, each infused in Housman’s innate melancholy. Shirley-Quirk gives a remarkable performance, shaping a sequence whose quiet eloquence has long secured its place as a cornerstone of English art song.

I enjoyed the John Ireland settings. The group opens with the overwrought My Fair, the first of his Songs Sacred and Profane (1929-31) in which the soloist brings out the turbulence and impassioned undertow of Alice Meynell’s poem. Most listeners will know Benjamin Britten’s delightful arrangement of Yeats’s Salley Gardens set to an old Irish tune; less familiar is the eponymous fourth number of Ireland’s cycle, which is poised intriguingly between art song and folksong. Love and Friendship with words by Emily Brontë is the first of Three Songs written in 1926, serving as a rueful meditation on the sweet but fading rose and the longer lasting holly. Shirley-Quirk relishes the boisterous I have Twelve Oxen. Equally well performed is Ireland’s most popular (and hackneyed) song, Sea Fever, to a text by John Masefield, where the sailor longs to return to the sea.

The concert closes with three unrelated songs. Drake’s Drum, drawn from Charles Villiers Stanford’s Songs of the Sea op.91. This song evokes patriotic resolve, maritime legend, and Henry Newbolt’s stirring - if now sadly less fashionable - vision of England’s steadfast spirit. Shirley‑Quirk plays it up to the hilt, giving the piece all the swagger and colour it needs. Frederick Keel’s Trade Winds, (John Masefield), drifts with a gentle, sea‑worn melancholy, its lilting vocal line and rocking accompaniment conjuring distant shores, salt air, and the quiet pull of wanderlust. The final track is a real “toper.” Peter Warlock’s Captain Stratton’s Fancy (John Masefield) majors on the obvious fact (to the poet) that rum is the best drink and drinking is the finest occupation in the world. Warlock originally collected this song and Mr Belloc’s Fancy in a set colourfully titled Two True Topers’ Tunes to Troll with Trulls and Trollops in a Tavern (No. 1 Rum; No. 2 Beer, c.1921), though they were never actually issued under that name. The Fancy makes a fine robust conclusion to this most enjoyable recital.

As noted above, the liner notes written by Tully Potter give a good overview of Shirley-Quirk’s career, along with exceptionally brief notes about the songs on this CD. No texts are included, though all are easily available on the internet.

Little information is given about the three superb accompanists. Viola Tunnard (1916-74) was an English pianist, who worked closely with Benjamin Britten, served as the first collaborative pianist of the Philharmonia Chorus, toured with Joyce Grenfell during WWII, and mentored leading singers including Janet Baker and Peter Pears, earning a reputation as “the musician’s musician.” Martin Isepp (1930–2011), Austrian‑born British pianist and harpsichordist, was a distinguished accompanist and Glyndebourne coach, partnering singers such as Janet Baker, Elizabeth Schwarzkopf and of course, John Shirley‑Quirk. Finally, Eric Parkin (1924-2020) is well known to lovers of British music with his advocacy of composers such as Ireland, Bax, Moeran and Billy Mayerl; his numerous Chandos and Lyrita recordings always display an instinctive sympathy towards this repertoire. The liner notes omit to record that he died six years ago, giving only his birth year.

For over fifty years, John Shirley-Quirk’s 1960s Saga recordings have stood as a benchmark for English art song. Moving effortlessly from quiet, melancholic wanderlust to rowdy tavern songs, this welcome reissue catches the legendary baritone at the very top of his game. It remains as deeply moving and essential today as it was when first recorded.

Track Listing:
Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)
Songs of Travel (Robert Louis Stevenson) (1904)
Linden Lea (William Barnes) (1901)
Silent Noon (Dante Gabriel Rossetti) (1903)
George Butterworth (1885-1916)
Six Songs from A Shropshire Lad (A.E. Housman) (1911)
John Ireland (1879-1962)
My Fair (Alice Meynell) (1929-31)
The Salley Gardens (W.B. Yeats) (1929-31)
Love and Friendship (Emily Bronte) (1926)
I Have Twelve Oxen (Anon.) (1918)
Sea Fever (John Masefield) (1913)
Charles Villiers Stanford (1852-1924)
Drake's Drum (Henry Newbolt) (from Songs of the Sea) (1904)
Frederick Keel (1871-1954)
Trade Winds (John Masefield) (1902)
Peter Warlock (1894-1930)
Captain Stratton's Fancy (John Masefield) (1921)
John Shirley-Quirk (baritone); Viola Tunnard (piano); Martin Isepp (piano) Eric Parkin (piano).
rec. 1963; 1964 and 1966
Heritage HTGCD 116
With thanks to MusicWeb International where this review was first published.

Edward Elgar: Overture, ‘Cockaigne’ (‘In London Town’), Op. 40.

This post was inspired by one of Rosa Newmarch’s programme notes written for the Queen’s Hall Orchestra between the years 1908 and 1927. It gives a perfect verbal description of this wonderful overture alongside some astute technical details. Elgar’s Cockaigne Overture offers a vivid, affectionate panorama of everyday London. Though formally traditional, it unfolds as a sequence of sharply characterised scenes: bustling streets, dignified civic spirit, tender romance, cheeky street‑urchins, and the swagger of a military parade. Themes shift between nonchalant brilliance, noble warmth, and lyrical repose, coloured by exuberant orchestration and flashes of humour. Even the lovers’ retreat to a church is gently interrupted by urban bustle. The recapitulation gathers these strands before the march blazes back and the “nobler London” theme crowns the score. The Overture ends as it began- in buoyant celebration of the city’s optimistic, middle‑class vitality.

Rosa Newmarch writes: This Overture was first performed in London at a Philharmonic Concert, 20 June 1901. While adhering fairly closely to the requirements of traditional form, it follows a definite programme. The music depicts the varied experiences crowded into a few hours of London life, and evokes a whole series of pictures - serious, humorous, or romantic in turn - all of which are sincerely felt and expressed. It is average, middle-class London, optimistic and healthy-minded - but by no means uninteresting - that we meet in the pages of this score. London tragic and terrible, with its ‘garrulous clamours and assoiléd shows,’ [1] was not in the composer’s mind when he wrote ‘Cockaigne.’ But although Elgar does not pose here as the Charpentier of London life and abstains from showing up its sordid and seamy side, his work is the more valuable as being true to its time and surroundings.

The Overture is scored for the usual strings and woodwind, with double bassoon, four horns, two trumpets, [two cornetti] three or five trombones, [tuba], kettledrums, bass and tenor drums, and organ. The opening theme (Allegro scherzando), given out by the first violins, is animated and insouciant, and is followed at once by a cheery figure in the oboes and clarinets. The two phrases, having been developed and repeated, are brought to an effective climax in which the brass takes a full share. After this we reach an episode, distinguished by the composer’s favourite indication, Nobilmente. [2] This is based upon a dignified theme, delivered by woodwind, horns, and strings, and evidently intended to show the deeper side of the Londoner as compared with the gay (i.e., lively) opening subject. The latter, however, soon reasserts itself with heightened orchestral colour.

