20th Century English

Moving and topical 1939 oratorio with Negro spirituals as chorales. Tippett conducts and the soloists were his choice.

If Finzi had written nothing else this rapturous cantata, beautifully sung here, would ensure his immortality.

Three gripping works by this contemporary composer. Connolly is spell-binding as the wife who kills her violent husband and Finley is deeply moving in the Eirst World War poems in the third work.

A best-seller after the 1962 Coventry premiere and still a harrowing experience. The Decca reissue has indispensable recording of Britten rehearsing.

The Elgar includes Serenade, Elegy and Introduction and Allegro, the VW the Tallis Fantasia and Greensleeves. Wonderful playing.

Historic---made in 1932 when Menuhin was 16. It is still the most satisfying interpretation because of Elgar's conducting.

No Gerontius recording is wholly satisfactory, but this set is notable for Janet Baker's Angel and for her classic singing of Sea Pictures, in perfect rapport with Barbirolli.

My first choice -- and so rich is the field that all might change next week---brings two rare examples of this composer conducting his own music. The symphony was recorded (off the air) at a Prom in 1952 when he was 80. He knew just how his music should sound and more than any other recorded interpretation by better technical conductors he projects the great symphony's darker moments and hints of menace as well as its radiance. The 1936 cantata, with a text assembled from the Mass, Whitman and John Bright is an ever-topical warning about war. Renee <acute 1st e> Flynn and Roy Henderson are the (original) soloists in this 1936 broadcast.