Boosey & Hawkes salute one of their most famous composers with a special Production Music CD

trevor duncan

"final frontiers"

THE VISIONARIES
THE VOYAGERS
THE SEEKERS OF GLORY
THE GREAT QUEST
THE CHALLENGE OF SPACE
PANORAMIC SPLENDOUR
GRAND VISTA
BROAD REACH
PASSAGE TO WINDWARD
CITIZENS OF THE WORLD
AIM AND ENDEAVOUR
THE SPIRIT OF PROGRESS
HORIZONS UNLIMITED

Boosey Media CAVCD171

Trevor Duncan is one of the great light music composers of the 20^th century, and his music has been heard in numerous radio and television programmes, films and documentaries from the 1950s onwards.

"High Heels" started it all way back as the 1940s were drawing to a close, at a time when the composer was working as a sound engineer in BBC Radio. His publishers, Boosey & Hawkes, were happy to take just about everything that he composed, but his output was so prolific that, by the mid-1950s, with their blessing he started to place some of his creations with other London recorded music libraries. From then on it seemed that music just flowed from his fertile imagination, but apart from a few better-known works (such as the "Dr. Finlay’s Casebook" theme and "The Girl From Corsica") most of his delightful melodies have been ‘locked away’ from the general public in publishers’ libraries.

However in recent years record buyers have been able to acquire some of his works on CD, the most important release being the 1996 Marco Polo disc of new stereo performances of just some of his vast output (see details at the end of this feature). The recent Vocalion release of Boosey & Hawkes recordings by the New Concert Orchestra has provided further tantalising examples of Trevor’s work, and it is hoped that more will be forthcoming in due course.

Boosey Media have issued a CD of Trevor Duncan compositions which concentrates on his panoramic and scenic works, stretching from the oceans to the vastness of space. This is an area of his output which was not fully recognised in the Marco Polo selection. We should mention that not every movement of all the suites listed has been included, mainly because the professional users of production music often require only segments as ‘scene setters’ which are frequently incomplete in themselves, musically speaking.

Unfortunately (for the general public) this CD has been produced for use mainly by film and television companies, so it is not commercially available from record stores. Happily copies have been made available to members of the Robert Farnon Society, and they can be ordered from the RFS Record Service in the usual way. The compilation is the work of our good friend André Leon, and we are most grateful to Ann Dawson at Boosey Media for kindly allowing RFS members to obtain copies. David Ades

Some other CDs featuring music by TREVOR DUNCAN

British Light Music – TREVOR DUNCAN 20^th Century Express (original title ‘Making Tracks’); Little Suite – March, Lullaby, Jogtrot; High Heels; Children in the Park – Dancing for Joy, At the Pool, Hide and Seek; Serenade from Maestro Variations; The Girl from Corsica; Meadow Mist; Valse Mignonette; Wine Festival; Sixpenny Ride, Enchanted April (original title ‘The Olive Grove’), St. Boniface Down; La Torrida; The Visionaries Grand March; Little Debbie Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra (Bratislava) conducted by Andrew Penny Marco Polo 8223517 (available from the RFS Record Service for £12.50 [US$25].

THE NEW CONCERT ORCHESTRA – Boosey & Hawkes Background Music Volume 1 Trevor Duncan compositions: Citizens of the World – March; Passage to Windward; Four Old Fusspots; Icicle Ride; Broad Reach; Harvest Supper; The Scent of Sandalwood; Little Suite – Folk Tune; The Spirit of Progress – March. CD also includes works by Ernest Tomlinson, Vivian Ellis, Frederic Curzon, Cyril Watters, Dennis Farnon, Monia Liter and Sam Fonteyn –for full details see JIM 156. Vocalion CDLK4192 (available from RFS Record Service for £10 [US$20]).

Tomboy (from "Pink Champagne" – Sanctuary Group Living Era CDAJA5470 (available from RFS Record Service for £8 [US$16]).

Revelation; Testament; Mob Violence 1, 2, 3 & 4; The Unwanted – The Boy 1, 2 (from "Big Screen Little Screen" Boosey Media CAV CD 155 (2 CDs) only available from RFS Record Service £12 [US$24]).

March from ‘A Little Suite’; Making Tracks; High Heels; Title Fanfares 1 & 2; Newsreel Special 1 & 2; Panoramic Splendour; Grand Vista; Transitionals 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5 (from "Archive Collection Vol. 1" Boosey Media CAV CD 32 – only available from RFS Record Service £9 [US$18]).

Peak Production; Plutonium Plant; Spirit of Industry (from "Archive Collection Vol. 2" Boosey Media CAV CD 37 – only available from RFS Record Service £9 [US$18]).

Glad I’m Home; Cartoon Capers; Zebedee; Susilu; Nokogok; Bach with a Bite; Find me There; Wheeler Dealer; Groovy Train; Mad Mendoza; You Were Right I Was …; O’Donovan Downtown (from "Fromage a la Funk" Boosey Media CAV CD 92 (2 CDs) only available from RFS Record Service £12 [US$24]).

