Elizabethan Serenade and other orchestral favourites

"One way and another this must be one of the most successful of this excellent series, and it can only heighten the standing of a fine English light music composer"
- Gramophone

"Conductor Tomlinson - who is also one of the most prolific composers honoured in this series - gives this gentle, winsome music the kind of affectionate touch which brings out all its modest but valid virtues."
- Fanfare

One of the most highly respected and successful English composers of his generation, Ronald Binge was born in Derby on 15th July 1910, the eldest of three children. His father was no mean pianist, but any influence he might have had on young Ronnie came to an abrupt halt when he left home to join the army in 1914. He served throughout the Great War and did not return home until 1919. As a result of his wounds he died in 1920. This left the Binge family in poor financial circumstances, and though mother went out to work there was no spare money for music lessons for the children.

Fortunately for Ronnie, relatives and friends rallied round, his maternal grandmother helped financially, and at the age of seven he became a chorister in St. Andrew's Church, Derby. Ronnie (everyone knew him as Ronnie, itself a sign of his endearing ability to be a friend to all) paid generous tribute to the organist and choirmaster of that church, William James Baker, from whom he took his first piano lessons and who gave him so much more than technique, his first insight into the art of music.