In 1915 Elgar was asked to provide the music for a West End play for children, The Starlight Express, an adaptation of Algernon Blackwood's story A Prisoner in Fairyland. Elgar intended to recycle pieces from his Wand of Youth suites, but charmed by the story and encouraged by his deepening friendship with Blackwood, he found himself composing more and more original material as he went on. As Andrew Davis's performance of the complete score shows, there are moments of top-drawer, heart-stopping Elgar here, as well as more routine Edwardian numbers. This double disc offers a choice: the music can either be heard as a suite that Davis has arranged, or in the context of the winsome original story – the play replaced with an avuncular narration by Simon Callow. The songs are delivered with just the right lightness of touch by soprano Elin Manahan Thomas and baritone Roderick Williams.