Uncle Harry*; Eight Man Bunce; Colonel Crud* (*from "Four Old Fusspots"); Valse Parisienne (from "Archive Collection Vol. 3" Boosey Media CAV CD 125 only from RFS Record Service £9 [US$18]).

Funkrund (from "Soho Hipsters" Boosey Media CAV CD 147 only available from RFS Record Service £9 [US$18]).

March from ‘A Little Suite’; The Girl from Corsica; High Heels; Smile of a Latin (from "The Great British Experience" EMI CD GB 50 (2 CDs) available from RFS Record Service for £15 [US$30]).

March from ‘A Little Suite’ (from "Britain’s Choice" Light Music Society Orchestra conducted by Sir Vivian Dunn – Vocalion CDLK4182 available from RFS Record Service for £10 [US$20]).

The Girl from Corsica (from "Ron Goodwin – That Magnificent Man and his Music Machine" EMI 724358255027 (2 CDs) available from RFS Record Service £16 [US$32]).

Vocalion releases the first volume of a new delve into the riches of the Boosey & Hawkes Recorded Music Library

THE NEW CONCERT ORCHESTRA

1 CITIZENS OF THE WORLD : MARCH (Trevor Duncan)
2 ROMANTIC JOURNEY (Ernest Tomlinson)
3 THE BINGOLA (Vivian Ellis)
4 VIN ROSE (Frederic Curzon)
5 PASSAGE TO WINDWARD (Trevor Duncan)
6 TALKING POINT (Cyril Watters)
7 GIRL BIRD (Dennis Farnon)
FOUR OLD FUSSPOTS (Trevor Duncan)
8 UNCLE HARRY
9 COLONEL CRUD (Bart.)
10 PROF. POTTS Ph. D.
11 FARMER NOAKES
12 SONG OF THE WOODLANDS (Frederic Curzon)
13 EXUBERANT YOUTH (Ernest Tomlinson)
14 CELTIC MELODY (Cyril Watters)
15 ICICLE RIDE (Trevor Duncan)
16 THE BULLFIGHTER (Monia Liter)
17 DIARY OF A DEBUTANTE (Sam Fonteyn)
18 BROAD REACH (Trevor Duncan)
19 PARIS TAXI (Vivian Ellis)
20 WATERSMEET (Cyril Watters)
21 HARVEST SUPPER (Trevor Duncan)
22 RIVERSIDE IDYLL (Frederic Curzon)
23 SPRING (Vivian Ellis)
24 THE SCENT OF SANDALWOOD (Trevor Duncan)
25 LITTLE SUITE : FOLK TUNE (Trevor Duncan)
26 THE SPIRIT OF PROGRESS : MARCH (Trevor Duncan)

Vocalion CDLK4192

This CD is a celebration of the talents of a group of gifted composers who, between them, contributed hundreds of individual pieces of light music to the recorded music library operated by the famous London publishers, Boosey & Hawkes. The recordings date from the 1960s and 1970s, and the name on the original record labels (they first appeared on 78s and LPs) is ‘The New Concert Orchestra’. In actual fact the musicians were drawn from several different broadcasting orchestras, mostly on the continent of Europe, and for contractual reasons the true identities of the conductors could not always be revealed. However one thing remained constant: Boosey & Hawkes ensured that the recordings and performances were all of the highest quality.

Recorded Music Libraries were established by many of the top London publishers, providing films, radio and television companies with a readily accessible source of affordable recorded music that could be used as signature tunes, main themes or simply as backgrounds for every kind of use.

Competition was fierce, and each publisher developed its own style, backed up by top writers, many of them happy to specialise in this particular niche of the music industry.

During the 1950s the legendary Bassett Silver took over the day-to-day running of the B&H Recorded Music Library, and he remained at the helm until his sudden death in 1974. The music in this collection is a testament to his fine leadership which resulted in numerous talented composers contributing original works which demonstrate just how much splendid light music still remains undiscovered.

Dennis Farnon (b. 1923) is the younger brother of Robert Farnon, and he began composing for the Boosey & Hawkes Recorded Music Library in the late 1960s. Prior to that he had worked for ten years in Hollywood where his screen credits included the music for12 ‘Mr. Magoo’ cartoons, and four humorous animated ‘Art’ films. For three years he was Artist and West Coast Album Director for RCA Records, and was one of the five founders in 1957 of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, who present the annual Grammy awards. His conducting and arranging assignments included albums with Harry Belafonte, Tony Martin, Gogi Grant, George Shearing and the Four Freshmen. Among his own LPs are ‘Caution Men Swinging’, ‘Enchanted Woods’ and ‘Magoo in Hi-Fi’. He came to Europe in 1962, and worked on TV series such as ‘Bat Out Of Hell’, ‘Spy Trap’ and ‘Bouquet of Barbed Wire’. Dennis now lives in The Netherlands, where he continues to compose and teach. He admits that his composition in this collection – Girl Bird – is one of his own personal favourites.

