Very entertaining light listening
F. Behrens | Keene, NH USA | 01/02/2000
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Eric Coates is not a name with a high recognition factor over here, but in Great Britain he is practically synonymous with "light British music." If you ever saw Richard Todd in "The Dam Busters," then you heard at least one Coates film score; and the three short movements of his suite, "The Three Elizabeths," are very often played separately on classical music stations. While there are many recordings of his fully orchestrated works, we now have from Naxos a collection of 13 of his pieces arranged for the Royal Artillery Band under Major Geoffrey Kingston: (8.554488). We have here the "Elizabeths" suite, the title number, "Rhodesia," "The Seven Seas," and the by now popular "Damn Busters March," along with several other short pieces that range from 2:47 to 8:00 minutes in length. All of these are quite pleasant, pretty much in the tradition of Percy Grainger, Ralph Vaughan Williams, and that golden crop of composers who were their contemporaries. And they all sound pretty good in these wind band transcriptions. By the way, Marco Polo label has a terrific selection of these and other composers in the British Light Music series. But at the budget Naxos price, this CD is a real Grabbit."
Enjoyment Calling!
F. Behrens | 11/20/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Twelve stirring marches and "The Three Elizabeths" add up to 70 minutes and 40 seconds of absolute delight for the Eric Coates afficionado. Mr. Coates' patriotic works boosted the morale of the British people in much the same way that the works of George M. Cohan and Irving Berlin did for the American people. One very interesting observation that I made (which doesn't necessarily make it true) is the inclusion in the 1941 march "Over To You" of a short refrain of three short notes followed by one long note--the famous "... -" theme used by the British during WWII to indicate the Morse Code letter "V" for victory (originally borrowed from Beethoven's Fifth). Enough said. Buy it--You'll like it."
Track Listings (15) - Disc #1