Dutton Vocalion Records

22/12/2025

Christmas is here again, and at Dutton Vocalion we find ourselves wondering once more where the year has gone. So we thank our loyal customers for their support and wish them a happy festive season and New Year.

Monday 22 December is our final day in the office before we take a well-earned break. However, we’ll be keeping an eye on incoming orders, so please do keep placing them. We’ll return to the office on Friday 2 January 2026, whereupon we’ll begin dispatching the orders we’ve received.

10/12/2025

In the December 2025 edition of Gramophone, Jeremy Dibble has found much to like about our latest SACD devoted to the English composer York Bowen, featuring music for organ, viola, violin and harp. He describes the solo organ works as having been “admirably performed by Christian Wilson,” and he cites the Poem for viola, harp and organ as “a gem” and as having been “beautifully executed by Sarah-Jane Bradley and Hugh Webb.” Meanwhile, Jonathan Woolf of MusicWeb International was moved to call the Fantasia for violin and organ a “fresh, attractive work, quite operatically conceived with declamatory sections encoding some rather proto-cinematic elements.”

08/12/2025

Gramophone magazine and the London Light Music Meetings Group have covered our latest Malcolm Arnold SACD, which comprises the scores for the ballets Homage to the Queen and Sweeney Todd. Gramophone has praised the orchestration of Sweeney Todd as “remarkably fluent” and “superb,” while the LLMMG has similarly focused on the orchestration of Homage to the Queen, describing it as “dazzling, impressive, and perfectly catching the celebratory and patriotic mood of the event.”

09/10/2025

Thanks to Charles Waring for this review of Vocalion Books’ newest title, ‘Sophisticated Harmony,’ which appears in the November 2025 issue of ‘Record Collector’ magazine.

Portraits of forgotten masters

After ‘The Mood Modern,’ his excellent 2018 tome dedicated to illuminating the arcane world of British library music, Lomax turns his attention to six key composers and arrangers who helped shape the sound of British TV music in the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s. Arguably the most prominent of these unsung heroes is Ronnie Hazlehurst, who wrote the memorable themes for ‘Last of the Summer Wine’ and ‘The Two Ronnies,’ both iconic BBC shows; also profiled are the estimable but more obscure Trevor Bastow, Anthony Isaac, Peter Knight, Steve Gray, and Dick Doerschuk, an American composer and trailblazing TV music director who at one time lived in the UK.

Combining forensic background research with revealing quotes from family members, friends, and work colleagues, Lomax skilfully penetrates the inner lives of his six subjects, getting to the nub of what made them tick. Each of Lomax’s portraits is respectful but never hagiographic, unafraid of uncovering flawed personal lives, like Isaac’s self-destructive alcoholism and Doerschuk’s dysfunctional marriages. But ultimately, this fascinating, well-written book is a celebration of unsung, largely forgotten musical heroes who deserve wider appreciation; few people know their names, but many in the UK would instantly recognise their music as part of the soundtrack to their lives.

29/08/2025

Thanks to the good people at ‘Shindig!’ magazine for this excellent review of Vocalion Books’ newest publication, ‘Sophisticated Harmony.’

26/08/2025

08/08/2025

Dutton Epoch August 25 New Recordings Malcolm Arnold is perhaps best known for his film music, a fine body of work that includes ‘The Bridge on the River Kwai’ and ‘Nine Hours to Rama.’ His music for the concert hall – ballets, concertos, symphonies, chamber pieces, and much else – is equally enchanting and evocative. And now Dutton Epoch presents a disc of Arnold’s ballet music, featuring the premiere digital recordings of his complete ‘Homage to the Queen’ and ‘Sweeney Todd’ scores. Additionally, there are two discs devoted to the uniquely English chamber music of York Bowen and Freda Swain.