As well as the recordings by the likes of Landon Ronald, Percy Pitt, Dan Godfrey and so on who regular visitors to my site will know, I also collect a wide range of other recordings which make it on site from time to time. Among newer recordings to my collection which I’ve just digitised is a 1958 pop 78 of two tracks sung by Peter Miles. He’s probably an unfamiliar name to most people. But as a Doctor Who fan, I warmly remember his acting performances in “The Silurians”, and most famously as Nyder in “Genesis of the Daleks.” (I’ve yet to see his contribution to “Invasion of the Dinosaurs.”) He shows off a fine falsetto, and I hope to make the two sides available on my site before too long. I’ve also just listened to a Regal 10? record of the Silver Stars Band (conducted by Ketèlbey, though the label does not declare this) of a selection of Irish Jigs, recorded in 1920. It’s rather fun. And then there’s a 12? Columbia of the Choir of St. George’s Chapel Windsor under Dr. Edmund Fellowes, performing Stanford’s Magnificat in G, and Walmisley’s Magnificat in D minor. Both are sadly lacking their associated Nunc dimittises (what is the plural of “Nunc dimittis”?) The performances are strange to modern ears, especially the diction. It’s what one comes to expect on choral and operatic recordings in English from this period, and helps reveal changes in performance practice over the years.

Waiting to reach the turntable is a selection of early Delius recordings, including the first recordings of Brigg Fair and On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring, both with Eugene Goossens III conducting the Royal Albert Hall Orchestra. There are also late 1920s Delius recordings with Geoffrey Toye conducting (including another Brigg Fair) and the Cello Sonata with Beatrice Harrison and Harold Craxton.