With a change of key to E flat the music assumes a gentler and quieter character. A transition passage with triplet accompaniment in the Strings introduces the love episode. Absorbed in their springtide dreams, a pair of lovers - so the story goes - seek refuge from ‘the madding crowd’ in some quiet glade of the parks. The theme of their romance forms the second subject proper of the Overture, and we hear it, piu tranquillo, in the first violins, with an idyllic additional phrase in the Oboes. This is fully developed, and when the tender passages have reached a crisis, an indiscreet solo (scherzando) for clarinet reveals the undesirable presence of the ubiquitous and sharp-eyed London street-boy. The theme of the intrusive youngsters is cleverly evolved by diminution from the motive marked Nobilmente which stood for the Londoner in his more dignified aspect. This proceeding naturally recalls Wagner’s transformation of the Mastersingers’ theme into the pert motive of the apprentices. Some repetitions and modifications of the foregoing materials bring this section to an end. The working-out starts with the Nobilmente theme, now given out ‘dolce e legato’ by the strings and succeeded by a reference to the closing phrases of the love-theme. A clarinet solo heralds the approach of a fresh episode, and soon the love-motive is lost in the martial strains which draw nearer and nearer, until finally the military band bursts into a gay and blustering march. This is worked out with immense spirit and brilliancy, the piccolos shrilling, the brass blaring out the tune, and the drums, bells, and triangles adding to the exhilarating din. Fragments of the ‘Young Londoners’ motive in different parts of the orchestra depict the eager delight of the street -urchins as they try to keep step with Tommy Atkins [3] in all his ‘pomp and circumstance.’ When the strains of the March have died down, the opening theme (‘gay London’) “returns and prepares the way for a new musical picture. The lovers now seek refuge from the turmoil of the streets in a neighbouring church. But before they can reach this haven of peace they must pass through another ordeal. This time it is not the band of the Guards, but more probably that of the Salvation Army, the clarinets of which play a very different version of the march-tune in G flat while the basses keep on cheerfully reiterating F. Yet, judging from the expressive whisperings in the violins, it takes more than the discord of semitone against semitone to interrupt the course of true love at this stage of its ‘world-oblivion.’

Presently a quiet theme in the horns and woodwind, with a countersubject in the strings, intimates that the couple have at last found sanctuary. Interwoven with the love-theme and the church motive are reminiscences of the urchins’ theme, like echoes from the surrounding streets. A gradual acceleration of speed leads back to the Tempo primo of the Overture, and the recapitulation begins with the theme of ‘gay London’ heard in the trombones. The lovers now resume their wanderings and pass through much the same experiences as before. The introductory subject and the phrase which followed it are restated with enriched and varied orchestration; the love-theme is also recalled very softly in the woodwind, first violins, and violas; and then the street boys’ motive appears, here, there, and everywhere, anticipating the return of the military band. The Coda reintroduces the march in its fullest vigour and audacity, and the ‘nobler London’ theme rings out in the full strength of the orchestra with the addition of organ ad lib. The Overture ends, however, with a last reference to the gay opening theme.

Rosa Newmarch The Concert-Goer’s Library of Descriptive Notes, Volume 1, OUP 1929 p.63f

Notes

[1] In the phrase “garrulous clamours and assoiléd shows,” ‘assoiléd’ suggests spectacles or displays that have been ‘absolved’ or ‘washed clean’ - perhaps morally dubious scenes glossed over or forgiven by the city’s bustle.

[2] Nobilmente tells the performer to play with “noble breadth and dignified warmth.” It signals an elevated, sincere tone: music that stands upright, speaks plainly, and carries a quiet moral weight rather than showy grandeur.

[3] ‘Tommy Atkins’ is the traditional nickname for the ordinary British soldier. It appears in Army paperwork from the early 19th century, where “Tommy Atkins” was used as a sample name on forms - much like “John Doe.” By the late Victorian and Edwardian periods, it had become a familiar, affectionate term for the rank‑and‑file infantryman: sturdy, good‑humoured, dutiful, and unpretentious. In Elgar’s Cockaigne, the street‑urchins march alongside “Tommy Atkins,” delighting in the swagger of the military band.

Across the Irish Sea in a Gale: Moscheles’ Ordeal on the Road to Dublin, 1826

Ignaz Moscheles (1794-1870) is a composer I have adopted as being of interest to British Music enthusiasts. Although he was born in Prague and subsequently died in Leipzig he spent much time in the United Kingdom. Many of his works were performed here and he was friends with all the key participants in English music.

The challenges of touring in those days are vividly illustrated by Moscheles’ account of his journey to Ireland in the year 1826. After concluding a lengthy tour of provincial towns, he began his to Dublin.

His wife, Charlotte, in her edition of Ignaz’s diaries [1] states that he began his journey from Liverpool. This seems highly unlikely, as it is on record that gave a concert at the Bath Assembly Rooms, on 3 January 1826. To be sure his diary states that "On the 4th of January, at seven a.m., I started from Liverpool and arrived at Birmingham at eight in the evening.” No concert has been identified from around this time in Liverpool. Charlotte’s assertion reflects either a misunderstanding of the itinerary or a compression of events in her editorial narrative.

On the 1 January 1826, Moscheles entered in his diary: "To-day I can call my happiness my own; by tomorrow I shall have left it. But courage! it must be so! I am in honour bound to fulfil my engagements."  He describes with much minuteness the dangers and difficulties in those days’ inseparable from a long journey, and of which we, in our age of rail and steamer, can scarcely form an idea.

"On the 4th of January, at seven a.m. I started from [Bath] Liverpool and arrived at Birmingham at eight in the evening. On the 5th I travelled without stopping day or night.

At two a.m. I had a grievous contretemps. We were close to Bangor, and I, the only passenger, was turned out of the warm coach into the cold, raw night, and made to cross the rushing river in an open boat. [1] It gave me the shivers, but I stood my ground, muttering my watchword, Courage, and patience!

On the opposite shore a forlorn and solitary passenger got inside the mail-coach, which was standing in readiness. Thus, we jogged on for the rest of the night wind blowing, snow falling - until at last, at five a.m., we arrived at Holyhead.

January 6th. —Eventful day! Severe trial! God's saving hand! In the hotel I found a respectable set of fellow-travellers, consisting of two gentlemen and one lady, ready to embark for Dublin. They were still waiting for the Chester mail, which arrived at seven o'clock. We were told that there was no steamboat to take us across the Channel; that the violent winds of the last few days had kept all the steamers on the Irish side, but that a sailing vessel would start immediately, and carry the mails across in from six to seven hours. Would we passengers cross in that vessel? We agreed and embarked shortly after seven o'clock. It rained in torrents, and the sea was so high that we soon betook ourselves to our berths. I suffered so violently that after a few hours I was completely prostrate.

The gale meanwhile increased. I counted the passing hours. It grew dark, but we did not land. The steward, on being asked when we should be released, whispered, “Who knows? we are doing badly!” - Words too clearly verified by the lurching of the boat. Although I lay smothered in blankets and clothes, my feet perished with cold. It cost me no slight effort to shake off my drowsiness, and groping about, to discover that the seawater had got into my berth; the ship had become leaky.

There was no longer any mystery about that, for the water came hissing into the cabin. The storm howled fiercely; it was pitch-dark. The captain could offer no other comfort than the assurance that we were not far from shore. Of course, not near enough to land. We were surrounded by rocks and sandbanks, and yet not near enough for a distress signal to be perceptible from the coast. At last, after a long battle and the most fearful shocks from the waves, which knocked our vessel about like a plaything, we were able to throw out anchors, and there we poor victims lay till daybreak. In this sad plight, however, I had not lost heart; faith in an Almighty Providence sustained me. I could think with calmness of my wife and child. They sleep peacefully, thank God, without sharing my hard fate.

They will either see me again and rejoice, or bear my loss, with the help of God. I thought with painful composure of my other friends and relations. It seemed but a little step from this world to the next. At last, in the afternoon, the welcome tidings came, “We are all right, a boat has reached our ship and will take us up.” Whereupon, after getting together our goods and chattels, we were thrown, so to speak, with them into the reeling boat, and, after a short fight with the foaming surf, landed in Howth harbour.

There I hired a post chaise, which carried me (a seven-mile journey) to the city. The dreary, sandy plain, the country dotted over with ruins, the sorry aspect of the people, did not, I am bound to confess, impress me very favourably. At last, I arrived in Dublin, drove over the beautiful Carlisle Bridge, [3] and the Liffey, to Westmoreland Street, where I rested for a few hours in a lodging which Pigott, [4] the music seller, had hired for me."

