General William Booth

"If you want just one recording of Ives' choral music, this is the one to have.

Charles Ives and Henry Cowell are two of the greatest figures in the history of early American experimental music. Ives has enjoyed far greater recognition in the vocal repertoire than Cowell, largely due to the latters lack of published songs. The songs chosen for this collection offer a glimpse into one aspect of the remarkable output of both composers. Charles Ives (1874-1954) is rightfully called the father of contemporary American music. Fiercely individual as a composer, he was an innovator and a loner with a brilliant, creative mind.

On the 150th anniversary of the birth of Charles Ives - acclaimed by his champion Leonard Bernstein as the 'first great American composer', who, 'all alone in his Connecticut barn, created his own private musical revolution' - Sony Classical presents the most authoritative recording collection ever released of works by this eccentric, prophetic genius. The 5-CD box set 117 tracks 'Charles Ives - The Anniversary Edition' is a unique and provocative introduction.

On the 150th anniversary of the birth of Charles Ives - acclaimed by his champion Leonard Bernstein as the 'first great American composer', who, 'all alone in his Connecticut barn, created his own private musical revolution' - Sony Classical presents the most authoritative recording collection ever released of works by this eccentric, prophetic genius. The 5-CD box set 117 tracks 'Charles Ives - The Anniversary Edition' is a unique and provocative introduction.

Jonathan Meades is unleashed on the county of Essex. Contrary to its caricature as a bling-filled land of breast-enhanced footballer's wives and self-made millionaires, Meades argues that this is a county that defies definition - at once the home of picturesque villages, pre-war modernism and 19th-century social experiments.

Jonathan Meades is unleashed on the county of Essex. Contrary to its caricature as a bling-filled land of breast-enhanced footballer's wives and self-made millionaires, Meades argues that this is a county that defies definition - at once the home of picturesque villages, pre-war modernism and 19th-century social experiments. Shaped by its closeness to London, Meades points out that this is where 19th-century do-gooders attempted to reform London's outcasts with manual labour and fresh air, from brewing magnate Frederick Charrington's Temperance Colony on Osea Island to the Christian socialist programmes run by Salvation Army founder William Booth.