LERNER & LOWE: MY FAIR LADY soloists, Sinfonia of London, John Wilson/Chandos

When not doing great service to music lovers with its various orchestral issues, the Chandos company appears to have developed a very useful sideline in absolutely complete performances of great musicals, under the expert stewardship of John Wilson, a man who knows his way as well around an MGM score as well as he does a Respighi tone poem. Having delivered excellent new versions of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel and Oklahoma, the conductor — with the ever-excellent Sinfonia of London — turns his attention to a musical originally mooted for Rodgers and Hammerstein but in the event completed by Lerner and Lowe: the immortal My Fair Lady. With sympathetic soloists such as Scarlett Straalen, the singing could not be in better hands – but the real clincher here is an element also to be found on the Rodgers and Hammerstein sets: the exquisite original arrangement by Robert Russell Bennett. This doyen of the American musical could be said to have created the definitive Broadway sound, and the sprucing up of his reputation under the sympathetic direction of John Wilson could not be more welcome. Another winner for Chandos.