With its magnificent tower at the end of St Martin?s Lane near Trafalgar Square, we have a lively history of England's oldest continuously performing arts company. Susie Gilbert traces the development of the English National Opera from its earliest origins in the darkest Victorian slums of The Cut where it was conceived as a vehicle of social reform, through two World Wars and via Sadler's Wells to its great glory days at the Coliseum and beyond. Inspired by the idealism of Lilian Baylis, the Company's ethos is that opera in the vernacular, in English and not Italian or other foreign languages, can reach out to even the least privileged members of society, and create potent, immediate communication with its audience. The dual aim of the Company has been to extend the appreciation of opera to make the drama equal partner with the music. ENO played in village halls and regional cinemas during WW2, toured and travelled from Bournemouth to Kiev after it, and in 2008 returned for a short season to its birthplace at the Old Vic. ENO's biography illuminates the story of the development of British cultural life during the last 120 years and the growth of a middle class able to enjoy the possibilities of longer periods of leisure. The story begins in the era of Ruskin, William Morris and others who took on the role of missionaries in their efforts to tackle the chronic poverty, alcoholism and prostitution of the era and who saw housing reform as a link to cultural amelioration. The biography sets the Company's artistic achievements within the wider context of social and political attitudes to the arts, and the ever-changing theatrical style. With full access to ENO's archives, Gilbert has unearthed a rich range of material and held numerous interviews with fascinating personalities to weave an absorbing tale of life both in front and behind the scenes as it developed over the years, based heavily on the Company's management archives, and how producers have at some points seemed more interested in securing controversy than in satisfying the audience. The history ends in 2009. 2017 huge paperback reprint, 703pp.

This special history book describes the importance of music in parks and open spaces, the growth of the brass band movement, the legacy of the pleasure gardens movement, the impact of the great foundries, through to the decline and subsequent revival of the bandstand, and so much more. Packed with hundreds of archive and colour photos, beginning with a general prospect of Vaux Hall Gardens circa 1715 and the crowded opening of the bandstand in Congleton Park, Cheshire 1914, the commentary begins with the Registrar General of Tower Hamlets writing in 1839 'A Park in the East End of London, would probably diminish the annual deaths by several thousands... and add several years to the lives of the entire population.' The early Victorians recognised rapidly industrialising centres across the country and until this book there has been a clear gap in the understanding of the social impact of parks on local communities. Parks were often developed by a combination of local authorities and wealthy benefactors including Nash, Paxton, Gibson, Milner, Kemp and Loudon and great designs were often produced as recreation evolved. With many parks soon seeming to have a bandstand, what defined the role of music in parks and the effect on dissipating social divisions in society, music at seaside resorts, we begin to understand that in their heyday there were over 1500 bandstands in the country attracting the likes of crowds of over 10,000 in the Arboretum in Lincoln, to regular concerts in most of London's parks up until the beginning of WWII. Little is really known about them from their evolution as 'orchestras', the music played, the intricate and ornate ironwork or Art Deco designs and the impact of the great foundries, to the decline during post-Second World War and revival in the late 1990s, the book tells the stories of these pavilions made for music and their history, decline and revival. The brilliant Gazetteer lists town, location, date erected and manufacture or foundry where known and model by existing bandstands from Aberdare Park to the Promenade Youghall, County Cork and then the lost bandstands, covering all 1500 and with dozens of beautiful sepia postcards and images and modern sunny day blue skies colour photos. 236 very large pages in softback published by Historic England.
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In a rather beautiful metallic navy blue tin box decorated with silver embossed bottles, contained within are 21 sonic feats to amaze your guests. Enjoy Glacial Glockenspiel in which the host plays it cool. Fill a baking tray with about 4cm of water and leave it in the freezer overnight. In the morning, remove the slab of ice and let it rest for around five minutes. With a large, serrated knife, gently and slowly saw the ice width ways into five slabs of decreasing size, in rough proportion. Scrape off the edges until they are fairly smooth and then put them back in the freezer for another few hours. Cut a cucumber into two, long flat strips and place about 8cm apart in parallel and balance the ice bars between them like railway sleepers. Your instrument is now ready. Your mallets, in this instance, are a pair of teaspoons. Virtuosi could use carrots as mallets with your ice now resonant, compose a hymn to polar extremes while we still have them and tap out a tribute to the penguins. Let the room temperature dictate how long your piece lasts and listen as it melts for new and undiscovered tunings. Free Jazz Popcorn needs the equipment of cooking oil, four saucepans, popcorn, tin foil, baking paper and elastic bands or string for a fantastic two minute drum solo. When the Marrow Blows involves a courgette and a wooden spoon and the Ballad of the Greengrocer a cucumber, knife, wooden spoon, apple corer or potato peeler, a carrot and a pepper. Purse your lips and blow through them like a high-pitched raspberry and place your fingers over the holes to make different notes. Dinner parties will never be tame again as you liven up evenings with these hilarious after dinner sound and music experiments, a favourite of which here is recreating the fizz and crackle of a barbershop quartet on an old-time gramophone. You're in for a good time. 21 handsome double sided colourful cards of a large size, get out those wine glasses now and start to sing! Pity the poor dog!