Notes:
[1] Moscheles, Ignaz. Recent Music and Musicians: As Described in the Diaries and Correspondence of Ignaz Moscheles. Edited by Charlotte Moscheles and adapted from the original German by A. D. Coleridge. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1873.
[2] The Menai Bridge did not open until 30 January 1826, some three weeks after Moscheles journey to Holyhead.
[3] Carlisle Bridge is now O’Connell Bridge.
[4] Samuel J. Pigott was a Dublin cellist and music seller who established his firm around the 1820s on Westmoreland Street before moving to Grafton Street. Operating alongside contemporary Dublin dealers like Isaac Willis and Smollett Holden, Pigott built a business that supplied continental and British music scores to the local market and eventually became one of Ireland's major 19th-century music publishers.

Anthony Collins’ Legacy of Delius Recordings Part 3

There are surprisingly few references to Anthony Collins (right) in the pages of the Delius Society Journal. The most important contribution was from Michael Gartz (No.78, 1983) He began his article by noting that Brigg Fair has always been one of Delius’s most popular works and that the listener has three different Beecham recordings to listen to (there was also an unpublished version dating from 1928). The earliest commercially available one dating from 1928 is in his opinion the ‘finest.’ He is tempted to regard this as the ‘definitive performance, a miracle of interpretation which could never be challenged, let alone superseded.’ Gartz explained how he had recently come across Anthony Collins’ 1953 recording, however his ‘allegiance to the Beecham version was so strong’ that it took him several days to get around to hearing it. His immediate reaction was one of ‘pure delight’ and he had come to consider that Collins was ‘worthy to be placed alongside Beecham’s classic account.’ He decried the comment made in the contemporary edition of the Penguin Stereo Cassette Guide that Collins’ conducting was in the Beecham tradition.’ In fact, he considered that Collins’ realisations were ‘just as individualised as Beecham’s and just as revealing of the music.’ He then compares the two versions of Brigg Fair and concludes that Collins’ is more ‘languorous, grave even, conjuring up images of a bleak winter morning, with a cortege slowly descending from the hills.’ He considers this music both tragic and nostalgic in the same manner as Mahler’s Ninth Symphony. Michael Gartz is equally impressed with the other works on this disc and considers the sound ‘astonishing for its age.’

Thirteen years later Roger J. Buckley (No.117, 1996) recalls Anthony Collins’ ‘spectacularly successful’ contribution to the discography of Sibelius in the 1950s. He reminds readers of the two Delius LPs made at around the same time. In this review of Dutton Laboratories (CDLXT 2503) re-mastering, he notes that Collins has been ‘regarded by some as second only to Beecham as a conductor of Delius’. He insists that Collins’ ‘insight and integrity survive quite undiminished. These are fine, passionate performances. Some of them, such as Paris and A Song of Summer, must be among the greatest performances of Delius's music ever recorded.’ After praising the quality of the re-mastering and noting some ‘slap-happy ensemble playing’ by the L.S.O. and some extraneous noises-off he concludes by stating that these are still ‘very important recordings.’

In 2008 Lyndon Jenkins (No.143, 2008) was a little less complimentary about Anthony Collins’ version of Paris. He notes the Record Guide (1955) opinion that this was ‘a flawless achievement’ he points out the 1995 Dutton CD transfer ‘revealed some fairly indifferent playing; this would not have been so evident on the original LP – although the insistent tambourine early on that packs up several bars too soon certainly was.’ He offered in mitigation that the L.S.O. was then at a ‘lowish point’ and was awaiting its ‘mid-50s rejuvenation’. Jenkins does concede that there are ‘impressive moments in Collin’s performance [of Paris,] but considers that ‘the whole of the opening is much laboured and, at some of the tempi he chooses, he seems unable to give the faster sections the rhythmic lift they need to bring them alive.’

Finally, a personal appreciation from Rob Sabine (No.144, 2008) in a short note about Rudolf Kempe and the 1962 Delius Festival. Sabine notes that he had just been demobbed from the RAF. He had bought the Ace of Clubs LP (ACL144) primarily for the performance of Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis. He was struck by the two Delius pieces on the ‘B’ side – The Walk to the Paradise Garden and A Song of Summer. He was ‘stunned by the music, its beauty and individuality – a feeling that remains to this day.’

Conclusion

Reading these reviews suggests that Sir Thomas Beecham is consistently regarded as the base-line interpreter on record of virtually all Delius’ orchestral music. One critic after another compares the recordings made by Anthony Collins and the London Symphony Orchestra with Beecham’s ‘exemplar.’ Most often this comparison is favourable. Some 60 years after these reviews were published it is easy to see that the major stumbling block was that Anthony Collins’ new recordings were quite simply not Beecham’s interpretations of these works. In 2014, with more than fifty-eight recordings of [e.g.] the First Cuckoo currently available and featuring some twenty-five different conductors, it is an interpretative dilemma that all listeners must deal with. Is Beecham the definitive interpretation of Delius, or are others equally valid? I personally believe that Anthony Collins has left a near-perfect legacy of the seven works that he recorded.

Select Bibliography
Holmes, John, Conductors on Record (Greenwood Press, 1982)
The files of The Gramophone, Billboard Magazine, Tempo, Delius Society Journals, etc.

MusicWeb International (accessed 11 July 2026):
Terry Barfoot, Review.
Jonathan Woolf, Review & Review

Select Discography
Only the works performed by Anthony Collins and the London Symphony Orchestra noted in compilations. Dates of release given where known.

Brigg Fair, On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring, The Walk to the Paradise Garden and A Song of Summer. 1953. LP. Decca LXT 2788.

The Walk to the Paradise Garden, On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring. 1953. MP. (10 inch) Decca LW 5036.

Brigg Fair, On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring, A Song of Summer, The Walk to the Paradise Garden. 1953. LP. London Label LL 758.

Paris, In a Summer Garden, Summer Night on the River. 1954. LP Decca LXT 2899.

Paris, In a Summer Garden, Summer Night on the River. 1954. LP. London Label LL 923.

Summer Night on the River, A Song of Summer. 1955. MP. (10 inch) Decca LW 5173

Brigg Fair, On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring, + works by Elgar. 1961. LP. Ace of Clubs ACL 131.

The Walk to the Paradise Garden, A Song of Summer + works by Vaughan Williams. 1961 LP. Ace of Clubs ACL 144.

Paris, In a Summer Garden, Summer Night on the River. 1965. LP. Ace of Clubs ACL 245.

Brigg Fair, On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring, The Walk to the Paradise Garden, A Song of Summer. 1970. LP. Decca Eclipse ECS 633.

Paris, In a Summer Garden & Summer Night on the River. 1971. LP. Decca Eclipse ECS 634

Brigg Fair, On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring, A Song of Summer, The Walk to the Paradise Garden. 1971. Cassette. Decca KECC 633

Brigg Fair, Summer Night on the River and Paris + works by Elgar c.1987 Cassette 'Delius and Elgar’ (under licence from Decca) Pickwick DTO 10177

Brigg Fair, On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring, A Song of Summer, Paris, In a Summer Garden & Summer Night on the River. 1995. CD. Dutton Laboratories CDLXT 2503

The British Music Collection Brigg Fair + other works by Delius. 2001. CD. Decca 470 190-2

The British Music Collection Paris, In a Summer Garden, A Song of Summer, Summer Night on the River, The Walk to the Paradise Garden + other works by Delius. 2002. CD Decca 470 375-2.

Paris, In a Summer Garden, A Song of Summer, Summer Night on the River, The Walk to the Paradise Garden. c.2002. CD. Decca Eloquence 461 358-2.

Brigg Fair, On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring, The Walk to the Paradise Garden, A Song of Summer. c.2005. Downloads. Pristine PASCO15

The Walk to the Paradise Garden, A Song of Summer. 2008. CD. Beluah 1PD26

On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring + other works by Delius. 2011. CD Danacord DACOCD 717 

Concluded    

With thanks to the Delius Society Journal Spring 2014 No.155: 51-6, where this essay was originally published.

