Nobody matched Eric Coates for the composition of light music, and nobody matched Coates for conducting his own music. He recorded a great deal, and he set down many of his works more than once. Previous CD compilations of his own recordings include two double albums (not quite all his own performances) from Conifer in 1994 and 1996, and two single CDs from Naxos in 2001 and 2002. Like this new release, the latter were produced by Peter Dempsey, and he has managed to a commendable extent to avoid duplicating the actual recordings used previously. Where Naxos (like Conifer) included the 1940 version of By the Sleepy Lagoon with reduced orchestration, here we have the earlier 1935 recording with full orchestra. Whereas Naxos offered the full 1926 recording of Summer Days, Living Era (like Conifer) include the abridged 1937 version. Where Conifer in 1992 used Basil Cameron's 1930 Three Bears and Naxos in 2002 offered Coates's 1933 version, Living Era have Coates's 1945 recording. There's confusion, though, over The Four Centuries and The Three Elizabeths. I reckon this new compilation gives us the extended 1953 Decca LP versions rather than the 1944 recordings as stated.

Altogether, Coates connoisseurs will be delighted to have further classic composer recordings to savour and compare. Others will be happy simply to have more than 150 minutes of definitive performances of such wonderfully tuneful and elegantly scored light music. Alan Bunting's splendid sound restoration shows how things have moved on in that field since the 1990s.