(August 15, 1875-September 1, 1912) Rhapsodic Dance: The Bamboula
Slow movement from Violin Concerto
(Solo violin, Paul Beard)
Symphonic Variations on an African Air played by the BBC Orchestra, conducted by Avril Coleridge-Taylor
Coleridge-Taylor, who died thirty years ago today at the age of thirty-seven, was probably the greatest composer of light music that Britain has produced. He was a born melodist, a fine craftsman and in all his work he showed an outstanding individuality.
Unlike most composers ot light music, he was equally, successful in music of a more serious calibre, but, apart from the trilogy Hiawatha, his bigger works have suffered from the usual undeserved neclect shown to our own composers. Among such works are the Violin Concerto, his last important composition, written in 1910, and the Symphonic Variations on an African Air, both of which are fine examples of his superb gifts.