Album: London Philharmonic, Orchestra (Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant)

This official soundtrack to the recent festivities has an unashamedly populist slant, David Parry and the LPO presenting what are effectively a succession of musical figureheads commensurate with the celebration of a national figurehead.

There's Coates's elegant "Knightsbridge March" and Holst's stirring "Jupiter". The more rustic sides of the national character are indulged in Arnold's jaunty "Padstow Lifeboat" and Grainger's "Country Garden". But it's in the most populist contributions of all – the "Dambusters March", Monty Norman's "James Bond Theme", and the Chariots Of Fire theme – that we become more keenly aware of our preferred mirror of our national character.

Download: Knightsbridge March; Jupiter; Dambusters March