• The triumph as well as the sorrow of Eric Coates (1886-1957) is that his music is familiar – his By the Sleepy Lagoon is used as the Desert Island Discs theme – but few know his name or what else he wrote. His wistful, elegant orchestral writing, full of yearning oboe melodies, uplifting brass fanfares, foot-tapping string tunes, is the epitome of that neglected category: “British light music”. The conductor John Wilson, a dazzling champion of this repertoire, indifferent to fashion but now leading it, has made us listen again.
