Having been awarded a 1999 Gramophone Award for this ongoing series, the Naxos box of 'British Orchestral Masterpieces' must receive the strongest recommendation. The five discs are admirably chosen to give a representative cross-section, and David Lloyd-Jones is a powerfully sympathetic interpreter. The playing of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra in Bax's lyrically compelling First Symphony, In the Faery Hills and the delightful Garden of Fand, and in the Holst collection - the exotic Beni Mora, the sparser, even desolate Egdon Heath, the jolly Fugal Overture, Hammersmith and the Somerset Rhapsody - is polished and warmly spontaneous, and Tim Hugh is the movingly responsive soloist in the much rarer Invocation. He also contributes impressively to the Bliss Cello Concerto, but is rather backwardly balanced, and here, as in the Music for Strings with the Northern Sinfonia, it is Bax's warm lyricism that predominates rather than the music's energetic bite.
The Northern Sinfonia players are given a bolder profile in Elgar's Falstaff, conducted by Lloyd-Jones with great zest and obvious relish for this multi-faceted Elgarian characterization, while the poignant Elegy and the engaging Sanguine Fan ballet music make a stimulating contrast. Paul Daniel then takes over for the Walton Symphony No 1, played with a grip and a passionate intensity to match any performance in the catalogue. The joyous Partita makes an engaging bonus.
The 'British Light Music' box offers the widest panoply of popular favourites, most of it played, perhaps surprisingly idiomatically, by the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, usually with Adrian Leaper, although Ernest Tomlinson directs his own music (including the delicately winning Little Serenade), and Kenneth Alwyn and the BBC Concert Orchestra contribute a couple of Richard Addinsell's film scores. But mostly this is expected fare including, I am glad to say, Roger Quilter's lovely Children's Overture, Anthony Collins's Vanity Fair (which he greatly prized), Binge's Sailing By, Arthur Benjamin's Jamaican Rumba and mostly familiar items by Eric Coates, Robert Farnon, Edward German, Haydn Wood, Ketelbey (of course), and so on, all brightly presented and well recorded. Very entertaining!
I am never too sure about recommending multi-symphony or concerto collections, but the Naxos set of 'Romantic Violin Concertos' could be an exception, although Takako Nishizaki's readings of the Brahms and Bruch G minor Concertos are less impressive than her other performances. However, she is a fine artist, and her individuality, simplicity and natural lyrical flow are heard at their most impressive and appealing in Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Mozart and Tchaikovsky. Dong-Suk Kang never puts a finger wrong in his passionate readings of the Elgar and Sibelius concertos, both immensely involving performances, and the equally commanding Ilya Kaler provides a warmly appealing coupling of the irresistible Glazunov and concertos Dvorak concertos, with the latter's F minor Romance, B39, thrown in for good measure. Excellent accompaniments and very good recordings throughout.
About the 'Romantic Piano Concertos' I cannot be so positive. Idil Biret's Chopin is impressive of course, Benjamin Frith gives great pleasure in the John Field, and Scherbakov is first-rate in the Respighi. But elsewhere there are too many reservations. In the Brahms No 2 Jando is let down by the playing of the Belgian orchestra, the Gershwin collection (which includes An American in Paris) is undistinguished, and Michael Houston's Shostakovich, although enjoyable enough, cannot compete with Alexeev (on CfP, 1/89) or Bernstein on Sony (6/94).
Alas, the collection of 'Great Romantic Symphonies' is a non-starter; Georg Tintner's Bruckner Fourth (with the RSNO) is the obvious highlight, but Rahbari's Brahms Fourth is heavy-going. Wit's Mahler doesn't lack intensity but in that respect is uneven. Gunzenhauser's Rachmaninov Second is warm and often passionate, but not distinctive, and Wit's Pathetique cannot compare with Pletnev's which now comes on a Virgin 2 x 1 Double at mid price (11/99), coupled with his wonderfully poetic performance (on the piano) of The Seasons. Each box is stoutly packaged, with the discs in individual jewel-cases and the set of five offered for the cost of four.'