This admirable anthology gets off to a stirring start with the roistering and tuneful Dance Rhapsody from 1908, presented for the first time in its uncut guise (go to 15'22" to hear the bounding measures that Bridge pruned in advance of a 1938 broadcast performance under Clarence Raybould). By contrast, the bewitchingly capricious Dance Poem of five years later exhibits an altogether more subtle harmonic and organic scope (and, like Bax’s contemporaneous Dance of Wild Irravel, at times even spookily anticipates Ravel’s La valse). Hickox directs both these appealing creations with gusto and affection, if without effacing memories of Nicholas Braithwaite and the LPO on a superbly engineered Lyrita LP (11/79 – nla; no sign yet, alas, of a CD transfer).

Elsewhere, Hickox and his fine band lavish care on the five engaging entr’actes Bridge wrote in 1910 for a London production of Emile Cammaerts’ fairy-tale play for children, The Two Hunchbacks (Bridge employs Belgian folk-tunes to match the Ardennes setting). We also get a shapely reading of the 1905 Norse Rhapsody (originally for violin and piano, and orchestrated in January 1938). As for The Sea (which left the 10-year-old Britten ‘knocked sideways’ when he heard Bridge conduct it at the 1924 Norwich Triennial Festival), I prefer the glorious opening ‘Seascape’ to move on just a fraction more than it does here. Otherwise, Hickox easily holds his own, locating plenty of playful mischief in ‘Sea-Foam’ and moulding the gorgeous ‘Moonlight’ with memorable tenderness (though both Handley and Britten bring a stronger grip to the music overall).

Excellent orchestral playing, some first-rate annotation by Paul Hindmarsh and characteristically ripe sound from Chandos help to cement a strong recommendation.