Anthony Collins’ Legacy of Delius Recordings Part 2

In 1970/71 Decca released two LPs on their popular Eclipse label, noted above, (ECS 633 and ECS 634) featuring all seven of the Delius works recorded by Anthony Collins in 1953. They were ‘re-mastered’ in ‘electronic stereo,’ which was really an attempt at making the old monaural recordings sound better by adding reverberation and ‘tinkering’ with frequency levels. Some reviewers felt that the original recordings were ruined by this ‘Electronically Reprocessed Stereo.’

The first LP included Brigg Fair, On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring, The Walk to the Paradise Garden and A Song of Summer. The Gramophone (November 1971) reviewer, R.L. (probably Robert Layton) notes that ‘Collins succeeds in capturing the atmosphere of A Song of Summer.’ The other works were seen as ‘thoroughly idiomatic readings’ however he did have reservations about the audio quality: ‘Naturally the sound is not as vivid or brilliant as a modern recording and calls for some degree of tolerance.’

The second Decca Eclipse LP featured Paris, In a Summer Garden and Summer Night on the River. Writing in The Gramophone, (July 1972) R.L. considers that ‘it would be idle to pretend’ that Collins’ version is equal to Beecham’s for ‘Sir Thomas brought to Delius very special qualities of light and atmosphere that few others have succeeded in matching.’ After this commonly heard caveat he insists that this is a satisfactory performance ‘with no lack of vitality or poetry and with excellent playing from the LSO.’ He concluded by noting that ‘Collins was a sensitive Delian, and his accounts of both the shorter pieces are atmospheric and idiomatic.’ He is impressed by the stereo transcription but considers that the bass has been ‘mechanically boosted.’

In 1995 Dutton Laboratories released a compact disc (CDLXT 2503) of six of Anthony Collins’ 1950’s recordings of Delius. The Walk to the Paradise Garden was not included. The Gramophone (August 1995) reviewer begins by noting that these performances were ‘famous and acclaimed in their day’ which is impressive as it also happened to be Thomas Beecham’s ‘day’ as well. He considered that the 1953 recordings had ‘worn well’ and praises the sound quality of this disc noting the ‘satisfyingly solid bass, a wide dynamic range and only a touch of fizz to the strings in the heavier passages to betray their age.’ The main thrust of M.E.O.’s (Michael Edgar Oliver) evaluation is that Anthony Collins was a master at creating musical colour. Each of the three ‘summer’ pieces require a different palette of colours to reflect the particular musical landscape – water, garden, moorland. In Paris, he feels that Collins can control the formal structure of the work which can ‘easily fall apart’ if the various episodes are not given their due weight in the overall development of the music. The conductor creates impressive musical climaxes in Paris and A Song of Summer and manages to avoid ‘rhythmic monotony’ in the progress of the First Cuckoo. He observes a few examples of ‘carelessness’ from Collins that include the fact the bells and the trumpet near the end of Brigg Fair ‘never quite synchronize.’ His closing remarks suggest that Anthony Collins’ version of Paris ‘is the best performance’ on the CD and is ‘perhaps the finest of Delius’ ‘The Song of a Great City’ ever recorded.

Jonathan Woolf reviewing the Decca Eloquence CD release (461 358-2) for MusicWeb International (2002) suggests that Paris is the ‘prize of the collection’ – from the opening, with its sepulchral basses, to the final moments of ecstatic exultation Collins traverses nearly twenty-four minutes of perilous score with utter conviction.’ He believes that he ‘is sovereign at assimilating the disparate elements of the score’ which echoes M.E.O.’s remarks above. Woolf concludes his thoughts on Paris by suggesting that ‘whether scintillating, dancing or glowering this Paris is viscerally alive, with effortless weight cushioning it and leading to a conclusion made inevitable and moving through Collins’ command of structure and tonal nuance.’ This skill extends to the other pieces on this disc. He brings ‘Elysian logic’ to In a Summer Garden, ‘languorous sensuality’ to Summer Night and a ‘yearning elegance’ to A Song of Summer. He concludes by confidently stating that to listen to Collins’ Delius ‘is truly to understand a little better the nature of his orchestral genius and to absorb a beauty born of a conductor’s selfless gifts.’

The same critic (MusicWeb International, 2005) considered the Pristine ‘download’ (PASC015) which includes Brigg Fair, On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring, A Song of Summer and The Walk to the Paradise Garden. Woolf concentrates in his appraisal on the sound quality improvements made on the original recording. He considers that Pristine have reduced surface noise, but in so doing they have managed to ‘reduce the immediacy of the original…[the] result is a gauzy, quiet one but rather lacks openness of sound.’ This appears to be a trade-off – surface noise, clicks and scratches removed at the expense of a duller sound.

The Decca British Music Collection (470 375 2) featured a number of works by Delius performed by a variety of artists. Collins is represented by Paris, In a Summer Garden, A Song of Summer, Summer Night on the River and The Walk to the Paradise Garden. Terry Barfoot (MusicWeb International, 2002) suggests that the sound is ‘anaemic, with little or no richness or bloom during climaxes.’ Barfoot enjoyed the ‘natural phrasing and shaping...and Collins’ ability ‘to conjure magical colours from quasi-impressionist textures…during the mostly quiet music of In a Summer Garden...’

To be continued….

Bibliography and Discography at the end of Part 3 of this essay.

With thanks to the Delius Society Journal Spring 2014 No.155: 51-6, where this essay was originally published.

Anthony Collins’ Legacy of Delius Recordings Part 1

My first introduction to Frederick Delius was an old 10-inch record which I found in the Coatbridge High School music-library around 1971. It was Anthony Collins’ recording of The Walk to the Paradise Garden and On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring issued on Decca (LW 5036). They were part of a selection of Delius’ orchestral music that had been recorded in 1953 and subsequently released on various media over the following 58 years. A couple of years later I was motivated to buy two Decca Eclipse records from Cuthbertson’s Music Shop in Glasgow. These featured the entire Collins/Delius Discography. Part of the inspiration for that purchase was the delightful photographs of National Trust woodland at Wetheral in Cumberland gracing the sleeves. The seven pieces on these albums served as my apprenticeship to Delius’s music. They have remained favourites for over forty years. The performance that Anthony Collins drew from the London Symphony Orchestra (L.S.O.) has been my personal benchmark for all subsequent versions of these iconic works. It was not until some years later that I discovered Thomas Beecham’s interpretations of this music. Yet, these never usurped my original enthusiasm for Collins’ readings. I still have the Decca Eclipse records in my collection; fortunately, all the tracks are currently available on CD or download.

It is the purpose of this essay to examine the achievement of Anthony Collins in respect to his recorded legacy of Delius’ music. It will concentrate on the reception of the original recordings but will also note critical opinion of many subsequent re-releases and re-masterings.

Anthony Collins’ Biography

Unlike other prestigious British conductors, there is no ‘official’ biography of Anthony Collins. To the best of my knowledge, there is not even a ‘chapter length’ study of his life and works. What little information exists is found in a few musical reference books and in the pages of contemporary music journals and the press. The most comprehensive discussion of his achievement is in John L. Holmes Conductors on Record (1982). The current Grove is short on detail: the fifth edition (1954) does give a bit more information. The internet is surprisingly silent about his work.

Anthony Collins was born in Hastings on 3 September 1893. When he was only seventeen years old, he was engaged as a violist in the Hastings Municipal Orchestra. After four years in the army during and after the Great War, he entered the Royal College of Music and studied violin with Achille Rivarde (1865-1940) and composition with Gustav Holst (1874-1934).

