Coates: Orchestral Works, Vol. 3 BBC Philharmonic Orchestra & John Wilson

• Eric Coates (1886 - 1957): Television March:
• 1 Coates: Television March 03:33
• The Three Men:
• 2 Coates: The Three Men: I. The Man from the Country 04:20
• 3 Coates: The Three Men: II. The Man about Town 05:00
• 4 Coates: The Three Men: III. The Man from the Sea 04:38
• Cinderella:
• 5 Coates: Cinderella: 1. Cinderella, alone by the fire, dreaming 01:16
• 6 Coates: Cinderella: 2. Her Fairy Godmother calls her softly and she gradually wakes 01:35
• 7 Coates: Cinderella: 3. Cinderella dresses for the ball 02:21
• 8 Coates: Cinderella: 4. Cinderella arrives at the Palace 01:20
• 9 Coates: Cinderella: 5. The Prince and Cindella dance together 02:03
• 10 Coates: Cinderella: 6. The Clock strikes Twelve 00:33
• 11 Coates: Cinderella: 7. Cinderella, once more sitting by the fireside 01:13
• 12 Coates: Cinderella: 8. She fancies she hears her Fairy Godmother calling her again 01:01
• 13 Coates: Cinderella: 9. The Prince's Trumpeters are heard in the distance 02:11
• 14 Coates: Cinderella: 10. The Prince and his attendants arrive at Cinderella's house 01:03
• 15 Coates: Cinderella: 11. The Slipper fits 01:03
• The Dam Busters March:
• 16 Coates: The Dam Busters March 03:56
• Last Love:
• 17 Coates: Last Love 03:32
• Sweet Seventeen:
• 18 Coates: Sweet Seventeen 05:01
• The Three Elizabeths:
• 19 Coates: The Three Elizabeths: I. Halcyon Days (Elizabeth Tudor) 07:34
• 20 Coates: The Three Elizabeths: II. Springtime in Angus (Elizabeth of Glamis) 08:19
• 21 Coates: The Three Elizabeths: III. March. Youth of Britain (The Princess Elizabeth) 05:09
• Total Runtime 01:06:41

Info for Coates: Orchestral Works, Vol. 3

John Wilson’s third volume devoted to music by Eric Coates combines some of the composer’s larger-scale works with miniatures and two marches. The Cinderella Phantasy frames the well-known fairy-tale from Cinderella’s perspective, glossing over the more brutal elements of the original, with some notably descriptive writing for the dream sequences, the ball, and of course the happy ending. The Three Men is to some extent autobiographical, as Coates explores his love of his native Nottinghamshire countryside, his love for London, and his love of the sea. The Three Elizabeths is a suite of portraits of three great figures in English History – Queen Elizabeth I, Elizabeth of Glamis (then the Queen Consort, now remembered as the Queen Mother), and Princess Elizabeth (who of course would become Queen Elizabeth II). Last Love is a wistful Romance written in 1939, while the much later Sweet Seventeen, a beautiful waltz, was inspired by the love of dancing harboured by both Eric and his wife, Phyllis. In fact, the title refers to his first date with ‘Phyl’, at the Blenheim Restaurant, the day before her seventeenth birthday. Two marches complete the programme: Television March was commissioned by the BBC (just three weeks before the date of broadcast!) for the resumption of television broadcasting in 1946, while The Dam Busters was used as the main title for Michael Anderson’s 1955 film and is arguably the composer’s most widely known work.

“…His [Coates] wistful, elegant orchestral writing, full of yearning oboe melodies, uplifting brass fanfares, foot-tapping string tunes, is the epitome of that neglected category: “British light music”. The conductor John Wilson, a dazzling champion of this repertoire, indifferent to fashion but now leading it, has made us listen again… The BBC Philharmonic plays with buoyancy and style…” (Fiona Maddocks, The Guardian)

“…The quality of the invention [Elizabeth Suite] is notably high, and, as with all his music, the technical mastery is clearly evident… Presented in a totally immaculate rendition this rapt pastoral idyll, left me breathless …” (Geoffrey Atkinson, British Music Society)

BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
John Wilson, conductor

John Wilson
is known for the vivid nature of his interpretations and is applauded repeatedly for the rich and colourful sounds that he draws from orchestras in repertoire ranging from the core classical through to the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. An outstanding communicator, Wilson has developed long-term affiliations with many of the UK’s major orchestras and festivals, and is working increasingly at the highest level across Europe and Australia. In 16/17 he became the Associate Guest Conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, conducting them regularly across Scotland as well as at the BBC Proms and Aldeburgh Festival.

In 18/19 Wilson returns to the BBC Proms with the London Symphony Orchestra as well as with his own John Wilson Orchestra, and at London’s South Bank he returns to the Philharmonia Orchestra and makes his debut with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. Elsewhere in the UK he conducts the BBC Philharmonic, BBC Scottish, City of Birmingham Symphony and Royal Northern Sinfonia and in Europe he returns to the Oslo Philharmonic, Bergen Philharmonic and Swedish Radio Symphony orchestras. Wilson also makes his debut at English National Opera in a new production of Porgy and Bess and in Summer 2019 he returns to Glyndebourne Summer Festival for a new production of Cendrillon.

In recent seasons Wilson has made his debut with many major orchestras including Oslo Philharmonic, Gothenburg Symphony, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonie Orchester Berlin and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and further afield he has twice been to Australia to conduct the Sydney Symphony. In 2016 he made his opera debut with Glyndebourne Festival Opera to great critical acclaim, described as a “sensational success” by Opera Magazine, conducting the theatre’s first ever Madama Butterfly in a new production for their autumn tour.

In 1994, Wilson formed his own orchestra, the John Wilson Orchestra, dedicated to performing music from the golden age of Hollywood and Broadway; for the past decade he has been performing with them annually at the BBC Proms and touring regularly across the UK. John Wilson and the John Wilson Orchestra record exclusively for Warner Classics (formerly EMI Classics) and their performances are broadcast regularly on television and radio.

Wilson has a large catalogue of recordings with a range of orchestras. His most recent recordings are three volumes of symphonic works by Copland with the BBC Philharmonic, described by Gramophone as “outstanding”, and two volumes of works by Richard Rodney Bennett with the BBC Scottish Symphony.

Born in Gateshead, England, John Wilson studied composition and conducting at the Royal College of Music where he was taught by Joseph Horovitz and Neil Thomson and where he won all the major conducting prizes and, in 2011, was made a Fellow.

Booklet for Coates: Orchestral Works, Vol. 3