If Hubert Parry's reputation as an English composer of the fin de siècle had to stand or fall with the music on one compact disc, this might be the one disc to bring to his defense. True, it doesn't have any of his five symphonies, any of his big choral orchestral works or his Elegy for Brahms, perhaps his best single-movement orchestral work, and thus nearly neglects the more earnest side of his music. But it does have the Overture to an Unwritten Tragedy to cover Parry at his most serious, plus the ingenious Symphonic Variations, the lighthearted "Bridal March," and the charming pastiches An English Suite and Lady Radnor's Suite to cover most of the rest of Parry's compositional moods. In addition, it has completely professional and totally committed conducting by
Adrian Boult and finely polished and wholly dedicated playing by either the
London Symphony or the
London Philharmonic captured in smooth and deep stereo sound by Lyrita. Whether in the end Parry's music with its sturdy structures, sophisticated orchestrations, big-hearted themes, and brightly optimistic tone will earn its place in the pantheon of English composers of the fin de siècle is up to the listener. Coincidentally -- or perhaps not -- the bumptious trombone tune near the beginning of Parry's Symphonic Variations bears what one might forgivably call an uncanny resemblance to
Danny Elfman's main theme from his score to Tim Burton's Beetlejuice.