For ten years he was principal violist of the London Symphony Orchestra and the Covent Garden Opera House Orchestra before resigning in 1936 to further his career as a composer and conductor. His concert debut was in January 1938, conducting the L.S.O. in a performance of Elgar’s First Symphony. In 1939 he founded the London Mozart Orchestra (not to be confused with the London Mozart Players which was formed in 1949). During the Second World War Collins lived in the United States where he conducted various orchestras and worked in the film industry. After the war he returned to England and made a number of recordings. Finally, he went back to the States in 1953. Anthony Collins died in Los Angeles on 11 December 1963. At the present time he is best remembered as an interpreter of Sibelius. From a compositional point of view, he was quite prolific: he wrote two violin concertos, two symphonies for strings, a number of light music miniatures and a large quantity of film music. His most popular composition is the short, orchestral miniature Vanity Fair which still features in many anthologies of British Light Music. In 2005 Dutton Epoch issued a ‘retrospective’ CD of Collins’ music (CDLX 7162).

The Original Recordings

The recording history of Anthony Collins’ Delius collection begins in June 1953 with the release of an LP (Decca LXT 2788) featuring Brigg Fair, On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring, The Walk to the Paradise Garden and A Song of Summer. The music had been recorded in February of that year with Collins conducting the London Symphony Orchestra. It was simultaneously released in the United States on the London Label (LL 758). The Record Guide (Edward Sackville-West, Desmond Shawe-Taylor et al.) for 1955 notes that ‘these four favourite pieces are carefully played and extremely well recorded; but the shaping, especially of the woodwind phrases and of the poetic endings leaves something to be desired. Nevertheless, this disc is bound to give considerable pleasure.’

The most detailed review of this record is given in The Gramophone magazine (June 1953). M.M. declares that Anthony Collins ‘persuades the L.S.O. into highly sensitive playing and has throughout an immense care for the niceties of internal balance, which so often in a Delius score do not by any means look after themselves.’ He concedes that three of the pieces (not including A Song of Summer) are already in ‘more or less definitive’ versions recorded by Thomas Beecham. Beecham is deemed to ‘nearly always’ extract ‘the last shred of beauty from the bewitching music, [however] Collins sometimes remains content with the last but one.’ An example is cited from the opening bars of Brigg Fair, where he suggests that after the introduction as Collins has rendered it, it is ‘just ready for Beecham to get the wood-wind soloists to linger a bit more in the right places, and to tell the harp to for pity’s sake try to play a run of five notes evenly.’ He relishes the efforts of the principal horn player in Brigg Fair.

I remember a fan of the First Cuckoo telling me that her ideal of this work was to be reminded of a hot, sultry, summer’s day somewhere in the Home Counties – not Norway or France. It could be defined as a ‘ravishing’ sound she was searching for. M.M. does not consider Collins achieves the same degree of ‘ravishment’ as Beecham does. The reason adduced is interesting – Collins sticks to the score quite strictly. This is always a subject for debate: to what extent does Beecham ‘recreate’ Delius’ score in his realisation of the First Cuckoo?

The reviewer is impressed with ‘nearly all’ of Paradise Garden, which he deems is an improvement on the ‘fine’ Beecham version. He suggests that the reason for this is the recording balance. Nevertheless, he considers that ‘Perfection…waits on just a little more lingering affection in some of the wind players. His comments on A Song of Summer bear reporting in full: ‘[this work] escapes these odious comparisons. How can you compose music like this when you are blind and paralysed- even given that you can compose music like this at all? The devotion that must have been necessary on Eric Fenby’s part has its reward in the nostalgic beauty that he set down on paper; without it the wonderful music could never have been liberated from Delius’s mind.’

The critic was impressed by the recording quality (monaural) which has a ‘brilliance and clarity that leaves any earlier versions standing.’ Technically, this means that Decca are moving towards a ‘more authentic balance that improves enormously both the realism and the aural pleasure of their recording.’ There is a downside: the tendency to ‘surface swish’ needs to be addressed. M.M. concludes his evaluation by reiterating his view that the disc is produced with ‘outstanding technical quality and very fine musical quality.’

Finally, Eric Thompson writing in the contemporary Tempo (Autumn 1953) journal had been discussing Collins’ recent release of Richard Strauss's sequence of waltzes from Acts 1 & 2 of Der Rosenkavalier (LW 5025) with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. He regarded it as ‘a lively performance and the excerpt from Humperdinck's Hänsel and Gretel, on the reverse [side] is equally good.’ Later in the review he writes that ‘Anthony Collins again, only this time with the London Symphony Orchestra, gives us four Delius pieces … [which] are clearly recorded throughout. One is inclined to associate Beecham's name with what one thinks is the ideal performance, but it is certainly demonstrated in these recordings that thought and care have been lavished upon these interpretations.

In 1954 Decca released a second volume (LXT 2899) of Anthony Collins conducting Delius’ tone poems. It featured the magnificent evocation of Paris, The Song of a Great City, the more intimate Summer Night on the River and the atmospheric In a Summer Garden. These had been recorded in October 1953 and once again featured the London Symphony Orchestra.

The reviewer (M.M.) in The Gramophone (May 1954) recognises the fact that Paris is not a ‘particularly characteristic’ work of Delius. He recalled how it had caused considerable disappointment when it was released as the principal work on the pre-War Delius Society record collection issued in 1934. He accepts that both Collins and Beecham have given ‘ravishing’ accounts of this work. Paris does not exhibit the usual ‘gentle, resigned melancholy’ normally associated with Delius. The Straussian mood of the work forces the orchestra to ‘show their paces’ in reflecting a ‘fascinating, kaleidoscopic picture of Paris at night and at early dawn.’ M.M. rates Collins’ version, which ‘persuades the London Symphony Orchestra into a performance of sensitivity equal to that which Beecham achieved with the London Philharmonic in the old Society set.’ Decca have ‘responded with one of their very best recordings - clear, well-balanced, smooth-toned, and with splendid handling of the climaxes as the music ebbs and flows.’ He believes that Paris will be unlikely to receive a better recording in the foreseeable future.

In a Summer Garden is seen as being a ‘little less outstanding than Paris.’ The problem is put down to the sound balance rather than to Collins’ conducting. This especially manifests itself with the string accompaniment obscuring the characteristically expressive woodwind phrases. It is a problem that has been ironed out in the subsequent re-masterings of this piece. M.M. suggests that this technical problem means that he must recommend the Beecham recording of this work on Columbia (33C1017). Neither does he feel that Collins and the L.S.O. are quite as sensitive in their performance of Summer Night on the River as Beecham. M.M. concludes by admitting that this LP, like its companion is a ‘fully worthy companion to the outstanding Beecham series on Columbia.’

The American magazine Billboard (19 June 1954) noticed Collins’ recordings with considerable enthusiasm. Reviewing the simultaneously released London Label (LL 923) record it suggests that Collins ‘…after Beecham is that composer’s most distinguished interpreter, here chalks up three more outstanding readings. Paris is a moody, evocative work not previously available on LP. The other two are happy works written in Delius’s most mature years. The recorded sound is rich and gives a magnificent sheen to this lovely music.’

The Record Review (1955) reports that this ‘is a most beautiful record’ and compared most favourably to Beecham. On the negative side, it felt that Anthony Collins did not ‘manage the climaxes as carefully…they sound a little coarse…’ The critic felt that ‘Paris…is a flawless achievement’ and that Collins has shown considerable ‘cleverness’ in ‘combining the Toulouse-Lautrec side of this luxurious music with the tender passages which offset it.’ The final thought was that the recording was so impressive that ‘one forgets the presence of the gramophone.’

