This double disc compilation album presents the best of English folk, where artists such as Eliza Carthy, The Demon Barbers, Bellowhead and Kate Rusby amongst others have revived traditional English folklore penned over a century ago, bringing it back to the forefront of the folk scene. The fourth in the series of ARC Music’s exclusive Ultimate Guide albums, this is an exciting and superb collection of 35 songs that steeps the listener in history from all corners of England. “There cannot be many examples in history of an obsolete art form reaching the verge of extinction only to rise phoenix-like from the ashes and come to dominate popular culture, yet such is the story of English folk…” (Jon Boden)

STANFORD: Requiem / The Veiled Prophet of Khorassan

ONLY COMPLETE RECORDING. Sir Arthur Sullivan wrote his light opera Haddon Hall when he was at the height of his considerable creative powers. Despite his intention to turn away from writing "lighter" works so that he could concentrate on more serious fare, Sullivan's love of the good-life forced his return to the rather more lucrative stage of the Savoy Theatre, and the world of comic opera. Sydney Grundy presented him with a libretto based on an actual historical incident, namely the elopement of Dorothy Vernon, with her lover John Manners, from Haddon Hall, her ancestral home. The opera was completed and presented at the Savoy Theatre on 24th September 1892. The reception to Sullivan's music (though not the libretto!) was ecstatic. Bernard Shaw thought Haddon Hall to be the very best of the Savoy Operas, and for a while the piece beat even the Mikado in box office receipts. We hope that, after hearing this new recording, you will agree that Haddon Hall is an unjustly neglected work of great charm, fully worthy of Britain's most famous composer of the 19th century, Sir Arthur Sullivan.

In February 1896, Clara Schumann described Julius Röntgen in a letter to Johannes Brahms: 'He has remained a child, so innocent, pure, open, enthusiastic… But we certainly can and must take him seriously.’ Brahms certainly agreed and stole from the younger composer a theme from the Serenade which opens this compilation, for use in his own Second Symphony; when Röntgen pointed this out, he was the recipient of a rare apology from Brahms. Born in 1855, Röntgen grew up in Leipzig, the son of the leader of the Gewandhaus orchestra. As a boy he met Liszt, having already composed music for the likes of Joseph Joachim. His move to Amsterdam in 1877 launched a multifaceted career as a pianist, conductor and teacher who continued to compose prolifically in all the classical genres. He became friends with Grieg, who dedicated a volume of Lyric Pieces to him, and much of his own output convincingly welds Austro-German forms with a fresh, Scandinavian-accented simplicity of expression. This portrait of Röntgen ranges across his diverse output, from the Serenade of 1876 to one of the symphonies he wrote late in life, a single-movement form composed in 1930 with a soprano vocalise. A youthful and joyous Violin Sonata of 1879 was composed for the violinist Amanda Maier, who would soon become his first wife; its high spirits are shared by the Theme and Variations for two pianos from the previous year. The Cello Sonata Op.56 is dedicated to the memory of a friend and adapts the final chorus of Bach’s St Matthew Passion. His Sixth Piano Trio Op.50 opens in high Brahmsian style with a passionate main melody and a tender slow movement. A trio of motets dates from the 1920s and features some of his most daring harmonies, before the Symphony strikes a vein of pastoral contemplation akin to the Sinfonia Espansiva of Nielsen, who had also become a friend.