British Classical
Various Artists
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- The Basics
Instantly recognisable and fixed forever on the cultural landscape, these signature pieces of British Classical music are as familiar as they are inspiring: the great Ralph Vaughan Williams gets us underway with his 1934 Fantasia on "Greensleeves", which sounds so much better in the hands of Sir Neville Marriner and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields than it did when we all struggled to learn it on the recorder in primary school. He's followed by Edward Elgar, whose "Nimrod" from the Enigma Variations has been known to make grown London cabbies weep, and Yorkshireman Frederick Delius, who wrote the lovely tone poem, "On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring".
We take you from parlour to church, Victorian style, with our British Classical Next Steps.£20.55 The Basics
Total: 25 Songs - Next Steps
We continue our ramble through the vast realm of great British Classical music with several distinctive Victorian pieces: the moving, truly awe-inspiring, chorus "God So Loved the World" from John Stainer's oratorio The Crucifixion would precede its author's 1888 knighthood (by Queen Vic herself, of course) and his tenure as professor of music at Oxford University, while André Previn (accompanying Welsh tenor Robert Tear) transports us to the golden age of the Victorian parlour song with Michael Balfe's Tennyson-inspired "Come into the Garden, Maud". Eric Coates brings us into the 20th Century with his serenade, "By the Sleepy Lagoon", aka the dreamy theme from Desert Island Discs.
Lesser known British Classical pieces are given the spotlight, in Deep Cuts.£20.95 Next StepsTotal: 25 Songs - Deep Cuts
Up to this point we've offered many of the best known pieces in British Classical music, but these Deep Cuts follow several less-trodden byways and snickets, the better to reflect a sense of diversity and scope. Sophia Rahman and Clare Howick perform the scherzo from Violin Sonata in A Minor, Op 7 by Ethel Smyth, not just a multi-faceted composer but also a leading figure within the women's suffrage movement (for which she provided an anthem) during the early part of the 20th Century, while James Gourlay brings his finesse with the tuba to bear on the beautiful third movement of Roger Steptoe's Tuba Concerto.
£21.15 Deep CutsName Artist Time Price 1 Five Bagatelles, Op. 23A, IV. Forlana: Allegretto grazioso Howard Griffiths, Northern Sinfonia & Robert Plane 2:58 £0.79 View In iTunes 2 English Idylls No. 1 English String Orchestra & William Boughton 4:47 £0.79 View In iTunes 3 Sonata for Clarinet and Piano in D Major: I. Allegro Maestoso Colin Bradbury & Oliver Davies 8:04 £0.79 View In iTunes 4 In A Persian Market A.W. Ketelbey 5:33 £0.79 View In iTunes 5 Flourish with Fireworks, Op. 22 Tempo giusto e vigoroso - Molto vivace London Sinfonietta & Oliver Knussen 4:00 £0.79 View In iTunes 6 Flow My Tears Dorothy Linell & Steven Rickards 4:02 £0.79 View In iTunes 7 The Westminster Waltz Ronald Corp & The New London Orchestra 2:58 £0.79 View In iTunes 8 Flute Concerto No. 1 Op. 45: III. Con fuoco Bournemouth Sinfonietta, Richard Adeney & Ronald Thomas 2:08 £0.99 View In iTunes 9 I Was Glad Christopher Robinson & St George's Chapel Choir, Windsor 5:40 £0.79 View In iTunes 10 String Quartet 'in Gloucestershire' (No. 3): II. Fairly quick, but always rhythmical Britten Quartet 2:05 £0.99 View In iTunes 11 Stalham River Eric Parkin 5:16 £0.79 View In iTunes 12 Severn Bridge Variations: Variation 2 BBC Symphony Orchestra & Jac van Steen 2:32 £0.79 View In iTunes 13 Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626: When I Am Laid in Earth, 'Dido's Lament' Gillian Fisher, Nahum (Nathaniel) Tate, Robert King & The King's Consort 4:10 £0.79 View In iTunes 14 Serenade for Strings: I. Barcarolle City of London Sinfonia & Richard Hickox 2:26 £0.79 View In iTunes 15 Violin Sonata in A minor, Op. 7: II. Scherzo: Allegro grazioso Sophia Rahman & Clare Howick 3:00 £0.79 View In iTunes 16 Symphony No. 1, "A Sea Symphony": III. Scherzo: The Waves London Symphony Chorus, London Symphony Orchestra & Richard Hickox 7:54 £0.79 View In iTunes 17 Sonatina for Guitar: I. Allegretto Graham Anthony Devine 5:28 £0.79 View In iTunes 18 Little Serenade Ernest Tomlinson & Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra 3:22 £0.79 View In iTunes 19 Cello Concerto in D: II. Andante espressivo - Julian Lloyd Webber, London Symphony Orchestra & Sir Charles Mackerras 3:04 £0.99 View In iTunes 20 Tuba Concerto: III. Molto calmo James Gourlay 5:55 £0.79 View In iTunes 21 March Past of the Royal Air Force Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra & Sir Charles Groves 3:08 £0.99 View In iTunes 22 Fight the Good Fight The Choir of Truro Cathedral & Andrew Nethsingha 2:05 £0.79 View In iTunes 23 The Moon Hath Raised Her Lamp Above (The Lily of Killarney, Act I) (Duet) [with Piano] Benjamin Luxon, André Previn & Robert Tear 6:06 £0.99 View In iTunes 24 Dear Lord and Father of mankind (Repton) Stephen Cleobury, King's College Choir, Cambridge, Benjamin Bayl & Thomas Bullard 3:58 £0.99 View In iTunes 25 It was a lover and his lass, Op. 23, No. 3 Graham Johnson, Felicity Lott & Ann Murray 2:35 £0.99 View In iTunes Total: 25 Songs - Complete Set
Inspired by European classical forms — notably through the work of Henry Purcell and later the hugely influential German-born naturalized Briton, George Frideric Handel — fuelled by the growth of Empire, and destined to remain a vital cultural force during the upheavals of the 20th Century, British Classical music has produced a phenomenal collection of works by extraordinary composers. These Essentials pay homage to that legacy, encompassing the pastoral, the patriotic, the ceremonial, the mythical, the modern, the Baroque . . . in fact, whatever your preference within the sprawling canon, you're sure to find it here. Whether you go for something big enough to blow the roof off the Royal Albert Hall, or favour a melody more suited to the gentler pleasures of a day-out in the country, all these pieces confirm that British classical music is truly great.
£62.65 Complete SetTotal: 75 Songs
