This fine Marco Polo issue, recorded in Dublin, presents representative works composed between 1888 and 1919. Dating from 1888, when productions of Shakespeare plays could include newly composed incidental music performed by an orchestra in the pit, the "Richard III" Overture is suitably lugubrious, treating several leitmotoifs identified with the play's principal characters. An angular, quirky theme gives rise to some colourful elaboration in the second item. "The Seasons" is the work I have enjoyed most. There are some especially engaging passages in the "Autumn" movement, where the cor anglais' plaintive tone is well exploited.
If the sound quality is not quite the very best, additional value to this issue is provided by the scholarly program notes of David Russell Hulme.