Arne: Rule, Britannia (from Alfred)

There's nothing quite as heady as being at the Last Night of the Proms. As the summer comes to a close and this great annual festival in London concludes, the crowds gather in the park to watch this event broadcast in the park (and now, in other British cities too). And those that have been lucky enough to get a ticket from the ballot allocation, crowd into the Royal Albert Hall. The core of the event is, of course, the second half, with such staples as Parry's Jerusalem, Arne's Rule Britannia, and, with considerable audience participation (voice, claps, whistling), Land of Hope and Glory and the Fantasia on British Sea Songs. Here, you can enjoy these highlights in studio performances, but, with a cast of superb soloists under Sir Roger Norrington's crackerjack direction, with all the frisson of the live event itself. Excitement apart, it all gets quite emotional too. This CD returns to the catalogue at super-budget price after a long absence from the Decca catalogue and the original liner notes are expanded to include a description of the making of this recording by its executive producer, Evans Mirageas.

Outdoor and indoor "Proms" concerts take place up and down the UK throughout the summer with millions of people seeing live classical music. Land Of Hope And Glory captures all of the flag waving, patriotic spirit of these concerts, including anthemic pieces of music such as ‘Jerusalem’, ‘Rule Britannia’, ‘I vow to thee my country’, as well as more reflective moments such as the well known ‘Fantasia On Greensleeves.’

A unique release filling out Britten's voluble performances of the Brandenburg Concertos with the English Chamber Orchestra with the very rare LP issued by Decca of the 1953 Aldeburgh Festival Opening Concert. It contains the much sought-after Sellinger's Round (Variations on an Elizabethan Theme) conducted by Britten, as well as odes and anthems by Purcell and Arne, featuring Alfred Deller and Sir Peter Pears, conducted by Imogen Holst. The disc ends with four 'bonus tracks' that comprised a Decca EP: Sir Adrian Boult conducting Bach's Air from the Orchestral Suite No. 3 and Bantock's arrangement of 'Sheep may safely graze' plus Britten conducting Clarke's Trumpet Voluntary and his own, very beautiful arrangement of God Save the Queen. A true collector's item!

The musical life of Georgian England had three distinct strands running through it — the classical repertoire as performed in the concert hall and fine houses—the lighter, but polite, songs and instrumental music of the pleasure gardens and stage—and the bawdy ballads of tavern and street. This album juxtaposes the three types of music and provides an entertaining picture of the music of urban Georgian life. London Baroque play the music of the concert hall, The Broadside Band perform the songs of the pleasure gardens, and The City Waites give us the low songs.