The Best of The Definitive Eric Coates

Featuring

Eric Coates
Albert Ernest Sims
London Symphony Orchestra
Queen's Hall Orchestra
Symphony Orchestra
London Philharmonic Orchestra

Light Symphony Orchestra
New Symphony Orchestra of London
Orchestra Eric Coates
Central Band of the Royal Air Force

Did you know?

1/7

Recording & Production

Eric Coates was fortunate to make his first recordings at the end of the acoustic era, with his electrical process session in August 1926 for Columbia being a triumph.

Composer Biography

Coates was unceremoniously sacked from his position as principal viola in the Queen's Hall Orchestra in 1918 and decided to become a freelance composer at age 32.

Composer Biography

Coates initially studied violin, then switched to viola on the suggestion of his teacher Georg Ellenberger, which became his 'passport to many a local orchestra'.

Interpretation

Coates's own recordings are characterized by crisp brass articulation, first-rate orchestras, and fast tempi, with Coates once remarking, 'you know that nothing is too fast for me.'

Composer Biography

In 1906, Eric Coates studied at London's Royal Academy of Music with Lionel Tertis, described as the most eminent viola-player of the twentieth century.

Cultural Impact

Coates's 'Knightsbridge' March from his London Suite became the theme tune for the popular BBC radio programme 'In Town Tonight' in 1933, bringing him national popularity.

Composer Biography

Eric Coates, the composer and conductor on this album, was born into a musical family in Hucknall, a Nottinghamshire coal-mining town, where his father was a local doctor.