Three early Britten works for string orchestra. He wrote the comparatively short Prelude and Fugue in the war to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the founding of the Boyd Neel orchestra, but it is not an easy work to like, whereas the Frank Bridge variations are superbly entertaining—an astonishing kaleidoscope of different styles within the all-pervading style of Britten himself. And the Simple Symphony is of course irresistible. The Bournemouth strings are more than a little taxed in some of the variations, especially in the very difficult fugue at the end, but they emerge creditably, aided by the realistic recording quality.'