In the following years, a number of other short notices continued to make the comparison between Collins and Beecham. The critic reviewing the Decca medium-play reissue (LW 5173) in The Gramophone (July 1955) submits that A Song of Summer and Summer Night on the River are ‘very beautifully recorded, and, if without Sir Thomas’s ultimate finesse, nevertheless enjoyable.’ A.R. (probably Alec Robertson, The Gramophone (February 1956) has written that Collin’s version of Paris etc. (LXT 2899) is ‘indeed very good and very well recorded, but it is not disparaging it to say that no other conductor has Beecham’s magical touch in Delius’s music. His interpretation (Beecham’s) is more nocturnal, more evocative.’ Ernest Chapman (Tempo, Autumn 1965) considering the Ace of Clubs re-packaging of ‘three of Delius's best orchestral works’ Paris, In a Summer Garden and Summer Night on the River on the ‘bargain’ Decca series (mono only, ACL 245) suggested that ‘Anthony Collins's readings are sound, though lacking the lyrical quality of Beecham's, and the London Symphony Orchestra plays with true finesse. The reproduction, however, requires a high-volume level to be effective.’

To be continued….

Bibliography and Discography at the end of Part 3 of this essay. 

With thanks to the Delius Society Journal Spring 2014 No.155: 51-6, where this essay was originally published.

Herbert Howells Part songs.

The advertising script for this remarkable new disc from SOMM Recordings notes that Herbert Howells “composed a significant body of lyrical, often pastoral part-songs characterized by rich harmony and expressive text-setting.” Over the past few decades much of Howells’s catalogue has found its way onto disc - the organ works, the orchestral scores, the sacred canticles, services, and anthems. Performers have also explored his piano, chamber, and solo vocal music. This substantial new anthology of his part-songs now reveals a facet of his output that has long been underrepresented, both in the record shops and the recital rooms. In fact, all but one of these are premiere recordings. What has never been in doubt is Howells’s affection for the English lyric tradition - exemplified by his settings of Walter de la Mare, William Blake, and the older English poets - and his equal skill in handling words, whether sacred or secular.

If there is a unifying undercurrent to the repertoire on this disc, it is the subtle balance between a kind of pastoral ease, and an emotional shadow that hangs over some of these songs, especially those written after his son Michael’s death in 1935.

Even though several of these songs were composed with a children’s chorus in mind, they are all performed here by the Mira Ensemble. The group, whose name means “admirable,” was formed in 2025 and brings together professional upper‑voice singers from across the United Kingdom. For this debut SOMM album, the ensemble appears in an octet of four sopranos and four altos. They are directed by the Newcastle‑born conductor, composer, academic, editor, and orchestrator Tom Edney, with the demanding piano accompaniment supplied by Nick Salwey.

I have aligned the dates of these part-songs to the ‘List of Works’ in Christopher Palmer’s Herbert Howells: A Celebration

The earliest songs on this disc are The Shepherd and A Croon (both 1915-17), An Old Man’s Lullaby (1917) and, particularly, The Tinker’s Song (1916?). They are characterised by Tudor modality, with the occasional false relation. This may have derived from his then current interest in Thomas Tallis and the English Renaissance. There is also a healthy respect towards Howells’s teacher Charles Villiers Stanford. One thing in common is the assured pianism of the accompaniments.      

There are two unison songs on this album, The Wonderful Derby Ram (1922) setting an old rhyme and Spanish Lullaby (1923), to an early text. Both are still in Howells’ earlier style. A slightly more advanced mood is heard in the Golden Lullaby (1920). The liner notes explain that My master hath a garden (1923) is influenced by Gustav Holst: “Shifting metres, subtle polyrhythms and parallel fourths with modal inflections evoke Holst’s distinctive sound world.”  Tune Thy Music, to words by Thomas Campion, completed in 1927, looks to Howells’ later music, with the notes suggesting it is precursor to the Collegium Regale Te Deum (1945).

Moving into the next decade, a particular favourite of mine is the vibrant Sea Urchins (1935). This is a set of ten songs for children’s or ladies’ voices preceded by a vivid Overture. Gladys Balcomb’s verses evoke holiday scenes with a charm recalling Robert Louis Stevenson’s A Child’s Garden of Verses, seasoned at times with the light lyrical touch of John Betjeman. The collection offers considerable variety: some are in unison, others in two parts, and the level of difficulty ranges widely, with several written for “alert youngsters.” Among the images conjured are a child’s first trip to the beach, the ubiquitous landlady, a holiday express train, a knitting grandmother settled on the sand, and an adventurous clamber along the cliffs. The liner notes omit a pleasing detail: this cycle was composed especially for the Reigate and Redhill Music Festival and was first performed there in March 1936 under Walter Stanton.

A Yuletide number is included: George Wither’s A Christmas Carol: “So now is come our joyful feast /Let every man be jolly” (1958) is shaped into a form that moves beyond the typical carol sung by wassailers. There is a melancholic edge to these otherwise jolly words.

This was one of Howells’s last contributions to the genre. The final example was The Summer is Coming (1964), not included on this disc.

Also from 1958 is Pink Almond: this is a setting of a verse by Katharine Tynan, Irish poet, and novelist. Once again, it is introverted and reticent in mood.

This is not a disc to hurry. I agree with MusicWeb International reviewer Nick Barnard that the repertoire is best heard in discrete, chronological sections, as a uniform listening style can easily obscure the individuality of the pieces. The vibrant Sea Urchins cycle, however, uniquely benefits from being taken in at a single sitting.

The performance by Mira is marvellous, poised and consistently engaging. Little needs to be said about the excellent liner notes by Tom Edney, the splendid recording quality, and the overall presentation of this album. Full texts of all the songs are included, and everything is produced to the characteristically exacting standards of Siva Oke and SOMM Recordings.

I look forward to a follow up album from Mira. Looking at the above-mentioned catalogue in Christopher Palmer’s study, there is certainly sufficient material for at least one more volume.

Track Listing:
The Wonderful Derby Ram (1922)
Sweet Content (1931)
Piping down the valleys wild (1938)
A Croon (1915-17)
My master hath a garden (1923)
The Key of the Kingdom (1948)
Sing Ivy (1924)
To music bent (1933)
A Golden Lullaby (1920)
Bunches of grapes (1933)
Pink Almond (1958)
A Christmas Carol (1958)
The Shepherd (1915-17)
Spanish Lullaby (1923)
Sea Urchins (1935)
– Overture
– Happy Street
– Many Rainbows
– The Sea-Side Landlady
– Granny sits beside the sea
– The Barrel-Organ
– A Seaside Lullaby
– The Lair on the Cliff
– Lindy’s Ballet Shoes
– The Musical Train
– The Open Air
An Old Man’s Lullaby (1917)
The Tinker’s Song (1916?)
Tune thy music (1927)
Herbert Howells (1892-1983)
Part songs
Nick Salwey (piano)
The Mira Ensemble/Tom Edney
rec. July 2025, St. George’s Headstone, Harrow, London
SOMM Recordings SOMMCD0725

With thanks to MusicWeb International where this review was first published. 

William Walton (1902–1983): Two Pieces for Strings from Henry V

The relationship between music and cinema has rarely yielded a more brilliant partnership than that of composer Sir William Walton and actor-director Sir Laurence Olivier. One of the great films to emerge during the Second World War was Laurence Olivier’s production of William Shakespeare’s Henry V. Filmed in Technicolor and conceived partly as an artistic morale booster for a nation engulfed in global conflict, the movie was a triumph of vision and execution. Its myriads of stars included Leslie Banks, Felix Aylmer, Robert Helpmann as well as Olivier in the title role.

The timing of the film's premiere carried immense historical and emotional weight for the Allied forces and the British public. Released just under six months after the Normandy Landings in June 1944, it struck the public imagination with a force that few cinematic projects have ever matched. The parallel between King Henry’s cross-channel invasion of France and the contemporaneous D-Day landings was unmistakable. The film was dedicated to ‘The Commandos and Airborne Troops of Great Britain – the spirit of whose ancestors it has been humbly attempted to recapture in some of the ensuing scenes...’ Naturally, many other men and women from many countries were involved in that decisive campaign.

