Bbc Music 2021

Four 1950s Decca records of popular English music, newly remastered and issued complete for the first time on CD.Better than anyone else, Eric Coates and Sir Noël Coward captured the moods of middle-class, mid-century England at its most optimistic – and in other ways most nostalgic, comforting their audiences and distracting them from their troubles with music as changeable as the weather if orchestrated always on the sunny side. The revival of interest in British light music makes this collection all the more appealing, featuring first recordings of three extended orchestral suites by Coates (recorded 1949-1954) and Coward’s London Morning ballet (1959, still in mono).

• Born in Budapest in 1885 as Maria Theodora, Dora Pejačević grew up as a member of the Croatian aristocracy, the daughter of a Hungarian-Croatian Count and a Hungarian Baroness. Dora’s musical gifts were recognized and encouraged at an early age by her mother, who was herself a trained pianist and singer.