WALTON: FACADE, ORB & SCEPTRE AND MORE: BAX: CORONATION MARCH; BLISS: WELCOME TO THE QUEEN - STILWELL, PEARS, BOULT, BLISS

Returning Decca’s pioneering recording of Façade to the catalogue, this generous collection of English music includes further gems from the Decca catalogue of orchestral pieces by Walton and two marches, by Bax and Bliss, respectively, to mark royal occasions in connection with Queen Elizabeth II. The liner notes include one written by Dame Edith Sitwell herself for the first LP issue of Façade and the cover illustration, especially commissioned for this reissue, takes its title from one of Façade’s numbers: “Something lies beyond the scene”.

* * * ‘Astonishingly successful, clear and atmospheric … The performance [is] still the finest ever recorded … miraculously deft’ Penguin Guide

‘As for the performance, it stands above all others since … must remain a classic to the end of time’ Gramophone

WALTON
Façade – an entertainment
Edith Sitwell, Peter Pears, narrators
English Opera Group Ensemble
Anthony Collins

Siesta
Scapino – a comedy overture
Portsmouth Point = an overture
Orb and Sceptre
London Philharmonic Orchestra
Sir Adrian Boult

BAX
Coronation March, 1953
London Symphony Orchestra
Sir Malcolm Sargent

BLISS
Welcome the Queen
London Symphony Orchestra
Sir Arthur Bliss