Just a little disappointing
Classic Music Lover | Maryland, USA | 06/03/2007
(3 out of 5 stars)
"Knowing Barry Wordsworth's conducting from such disks as his Lord Berners album on EMI, I was expecting a bit more excitement in these performances. They aren't bad, but in each case where I'm familiar with another interpretation, I prefer the alternatives. Conductors like Sir Charles Groves, Sir Adrian Boult -- and especially John Wilson on his very commendable series of Coates music on several ASV-label CDs -- do these works better. I guess the best thing about this CD is the inclusion of The Three Men suite, which to my knowledge has not been recorded commercially in the modern era before now. It's a nice work -- certainly not one of Coates' best pieces -- but worth getting to know. The recorded sound is fine -- though not quite as good as the earlier Lyritas recorded back in the 1970s."