Friday, January 29, 2016

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor ― Ballade for orchestra Op.33

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (15 August 1875 – 1 September 1912) was an English composer of Creole descent who achieved such success that he was once called the "African Mahler".

Commissioned in 1898 by the Three Choirs Festival of Britain thanks to pressure from Edward Elgar, the Ballade for orchestra Op.33 represents an important early milestone for the English composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912). It's a work full of wonderful high-spirits, passion and warmth. Above all it's a harbinger of what might come, given time and opportunity. It is played here by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Grant Llewellyn.