Following a lifetime of witnessing the music industry at close quarters, author of the bestselling '1971' David Hepworth has been a journalist and TV presenter and has a towering stack of anecdotes. Pop music is catchy. Can you dance to it? Do you fancy the singer? What's fascinating about pop music is our relationship with it, and popular modern historian Hepworth is interested in the human side, how people make the stuff and more importantly what it means to us. From the legacy of the Beatles to the dramatic decline of the record shop via the bewildering nomenclature of musical genres, with his characteristic insights and humour Hepworth asks the essential questions of music and life ? is it all about the drummer? Are band managers misunderstood? Is it appropriate to play Angels at funerals? He ponders 'A Hard Day's Night' 50 years on, Rubber Soul 50 years on (2015), pop?s greatest decade the 60s, Satisfaction, catching up with Bob Dylan in 2013, why Sixties rock stars never give up, what use are DJs?, and everything Hepworth knows about the blues, rock TV, why some acts don't make it, when novelists write about rock, why everything must be dark and edgy. Plus how he has measured out his life in record shops and why nobody has ever asked a girl back to listen to their iTunes! His Rock List makes great reading with 2 great songs, 15 memorable gigs, seven things he would tell a young band, 20 songs about Americans on the move and five records that always work at weddings (Dancing Queen, Open Your Heart by Madonna, Dancing In the Dark by Bruce Springsteen, the Jean Genie by David Bowie and Jump Around by House of Pain (because blokes can put their fists in the air and join in the 'Jump, jump, jump, jump' bit!) 222 page paperback.

George Michael found fame and fortune beyond his wildest dreams from the formation of Wham! in 1981. Their music formed the soundtrack to the 1980s, but when they split in 1986, George went on to greater things as a solo artist. He achieved all this despite growing up in a dysfunctional family where his father openly proclaimed that George had no talent. Along the way he was embroiled in several controversies, but always happy to address the issues head on with the media. A court case with Sony, an arrest in a Los Angeles public toilet, minor run-ins over class C drugs and traffic offences in London, the biography tackles the issues that formed the superstar and his place as a cultural icon. In the last decade before his untimely death he had returned to touring and achieved a massively successful 25 Live tour and the critically acclaimed Symphonica after a serious health scare and a stint in prison. In the months before his death, George was working on new material and a TV documentary. It was only after his death in December 2016 that stories of the full extent of his generosity came to light, adding another layer to the complex story of an unusual superstar. 234pp, paperback with illustrations, we have the 2007 original edition.

Sarah Francis plays a 1930s Luis oboe made in London. These recordings were first published between 1988 and 1994. Albinoni Solo Oboe Concertos (complete) "I find it nearly impossible to believe that the Albinoni concertos could be given more musical readings than these."- American Record Guide. The second CD has Handel's Oboe Concertos and Sonatas (complete). "Miss Francis's playing is memorable both for her appealing timbre and her sensitive, lyrical phrasing, where she varies her vibrato with the utmost subtlety. A collection which easily leads the field." The Penguin Guide to Compact Discs 4. CDs 3 & 4: Telemann Concertos for Oboe and Oboe d'amore (complete) and Telemann Triple Concerto for Flute, Oboe d'amore and Viola d'amore. 'Sarah Francis plays here with intense ardour, while elsewhere her dance derived movements have fresh springy rhythms. Equally enticing is the triple concerto for flute, oboe d'amore and viola d'amore.' - BBC Music Magazine. Two CDs.

