Customer Reviews

This Sceptred Isle

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

 

 

This is a two CD set on which, though several of the cuts are edited, more than half appear in their entirety. What a splendid set they make! I've always been a fan of the musical grandeur evinced in British Imperial music. This album, particularly the first disc, offers music from this genre in spades, both instrumental and choral works. Hubert Parry's "I Was Glad" shines out in dazzling brilliance. Listening to Walton's warhorse "Crown Imperial" and Elgar's "Coronation March" we can visualize the full ceremony of state. And listening to Coates' "Dam Busters March" brings to mind all the hope of a proud people fighting, down to its last collective drop of blood, a mortal threat being wrought by an invader's ruthless forces. I'm sure this sounds melodramatic, but after all, total emotion is what this music is all about. I might ask for a cut or two less of Coates or Walton, not because those recordings were not excellent, but because, instead, I'd have liked a cut from Bridge, Tippett, or even Rutter. But, excepting that slight objection, this CD duo does its job most excellently and well.

This CD is not what I had hoped...it just sort of goes along with each song sounding the same as the one before. I love English music and had hoped for something more...vivid or rousing or something. At any rate, this is just "fine"...definitely not worth the money I paid for it. Ouch.