Then there's Frederick Delius. What do we make of him? Was he a great composer, as some fans claim? Or was he perhaps a potential Muzak master just a generation or two ahead of his time?

Truth to tell, I've never been quite sure what he was. I like most of his pieces -- taken individually. They are imaginative within a certain range and very agreeable. Perhaps they are too agreeable, and that is why seventy-five minutes of them is quite a bit too much. It's not that. They all sound the same, but they have enough in common and are so unremittingly comfortable that they begin to sound like music for high-brow elevators.

Delius must have cut class when his composition instructor introduced terms like allegro and vivace. His music is slow, slow again and then slow some more. He probably considered a word like presto an obscenity.

Having said that, no one will force you to to listen to this collection in one sitting, and the performers here are entirely tuned in to the Delius sound. Symphony Nova Scotia may not be the most polished orchestra in the world, but it often puts up a good imitation.

Certainly conductor Georg Tintner has it sounding fine here. Moreover, he avoids a trap into which many conductors lead their orchestras. He doesn't burden the music with any more sentimentality than what is implicit in the scores. The Walk to the Paradise Garden is more pleasing in his interpretation than I've heard elsewhere.

Violinist Philippe Djokic produces a sound that suits the Violin Concerto perfectly, making the work the central focus of the CD, insofar as it has such a focus.

Eloquence has licenced this material from the CBC whose producers issued it ten years ago on its own label (SMCD 5134). If your collection is large enough that you sometimes lose track, you might want to check to see whether you already have the original.