In 1942 The Musical Times reported a ‘grave loss’ referring to Walter Leigh’s tragically early death, killed in action whilst serving in a tank regiment near Tobruk, just before his thirty-seventh birthday. Though during his lifetime he was more than once compared to Sir Arthur Sullivan, from a contemporary standpoint an equally pertinent analogy could be drawn with a composer from a later generation, Sir Richard Rodney Bennett. Both men approached film music and ‘light music’ with the same seriousness of purpose and invested it with the same impeccable craftsmanship they brought to their concert pieces.

Presented here is a collection of works, all commissioned or premièred by the English Music Festival, of different styles, inspirations and influences, but which all demonstrate a tremendous beauty, individuality and vibrancy. Sparkling and celebratory overtures are provided by Matthew Curtis and Richard Blackford, while Paul Carr provides gorgeous lyricism with Now Comes Beauty and Suddenly It’s Evening ; and Philip Lane’s Aubade Joyeuse bubbles with energy. Both Christopher Wright’s Legend and Paul Lewis’s Norfolk Suite evoke a wonderful sense of atmosphereand David Matthews’s White Nights is full of searing beauty.

This album is particularly close to my heart because it contains music written especially for me; the composers have paid me the great compliment of writing with my playing in mind, in some cases collaborating closely with me, in others simply prese nting me with a finished work, and in all cases creating a distinctive, English piece which makes a worthwhile addition to the repertoire for solo clarinet with orchestra. These four composers have all also dared to write melodically whilst still managing to find new things to say. Does it take courage to write melodically? Well, yes, when you live in an age where art has to be forever stretching boundaries to be taken seriously. However English Fantasy contains music which I hope will entertain and move a contemporary audience whilst unapologetically rooting itself in the traditions of the past.

Philip Lane, ‘The doyen of British Light Music’ (James Jolly, Gramophone), has collaborated with Heritage for this Winter 2017 release – British Celebration 2, the sequel disc to British Celebration, features orchestral music composed by leading figures in the Light Music movement: Paul Lewis, Thomas Hewitt Jones, Roy Moore, Anthony Hedges, Philip Godfrey, Timothy Roberts, Philip Spratley, Nicholas Smith and Gavin Gordon.