This disc of mainly light and lesser items serves well enough as a pendant to Dutton Laboratories' new two-disc set of major works conducted by Sir Henry (see above), and the transfers are similarly excellent. Here is the complete Fantasia on British Sea Songs as it used to be played at the Proms in Wood's day, and not the cut and edited version we hear at the Last Night now. All the items are performed with characteristic gusto and enthusiasm, though in the Berlioz, the one substantial work, it is apparent (as it is in the bigger set) that Sir Henry does not have the ability to shape slower music with the kind of imagination and beauty that Beecham, for instance, brought to his 1936 and 1954 recordings of Carnaval romain (EMI, 8/92). There's plenty of vitality at the beginning and end of the piece, but the central section turns into rather a metronomic plod. In every other respect this is an enjoyable look back at the lighter repertoire which used to be played at the Proms, but which has now been eclipsed by more serious fare.'