There can be no doubt that much English music of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries is little other than a poor cousin of its Continental equivalents; the musical tastes of the restored court reflected a vogue for things French, and native composers, rather than finding an independent voice, did little other than synthesise imported styles and genres. There were, of course, exceptions, such as John Blow and Henry Purcell, but generally, a large corpus of late seventeenth-century English manuscripts demonstrates little independence from a style and genre that was to become the quintessential English voice. Handel's arrival in 1710 did little other than make matters worse and composers almost immediately began to assimilate his styles into their own works. Although there remains a wealth of music that is both well written and pleasing to the ear, it was not until the end of the nineteenth century that composers finally started to demonstrate an independence of spirit and an imaginative flair. Nimbus's compilation CD Rule Britannia contains some of the better examples in what might be deemed a potted history of British music. The first disc is rooted firmly in the music of Purcell and his immediate successors, the second leap-frogs over the next century, presenting the music of Elgar, Holst, Vaughan Williams and, rightly, Arthur Sullivan. I say rightly because although, as Tom Lehrer remarked, it is "full of words and meaning and signifying nothing", it is an important and influential part of this country's musical heritage.

The choice of music for the opening disc reflects some of the better composers of the period, and is performed by the English String Orchestra and Leeds Festival Chorus under the baton of William Boughton. None of the music is performed on period instruments, and there is little evidence that Boughton has even paid the slightest attention to contemporary performance practices. Worse than anything, there are some unusual arrangements of Purcell with 'smoothed off' harmonies that, to me, are an anathema. Today, there is no acceptable excuse for music to be taken from its original context and performed in an over-romanticised and slushy manner. That aside, Boughton's secure handling of both orchestra and chorus is worth mentioning.

The second disc fares much better, however; I frankly enjoyed the performances of Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance marches and it becomes clear that it is with music of this sort that Boughton comes into his own. The music speaks for itself, and although there is nothing new or innovative about Boughton's interpretation, the orchestra is tight and well-controlled, especially in the middle section of the fifth march, which can all too easily become meaningless and directionless. It is, however, Stephen Darlington's version of Vaughan Williams's Te Deum and The Old Hundredth Psalm Tune that makes this a disc worth purchasing. Christ Church Cathedral Oxford Choir had, towards the end of the 1980s, an individual sound that comes over well: they match the substantially large orchestra's resources, and have a unique flexibility that suits the subtle changes in the Te Deum in particular.

For me, the second disc is the one that shows the greater merit; however, it is worth considering that, like the Meditations for Autumn disc, also reviewed in this issue, it works on a different level: there are few compilation discs that provide adequate coverage of a range of English music styles, even if one is slightly wayward. From that viewpoint alone, Rule Britannia is worth considering as an excellent educational resource.

Joan Gregory