Marco Polo's British Light Music series shifts gear as epitomised by the modern painting (a detail from Ian Steadman's Opus 1) on the CD's booklet cover instead of the mainly quaint Edwardian-style illustrations to which we have become accustomed thus far. Yet it should be emphasised immediately that all these works, although quite recent (composed between 1968 and 1981), are all very melodic and accessible.

David Lyon, born in Walsall in England's West Midlands studied at the Royal Academy of Music with John Gardner and was influenced by the works of Mahler, Shostakovich, Tippett and Britten. He has written many pieces for the BBC's light music programmes; plus chamber, vocal and orchestral music. In 1978 he became interested in adult education and returned to studies this time at Bristol University. Since the mid-1980s much of his music has been designed for school or amateur performance involving voices in one form or another.

The programme commences with the Fantasia On a Nursery Song which is a cheery, often cheeky, set of variations on Nick, Nack Paddiwack as they might have been written by other composers such as Rossini, Arthur Benjamin (his Jamaican Rumba is vividly brought to mind), Sibelius (of Night Ride and Sunrise), Nielsen, Richard Strauss, Bartók, Stravinsky and Walton. This work won an Ivor Novello Award.

The enchanting A Farnham Suite for Strings is a beautifully-crafted, lyrical work written in the style of the great English works for strings - Holst and Finzi come to mind particularly. I loved thius little piece. Equally delightful is Lyon's catchy, carefree miniature, Country Lanes which is a wonderful study in varying cross rhythm and changing key patterns as the music keeps pace with the pony and cart.

The Concerto for Horn and Strings opens with an energetic Allegro conspirito. Unusually, the jaunty music winds down through slowing tempos, becoming more and more dreamily introspective as it does so until it, almost, comes to a standstill before the cadenza which winds the music up again. The Lento movement lets the horn weave a sinuous melody over continuous muted string murmurings leading to an impassioned central climax. The Final movement is bright and breezy and taken at the gallop. Michael Thompson rises to the opportunities and challenges of this quirky little work.

The bewitching Fairy Tale Suite is based on Hans Anderson's The Snow Queen. Its story is about a young boy, Kai, who disappears while playing in the snow. His friend Gerda sets off to look for him, encountering on the way, an enchanted garden, a beautiful Princess, reindeer, wood-pigeons, and a mysterious Ice Palace where Kai is held captive by the Snow Queen. Gerda melts the Snow Queen with her goodness so everything ends happily. The first movement, "Once upon a time..". scored for celesta, harp and two flutes creates a remote icy atmosphere and hidden menace as warmer music evokes the children at play in the snow. The jolly and melodic "Snow Scene" complete with sleigh bells, very reminiscent of Prokofiev, continues this playful mood. The style of the Romantic Russian composers informs "Gerda's Lament". The lovely Waltz (The Enchanted Garden) is followed by "Song of the Pigeons", a whirling, gently shrieking little evocation, directs Gerda to the frozen north. "The Ice Palace: Finale" is narrative music, beginning with ominous tremolandi on strings and icy treble percussion chords leading to confrontation and warmer compassionate figures as Gerda triumphs. A very appealing work.

The Overture to a Comic Opera is a rousing and brisk work, very like Walton/Stravinsky, which made me think of the commedia del arté tradition in its impression of merry pranks. Waltz for Strings is an ingenious little piece requiring great precision work from the violins in their high register made more difficult by the constantly varying time signatures and cross-rhythms.

Ballet for Orchestra is the most structurally complex in the collection and it stretches the term light music to its limits. But it is a high-spirited, accessible composition nonetheless. Brass, woodwind and strings tend to be separated out emphasising the contrasts between them and they are often pitched at the extremes of their range. There is hard, spiky almost aggressive edge to much of the music but its energy, dynamic rhythms and sharp contrasts engage and retain the attention.

David Lloyd-Jones told me how enthusiastic he was about David Lyon's music, and Lloyd-Jones's conviction is clear in brilliant, committed performances. I was very impressed with this collection.

Reviewer

Ian Lace

Performance

Sound

Reviewer

Ian Lace

Performance

Sound