To match the epic scale and deep emotional resonance of the narrative, Olivier turned to the foremost British composer of the era. William Walton composed the score for the film during 1943-44; the soundtrack was performed by the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Muir Mathieson. Walton’s music proved to be much more than a mere background accompaniment; it was an integral narrative voice that captured both the heraldic splendour of Agincourt and the intimate human tragedies of war.

Recognizing the enduring artistic value of the score outside the cinema, musicians quickly sought to bring Walton's creation to the live stage. In the years following the film’s release, several arrangements of the music were made for use in the concert hall. Suites were extracted by Malcolm Sargent (under Walton’s aegis) in 1945, Muir Mathieson (1963) and Christopher Palmer (1990). Among the most enduring fragments of this monumental score are the two quiet interludes written for the film's more reflective moments. The Two Pieces, The Death of Falstaff and Touch her soft lips and part, were included in these Suites, but were separately authorised for performance. They are scored for strings alone, offering a striking, intimate contrast to the brass-heavy, symphonic grandeur found elsewhere in the full cinematic score.

The first piece provides a poignant farewell to one of Shakespeare's most beloved comic creations, though its inclusion in the film required some dramatic license. Interestingly, Falstaff does not have a death-scene in Shakespeare’s original play: it was interpolated into the film by Olivier. This structural change allowed the film to bridge the transition from the old life of the young king to his grave new responsibilities. Falstaff, played by George Robey, was a ‘boon companion’ to Prince Hal, although he did receive some harsh words from the king. Walton captures the sorrow of this broken friendship with remarkable economy. The Death of Falstaff is in the form of a passacaglia (a recurrent theme in the bass with variations in the treble part). It is noble, dignified, and affectionate in its gentle and restrained exposition. The strict, repeating bass line anchors the music, mirroring the inevitability of death, while the upper strings weave a tender tapestry of grief.

The second movement shifts focus from the passing of an old friend to the painful separation of young lovers torn apart by duty. Touch her soft lips and part, is heard during the scene depicting the soldiers preparing to depart for Honfleur. It underscores the human cost of martial ambition, capturing a moment of quiet stillness before the storm of battle. Pistol, one of Henry’s old Eastcheap drinking partners, is saying his farewell to Mistress Quickly; the other troops are taking leave of their wives and sweethearts. Walton utilizes muted strings to evoke a sense of fragile intimacy and impending nostalgia. The music is tender and wistful in its perfectly stated romanticism, leaving an indelible impression of warmth and vulnerability that balances the historic pageantry of the grander tale.

Listen to English Chamber Orchestra conducted by Julian Lloyd Webber on YouTube, here. It is taken from Naxos 8.573250 (2015)

With thanks to the Programme Book of the 2017 English Music Festival where part of this essay was first published.

Quiet Summer Evening: British Light Classics

The opening paragraph of the liner notes gives a succinct definition of light music. Nearly six decades ago, Andrew Gold - who led the BBC Light Music Unit between 1965 and 1969 - summed up his role as programming “music where the tune is more important than what the composer does with it”. That crisp description of what we now tend to call light classical still holds. Its defining strength remains what Gold called its “immediacy of appeal,” the quality that continues to secure the loyalty of many listeners. I would add approachability, quality of orchestration and a deft handling of mood and atmosphere to this description.

One niggle to get out of the way: The liner notes could have been more fulsome, especially on their discussion of each work. All dates of composers, the pieces, and the arrangements should have been given. I have provided these where possible.

The concert opens with Geoffrey Bush’s Rhapsody for Clarinet & Strings dating from 1940. While he is noted for music across a wide range of genres, including two symphonies, several concertos and six operas, he remained at heart a miniaturist with a particular flair for chamber and vocal writing. His aesthetic is often (but not always) characterized as “a blend of English pastoral warmth and crisp neoclassical poise.” The Rhapsody is lyrical, with just a little angst here and there, that suggests the turbulent date it was written. Yet, overall, it engages the mind in reminiscing about happier times gone by and looks forward to peaceful days to come.

The notes do not tell what forces Ulster composer Terence Higgins originally wrote his Vers le Sud for. It has been arranged here by David Stowe for violin and orchestra. I find the overall impact a little out of kilter – true, there is mood music that reflects languid days in the South of France, but the jazzed-up violin passages do seem a little out of place in this supposedly atmospheric evocation. What is it about Messrs Higgins and Stowe that their D.O.B.s are hidden from view?

Clive Jenkins’s Fantasy for Horn & Strings (2002/2009) gently evokes an English landscape at dusk, with just a hint of shadow in the background. It blends melodic poise and fine craftsmanship with a touch of mischievous charm, giving the soloist music that sings as naturally as it speaks.

Nigel Brooks’s Sunday Afternoon for bassoon and orchestra gently potters along, giving the listener an impression of a peaceful ramble through a suburban landscape - summoning images of playing children or strolling lovers. It is beautifully scored and presents a memorable solo part superbly played by Sarah Watts. The piece was written specially for this release.

Sarah Watts is also represented by her enigmatically titled Everything Is Somewhere Else, also for bassoon and orchestra. If I had been the record producer, I would have separated this and the last number by another work. Whilst reviewing this I suddenly discovered that I had changed composer and track, fooling me into thinking it was the same piece! Yet this ever so short intermezzo is delightful at every twist and turn.

The Five Pieces for Clarinet & String Orchestra by Clive Jenkins are given picturesque titles, of places in and around his native Plymouth which may or may not help the listener. The set opens with the brisk Richmond Walk, a reference to a promenade by “the tranquil waters of Stonehouse Creek," though the music presents a bit of a contradiction. Jenkins explains that “Plym Valley has woods and a boulder-strewn river with weirs”; appropriately, this is introverted, and not particularly “light” in character. Equally reflective is the tone poem, Tamarside, named from the broad estuary between Devon and Cornwall. The “bustling” fourth movement imagines The Barbican in Plymouth, an area of historic quays, narrow cobbled streets, lively pubs, and a gin distiller! The finale is Drake Circus, which according to Google Earth is a modern-ish shopping mall. The area looks as if it had been knocked about a lot – either by German bombs during WW2 or by over-zealous town planners. Overall, this is a charming suite.

The liner notes explain that Andy Meyers “studied conducting, piano and horn at Trinity College of Music, winning the Ricordi Prize for conducting and, as a collaborative pianist, the Elisabeth Schumann Prize for Lieder and the Dorothy Hawes Prize for French Song.” His scores include Encore une fois, Cantilena, Midsummer Night’s Dream Suite, and a Sinfonietta Concertante alongside various concertos. The Serenade for Horn and Strings (no date given) is another piece that is too short: it just gets going when it concludes. It is lyrical throughout, with a definite touch of melancholy.

Gordon Jacob can always be relied on to deliver the goods. The brief and pleasant A Little Waltz is the second number in his Four Sketches dating from 1976. This little movement has a lyrical, dance-like mood with gracefully turned phrasing. As a digression, the third movement (not heard here) is a desideratum: the lumbering L'Après-midi d'un Dinosaur is a humorous play on Debussy’s Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune.

One of the loveliest tracks on this disc is Luke Whitlock’s Lullaby. Whitlock was invited in 2022 by Clive Jenkins to contribute a horn‑and‑orchestra piece for this present album. The result is an expressive, mood‑shifting miniature in which soloist and orchestra both share the focus, conjuring something gently nostalgic and half‑remembered. Quite beautiful.

I love Edward Elgar’s Canto Popolare in its original context as part of the sweeping overture, In the South. It was originally heard at the tranquil turning point in this otherwise imposing work.  The melody is anecdotally based on a "found" tune Elgar had heard a shepherd singing while visiting Alassio, Italy - though, in fact, it was his own invention. I can just about enjoy it in the composer’s violin and piano version. However, this present arrangement for violin and orchestra by Clive Jenkins takes it entirely out of context. I am sorry - I just don’t dig it!

