Narrated by Leo McKern
with the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields
Conducted by Neville Marriner
and Colin Tilney harpsichord

London has been called many things, from Pope's "Dear, damned, distracting town", or William Dunbar's "Flower of cities all!" It is in the latter mood that this anthology of words and music has been made: to re-visit London before the Industrial Revolution, and to glimpse something of what it might have been and some of what remains. One generalisation about London which remains valid is its reputation for being difficult of access. It gives up its secrets only reluctantly, whatever the period. In this case our eyes are various Italian engravers of the eighteenth century, and our ears are divided between John Gay, Dryden, Sheridan, Swift, and other lesser-known chroniclers of the time, and composers such as Handel, Boyce, Avison, and the much maligned Jeremiah Clarke - the true originator of "The Trumpet Voluntary".