All these works are small in scale and modest in their emotional range, but they make a highly enjoyable collection. John Ireland's wistful, slightly melancholy romanticism is well brought out by David Garforth, and the orchestra respond with warm, sensitive playing. Though the ECO are not a large ensemble they produce considerable depth of tone and their rich string sound has been well captured by the engineers.
Norman del Mar's performance of the Bridge Suite, also on Chandos, is most sympathetic and there is little to choose between his version and that of Garforth. But Del Mar's original 1978 recording is a little pale in comparison with the new issue, and though the strings of the Bournemouth Sinfonietta play well they sound fewer in number and less tonally opulent than the ECO players.
