The works on this recording cover the entire span of Britten’s published output – from the Simple Symphony of 1934, to the string orchestral arrangement of Lachrymae completed in the last year of his life. Britten always retained a special affection for his childhood efforts and in the Simple Symphony reworked his earliest compositions making them ‘more fit for general consumption’. In contrast there is a special poignancy about the works of his final three years, composed after Britten’s unsuccessful heart operation. In its earthy treatment of the folk-song material, the Suite on English Folk Tunes, his last purely orchestral work, is at the furthest remove from the sentimentality often associated with the English pastoral tradition.