Themes & Variations

This CD (released in 2001) is from 'NMC Recordings', a label which is dedicated to championing British classical music, especially by living composers, and now has an extensive (and important) back catalogue.
The idea behind this CD is a simple one - bring together three different sets of variations, composed in different decades and featuring a good cross section of British composers of the 20th century - but it is executed beautifully, both in the superb performance by the BBC Symphony Orchestra (conducted by Jac van Steen) and the great presentation (excellently packaged, including a booklet with thorough and informative notes by Bayan Northcott).
The first set of variations - 'Variations on an Elizabethan Theme' ('Sellenger's Round' by William Byrd') - were composed in 1953, to celebrate the Coronation of Elizabeth II, and are for string orchestra. Seven composers were involved and, unsurprisingly, the most striking pieces (at least to my ears) were written by probably the three best known: Michael Tippett, Benjamin Britten, and William Walton.
The second set of variations - 'Severn Bridge Variations - was commissioned by the BBC, in 1966, to mark the opening of the Severn suspension bridge which links England with Wales. The variation itself is on a Welsh hymn tune called 'Braint'. Six composers wrote pieces for this set, with Michael Tippett again producing something outstanding. (Tippett is the only composer to be represented twice on this CD).
The last seven variations - 'Variations on 'Sumer Is Icumen In'' - were composed in 1987 to mark the 40th anniversary of Suffolk's world famous Aldeburgh Music Festival. The tune, that the variations are based on, is a medieval melody which Benjamin Britten himself quoted in his 'Spring Symphony' (1949). Written over twenty years after the previous set of variations, these have a more contemporary feel to them and all the composers who contributed - Oliver Knussen, Robert Saxton, Robin Holloway, Judith Weir, Alexander Goehr, Colin Matthews and David Bedford - are happily still working today (2011), nearly twenty-five years later. My particular favourites from this set of variations are Judith Weir's celtic influenced piece and David Bedford's finale.
All in all, I would say that this would be an excellent addition to the CD collection of anyone who is already interested in, or would like to discover more about, 20th Century British classical music. It features 'bite size' pieces (all of the individual variations are between one and six minutes long) by nineteen composers, both well known and rather neglected, and the fact that there is a thirty-four year timespan, between the first set of variations and the last set, allows the listener to appreciate the change of approach to composition from the early 1950s to the more contemporary sound of the late 1980s.