The English Music Festival has been in the privileged position of having some of Britain’s foremost composers writing works specifically for it, and EM Records is proud to collaborate with the BBC Concert Orchestra in bringing these exhilarating works to new audiences in a double-disc set. Sparkling and celebratory overtures are provided by award-winning composers Richard Blackford and Matthew Curtis, while Paul Carr provides gorgeous lyricism with his Now Comes Beauty and Suddenly It’s Evening ; and Philip Lane’s Aubade Joyeuse lives up to its name. Both Christopher Wright’s Legend and Paul Lewis’s Norfolk Suite evoke a wonderful sense of atmosphere, while David Matthews’ White Nights is full of searing beauty. Much-loved baritone Roderick Williams contributes to the disc in a performance of John Pickard’s Binyon Songs ; while David Owen Norris is the soloist in his own effervescent Piano Concerto.