I confess I would have pooh-poohed the idea of a whole CD ever being devoted to the music of Haydn Wood. To be offered not simply that, but a whole Marco Polo series devoted to British light music is a dream come true. What is more, in neither musical context nor performance are hopes and expectations dashed by this release.
Wood (1882-1959) obtained his first name from parents inspired by a performance of The Creation just before his birth. He was a close contemporary of Eric Coates, and his output falls into much the same category, with ballads (including Roses of Picardy) in his early days, and a good deal of orchestral music later. As Tim McDonald states in his informative notes, Wood was a prolific composer. Indeed, according to one anecdote, his publisher greeted one offering with the words, ''But Haydn, you've composed this before!'' If his orchestral music never achieved the huge popularity of Coates's, on this evidence he was unlucky.
The programme's contents vary between the reflective, the rhapsodic and the romantic, but are consistently tuneful. If the two pieces inspired by Wood's Isle of Man childhood slightly outstay their welcome, the programme as a whole is a delight, whether in the sentimental Serenade to Youth, the sparkling Sketch of a dandy, the swirling waltz Joyousness or the rhapsody on sea songs, The seafarer. Perhaps most impressive of all is the London cameos suite, from which ''Ball at Buckingham Palace'' will be familiar to listeners to BBC Radio 2's ''Melodies for You''.
As for the playing, Adrian Leaper has done an astonishing job to produce such authentic performances from players who can hardly have heard of Wood or his music before. I cannot recommend the collection too highly to anyone who cares about British light music, and I hope we may look forward to further releases in the series devoted to the likes of Charles Ancliffe, Frederic Curzon, Percy Fletcher and Montague Phillips.'