Like Elgar's Wand of Youth, Edward Hill's lovely First Stevensoniana Suite is a delightful homage to childhood written very much with adults in mind. The music is tuneful and skillfully orchestrated and makes a good case for some record label to put out a complete set of all of the suites. Until then, this will do nicely. Horatio Parker's A Northern Ballad certainly withstands comparison to similar works of the English school (such as Vaughan Williams) and is cut from similar cloth. John Alden Carpenter's Sea Drift is a splendid tone poem very different from Delius' work for voices and orchestra. It has been recorded a couple of times, most notably with the Albany Symphony for New World. This performance is a bit dreamier and richer in texture, if not as well engineered. Certainly collectors of early 20th century American composers will need no special urging from me. Come and get it!

--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com