Customer Reviews

The Best of British Light Music

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

An almost exhausting mixture of light and serious British orchestral pieces from the mid-20th century--some fluff, to be sure, but also some surprisingly beautiful and moving--serious, even--work. Coming out of sleep one night, the local classical radio station was playing what turned out to be Richard Rodney Bennett's "Suite Francaise," which was sufficiently interesting to make me take a chance on this 5-disc set, albeit used. If one can find a used set, and value composers like Holst and Vaughan Willimas, it's definitely worth the price.

I have about a dozen or so British light music CDs and as with any compilations there are a lot of duplicates. Elizabethan serenade and Barwick Green come to mind. Of the 110 tracks on this 5-CD box set I have not heard of one of the tracks before. It is mostly mid 20th century composers and some of them are serious composers so that the set has some music that does not fall into the category of "light" music. In addition many of the composers are still living. All in all a superb collection at a very attractive price at a rate of less than $8 a CD.

I really bought this collection because I heard a tract on the radio. I got about 12 tracts that would have persuaded me to buy. The discs present works of a more serious nature so no "corn ball," here. Some of the slow movements are really satisfying and engage the emotional senses. Enjoy!