One of the first classical recordings that was actually mine, on cassette, and not my Dad’s records, was a big hits compilation album – if I remember rightly, it had Finlandia, Fingal’s Cave, Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, the Peer Gynt Suite, March Slav, the 1812 and this, Tchaikovsky’s Capriccio Italien. The Capriccio Italien always made me feel so happy that it became my ritual to listen to it in the morning before all my GCSE and A-level exams. Unfortunately it would appear that the recording I had was insanely fast, because every other recording I’ve heard of it feels too slow, but this one by The Hallé comes close to what I remember and has a lovely swing of its own. My school doesn’t exist anymore, except as a former student’s facebook group, which is where I pinched the cover picture from.