Eric Coates conducts Eric Coates For Your Delight (2006)

Eric Coates was a highly successful and much-loved figure on the English musical scene between the First World War and the 1950s. His niche was as a composer of light classics, in the tradition of Johann Strauss before him, and the younger American Leroy Anderson. Coates' music, which consisted primarily of brief orchestral works -- waltzes, marches, serenades, romances, elegies, and other character pieces, as well as some larger pieces and vocal music -- seems dated in a way that the music of Strauss and Anderson doesn't. ... Read More

Eric Coates was a highly successful and much-loved figure on the English musical scene between the First World War and the 1950s. His niche was as a composer of light classics, in the tradition of Johann Strauss before him, and the younger American Leroy Anderson. Coates' music, which consisted primarily of brief orchestral works -- waltzes, marches, serenades, romances, elegies, and other character pieces, as well as some larger pieces and vocal music -- seems dated in a way that the music of Strauss and Anderson doesn't. Strauss and Anderson were each clearly composers of their time, but their works often have a universality that makes them appealing to audiences with no particular attachment to late nineteenth century Vienna or mid-twentieth century America. Coates' music doesn't quite rise to their level of inventiveness, melodic inspiration, or genuine wit and it seems tied very specifically to an inter-war British popular aesthetic. For fans of that sound, and anyone with nostalgia for the world... Read Less