These unique fascinating discs bring you original performances from original piano rolls in full digital sound. These are not acoustic or electric recordings re-mastered, but actual performances recorded for mechanical reproducing pianos (Ampico, Duo-Art and Welte Mignon) by the great composers and interpreters between 1904 and 1935. The recordings were made recently on a new concert-grand piano. CD 1: 1-3. Piano Sonata No. 14 in Csharpm Op.27 No.2 'Moonlight' (1927), 4-6. Piano Sonata No. 30 in E Op.109 (1927), 7-9. Piano Sonata No. 25 in G Op.79 (1927), 10-13 piano, Sonata No. 3 in C, Op. 2 number 3 (1919). CD 2: 1-2. Piano Sonata in Em Op.90(1927), 3. Gavotte in F (1921), 4. Andante Favori in F Op.35 (1927), 5-8. Piano Sonata in Ab Op. 26 (1928), 9. Bagatelle in Bm Op.126 No.4 (1931), 10. Turkish March (1920). Eugene D'Albert, Wanda Landowska, Harold Bauer, Josef Hofmann perform. The dates in brackets indicate the date the piano roll was made. Two CDs.

Ivor Gurney - 'Alan Gravill plays them with poetic insight and I hope that other pianists will widen their repertoire to include them.' Gramophone. 1. Prelude in F sharp, 2. Prelude in D flat, 3. Prelude in A minor, 4. Prelude in D flat, 5. Prelude in C minor, 6. Prelude in C, 7. Prelude in F sharp, 8. Prelude in F sharp, 9. Prelude in D, 10. Nocturne in B, 11. Nocturne in A flat, 12. Revery, 13. To E.M.H. - a birthday present from Ivor, 14. A Picture Edward Elgar's, 15. Concert Allegro, 16. Skizze, 17. In Smyrna, 18. Adieu Herbert Howells, three pieces Opus 14 played by Jeremy Filsell, 19. Rhapsody, 20. Jackanapes, 21. Procession. Total running time 76.55. CD.

These unique fascinating discs bring you original performances from original piano-rolls in full digital sound. These are not acoustic or electric recordings re-mastered, but actual performances recorded for mechanical reproducing pianos (Ampico, Duo-Art and Welt Mignon) by the great composers and interpreters between 1904 and 1935. The recording was made recently on a new concert-grand piano. BRAHMS: 1. Capriccio in Bm, 2. Rhapsody in Bm, 3. Variations on a Theme by Paganini, 4. Intermezzo in C Op. 119 No.3, 5. Rhapsody in Eb Op, 119 No.4, 6. Waltz in Ab Op. 39 No.15, 7. Rhapsody in Gm Op. 79 No.2. By Artur Rubinstein, Wilhelm Backhaus, Dame Myra Hess, Alexander Raab and Olga Samarov. MENDELSSOHN: 8. The Spinning Song in C Op. 67 No.4 Ignace Paderewski, 9. Rondo Capriccioso in E Op. 14 Josef Hofmann, 10. Characteristic Piece Op.7 No.7 Josef Lhevinne, 11. Song Without words No.46 in Gm Vladimir de Pachmann, 12. Song Without Words No.25 in G Vladimir de Pachmann, 13. Spring Song in A Op. 62 No.6 Guiomar Novaes. CD.

These unique fascinating discs bring you original performances from original piano rolls in full digital sound. These are not acoustic or electric recordings re-mastered, but actual performances recorded for mechanical reproducing pianos (Ampico, Duo-Art and Welte Mignon) by the great composers and interpreters between 1904 and 1935. The recordings were made recently on a new concert-grand piano. 1. Rondo alla Turka K.331 (1906), 2. Fantasia in Dm K.397 (1919), 3. Piano Sonata in D K.576 (1924) Allegro Adagio Rondo, 4. Serenade from Don Giovanni (1923), 5. Fantasy on themes from The Marriage of Figaro (1925) (Mozart/Liszt/Busoni). Vladimir de Pachmann, Alexander Raab, Wanda Landowska, Wilhelm Backhaus and Vladimir Horowitz. The piano rolls were made in the dates in brackets. CD.