Mike Batt: A Classical Tale

Drive Featured Album, from 3 August 2015 after 6pm

Veteran British composer, arranger, conductor Mike Batt is no stranger to symphonic forces. Cast your mind back to the 1970s and you'll remember his band The Wombles incorporating full scale orchestras into their tracks, Minuetto Allegretto and The Myths and Legends of King Merton Womble and His Journey to the Centre of the Earth.

He's also made a habit of composing concert pieces from melodic material that he has created for various TV series and film scores. This album is a collection of some of the more traditional-sounding, purely symphonic music Batt has composed. 

Particularly attractive is The Dublin Overture with its arrangement of Panis Angelicus, and fans of Watership Down (and probably Vaughan Williams too) will enjoy the lush, pastoral themes Batt has derived from his long association with those furry characters. Bright Eyes is probably his biggest ever success.