Lennox Berkeley’s short Andantino has a tangled provenance. Originally written in 1945 as part of A Festival Anthem, op. 21 no. 2 (for SATB choir and organ to mark the end of the Second World War), the present music was associated with the words ‘The Lord is my Shepherd.’ He later recast this section as an independent work, arranging it for cello and piano. Unusually for Berkeley, the mood here is entirely pastoral, contrasting with his more prevailing neo-classicism. The liner notes suggest that it is as English as a day in summer. The present arrangement for cello and strings was made by Clive Jenkins.

The penultimate piece is an arrangement of Frederick Delius’s Romance for cello and piano. This delicious work dates from around 1896 when the composer was resident in Paris. It was “lost” until rediscovered in 1976 and given its first modern (possibly even premiere) performance by Julian Lloyd Webber. The only criticism would be the overblown intensity for such a short piece.

Finally, the listener is treated to Don Shearman’s eponymous Quiet Summer Evening. The notes explain that this British musician who died at the age of 92 enjoyed a distinguished career as a pianist, collaborating with leading entertainers such as Norman Wisdom and Russ Conway. This contemplative miniature crosses multiple stylistic boundaries, nevertheless, it is quite lovely.

Taken as a whole, Quiet Summer Evening offers a generous survey of near-contemporary British light‑classical idioms, performed with evident affection and sympathy by Peter Fisher and his Chamber Ensemble of London. It is aided by a great recording. Not every arrangement convinces, and a few pieces feel more like sketches than fully realised statements, but the prevailing impression is one of craftsmanship, tuneful ease, and lyricism. The soloists play with character and sensitivity throughout. The programme’s mixture of the familiar, the rediscovered and the newly minted gives it a pleasing sense of variety. As the title track gently closes the disc, it leaves behind exactly what light music at its best can still provide: moments of calm, colour, and charm.

Track Listing:

Geoffrey Bush (1920-1998)
Rhapsody for Clarinet & Strings (1940)
Terence Higgins (?) (Arr. David Stowe (?))
Vers Le Sud
Clive Jenkins (b.1938)
Fantasy for Horn & Strings (2002/2009)
Nigel Brooks (1926-2024)
Sunday Afternoon
Sarah Watts (?)
Everything Is Somewhere Else
Clive Jenkins
5 Pieces for Clarinet & String Orchestra (2003/2013-14)
Andy Meyers (?)
Serenade for Horn & Strings
Gordon Jacob (1895-1984)
A Little Waltz (1976)
Luke Whitlock (b.1978)
Lullaby (2022)
Edward Elgar (1857-1934) (arr. Clive Jenkins)
Canto Popolare (1904/?)
Lennox Berkeley (1903-89) (arr. Clive Jenkins)
Andantino (1945/?)
Frederick Delius (1862-1934) (arr. Clive Jenkins)
Romance (1896/?)
Don Shearman (1932-2024)
Quiet Summer Evening
Peter Cigleris (clarinet), Sarah Watts (bassoon), Alexei Watkins (horn), Michael Mace (cello)
Chamber Ensemble of London/Peter Fisher (violin, director)
rec. August 2023, St George’s Church, Pinner View, Harrow
SOMM Recordings SOMMCD0727

With thanks to MusicWeb International where this review was first published. 

From Palace to Pavement: Roman Holiday and Auric’s Art

The 1953 film Roman Holiday is in my top ten not only for the superb performances by Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck, but also for its glorious travelogue of Rome, one of my favourite European cities.

A young princess, disillusioned by the endless grind of ceremony, speeches, and tightly choreographed appearances, reaches a quiet breaking point during a goodwill tour of Europe. In Rome, the pressure becomes too much, and she slips away into the night, determined - just for a few hours - to experience life without titles, attendants, or expectations. Her escape leads her into the orbit of an American journalist who recognises her but chooses, for his own reasons, to play along with her desire for anonymity.

Roman Holiday unfolds as a gentle, sparkling portrait of freedom tasted in stolen moments: the thrill of wandering a city without a schedule, the pleasure of ordinary encounters, and the subtle shift that happens when two strangers meet as equals rather than as roles. It is a film suffused with charm, buoyed by Audrey Hepburn’s luminous freshness and Gregory Peck’s understated warmth, celebrating the magic of a single day that feels wonderfully, impossibly unencumbered.

Upon its release, the French reviewer Jean de Baroncelli praised Roman Holiday as a rare delight, calling it “this adorable film, sprinkled all over with blue flowers,” and celebrating its power to console viewers weary of films obsessed with “the ugliness, the filth, the sadness of our poor world.” Although the film failed at the Venice Festival - people scorned it…they curled their lips”—the critic argues that its very simplicity was its virtue. Audiences and juries dismissed it because it was “a vulgar romance between a princess and a young journalist” with “not the slightest message,” no propaganda, only “the sweetness of being young and alive.”

He laments that Roman Holiday was relegated “to the toy department,” like other light, gentle films overlooked in favour of “heavy war machines.” Yet, he insists that such neglect cannot last: one day, he writes, critics will have to acknowledge the public’s pleasure and allow “gaiety to triumph over pretentious boredom.”

Across the Atlantic the film critic M. Brog writing for Variety 8 (1 July 1953), praises Roman Holiday as a beautifully mounted romantic comedy that marks a welcome change of pace for William Wyler. The critic highlights how Wyler “used the ancient buildings and streets of Rome as a colourful and beautiful backdrop,” making the city “an unusually effective, without being obtrusive, part of the entertainment values.” Wyler’s return to comedy is described as “all to the good,” supported by a “fine script” by Dalton Trumbo, Ian McLellan Hunter and John Dighton. The reviewer notes that the princess’s adventures with Gregory Peck are “natural and amusing,” generating “continual chuckles with laugh highlights.” Everyday incidents “getting a haircut, taking a wild motor scooter ride, being arrested” are said to be made “very entertaining,” culminating in a lively escape from the princess’s secret police. Crucially, the bittersweet ending was deemed both logical and satisfying: the princess resumes her royal role, and the reporter sacrifices his exclusive story for her sake.

Georges Auric (1899–1983) was a versatile French composer of remarkable versatility, moving with ease between avant‑garde circles, ballet, opera, and an extensive career in film music. A member of Les Six, the group informally linked to Jean Cocteau and Erik Satie, he first gained attention as a talented teenager, with early works performed by leading Parisian musical societies. His association with Cocteau shaped much of his artistic outlook, and Auric’s music often blended irony, clarity, and a reaction against the lush harmonic world of Debussy.

Auric became one of the most sought‑after film composers of his generation. His collaborations with Cocteau included Blood of the Poet (1930) and the celebrated Beauty and the Beast (1946), whose atmospheric score remains one of his most admired achievements. He also wrote for major French and British directors, contributing to À nous la liberté! (1931) and the British classic The Lavender Hill Mob (1951). His international reputation grew further with Moulin Rouge (1952, and his first American score for Roman Holiday (1953).

Listen to the main title track from Roman Holiday, here. Georges Auric's score (assisted by Victor Young) opens with whirling woodwinds and shimmering textures, establishing the film’s playful tone and the sense of a city alive with promise. As the strings begin the principal melody, the music acquires a lyrical warmth that mirrors Princess Ann’s gradual shedding of royal constraint.

A contrasting, more animated section - led by trumpets and passed energetically around the orchestra - introduces the film’s comedic dimension. This jumpy, good‑humoured writing underscores the spontaneity of Ann’s adventures and the growing rapport between her and Joe. Later, the lyrical theme returns, subtly varied, suggesting emotional depth beneath the film’s surface sparkle. The score’s final flourish has brass punctuating the orchestra’s exuberant restatement of the theme.