Another big interest of mine - I suppose from reading British music magazines my entire adult life - is English music and English interpreters. They will be a theme here, if only because they make up a big part of my collection.
In these performances you get both: the English composer Frederick Delius, and the English conductor/composer Anthony Collins leading the London Symphony, on the Decca label. This was even a "special Coronation issue" of 1953. Decca seemed to dub many of its English music releases that year "Coronation issues." Maybe it didn't sell records then, but it does help date the issues now.
This was a 10-inch version of a 12-inch record, with only two pieces included; about 15 minutes of music. Not especially generous.
These performances are not nearly as well known as Beecham's, but they are nonetheless in print as two different reissues. Collins makes the music's links to Wagner and Franck evident.
This is a good sounding transfer (if I do say so myself), but there was some peak distortion on my pressing in The Walk to the Paradise Garden.
REMASTERED VERSION - OCTOBER 2014