Frederic Curzon (1899-1973) devoted his early career to working in the theatre and, like so many of his contemporaries, he gradually became involved in providing music for silent films. As well as being a fine pianist and a conductor, he also played the organ, and his first big success as a composer was his ‘Robin Hood Suite’ in 1937. This encouraged him to devote more of his time to writing and broadcasting, and several of his works have become light music ‘standards’, notably The Boulevardier, Dance of an Ostracised Imp and the miniature overture Punchinello. He was eventually appointed Head of Light Music at Boosey & Hawkes, and for a while was also President of the Light Music Society. Curzon was much liked and admired by fellow musicians and his colleagues in publishing, although he remained an essentially private man. He worked hard on behalf of other composers, and wrote a large amount of ‘mood music’ himself. The three examples in this collection reveal his great ability for pure melody and delicate scoring.

Vivian Ellis (1904-1996) was only 24 when he had his first big success in London’s West End with his show ‘Mr. Cinders’, from which came one of his best-remembered hits Spread a Little Happiness. He had started in the music business as a song-plugger with the famous publishers Francis, Day & Hunter, but thereafter it was his songs that would be sung and played by millions around the world. Many more shows were to follow, leading up to ‘Bless The Bride’ in 1947 which provided his greatest theatrical achievement. But Vivian Ellis did not confine his talents to musicals; he was equally at home composing melodies that became popular light orchestral works. His most famous was Coronation Scot (the signature tune of BBC Radio’s ‘Paul Temple’), closely followed by Alpine Pastures (the theme for ‘My Word’ – on Vocalion CDEA6061). In the 1960s he began composing regularly for Boosey & Hawkes, and three of his contrasting works are included on this CD. Like his contemporary Richard Addinsell, Vivian Ellis possessed the precious skill of being able to conjure up a strong melody, although he preferred to leave it to others to orchestrate his creations. Unfortunately those responsible were seldom credited, so researchers can only assume that the final polish was applied by people such as Cyril Watters, who were employed by his publishers to perform such tasks for their fellow writers.

Monia Liter (1906-1988) was born in Odessa, and left following the 1917 Russian revolution. He worked as a pianist in a cinema orchestra in China, and then moved on to many varied jobs in the Far East, finally ending up in Singapore where he spent seven years leading a dance band at the prestigious Raffles Hotel. While in Singapore he became a naturalised British subject, and came to Britain in 1933 where he worked with many of the top bands, including the famous vocalist Al Bowlly. In 1941 he joined the BBC as a composer, conductor and arranger, initially with the Twentieth Century Serenaders. After 10 years at the BBC, he left them to concentrate on concert work and composing. He was also in demand for films, recording and television, and later worked in the Light Music department at Boosey & Hawkes, writing many works for their Recorded Music Library.

Ernest Tomlinson (b.1924) is one of Britain’s most talented composers, working mainly in light music, but also highly regarded for his choral works and brass band pieces. During a very productive career, he has contributed numerous titles to the recorded music libraries of many different publishers, often under the pseudonym ‘Alan Perry’. One of his best-known numbers is Little Serenade, which he developed from a theme he wrote as incidental music for a radio production ‘The Story of Cinderella’ in 1955. His suites of English Folk Dances have also become part of the standard light music repertoire. In recent years Ernest has worked hard to preserve thousands of music manuscripts that would otherwise have been destroyed, and he is the Chairman of the Light Music Society.

Cyril Watters (1907-1984) was a backroom-boy in the music business in every sense of the word. From 1953 to 1961 he was chief arranger with Boosey & Hawkes, and worked in similar capacities with other publishers, including Chappells. His own compositions were willingly accepted for many mood music libraries, and his greatest success was his Willow Waltz which won him an Ivor Novello Award in 1960; it came to prominence through its use as the theme for the TV serial ‘The World of Tim Frazer’. During the 1960s he worked tirelessly on behalf of his fellow musicians as Secretary of the Light Music Society, and was a true gentleman highly respected and liked by all who came into contact with him.

Trevor Duncan (b. 1924) – real name Leonard Charles Trebilco - is one of Britain’s finest composers of light music during the second half of the last century. In the 1940s he worked at the BBC as a sound engineer, but a conflict of interests arose when his compositions became very popular and BBC rules limited the amount that their own employees’ works could be broadcast. His first big success for Boosey & Hawkes was High Heels, soon followed by other delightful cameos such as Tomboy, Twentieth Century Express and The Girl From Corsica. By the end of the 1950s his output was so prolific that B&H were unable to handle everything that he was writing so, with their blessing, he placed some of his numbers with other publishers. Television used his music for programmes such as The Quatermass Experiment, Dr. Finlay’s Casebook and The Planemakers (the first track on this CD). One of his passions was sailing, and many of his works seem to pay homage to the sea in all its moods. The music for Dr. Finlay’s Casebook is the March from Trevor Duncan’s ‘Little Suite’. This, and two other movements, are already available on various recordings, but a fourth movement from the suite – Folk Tune – has been unfairly neglected. This CD now makes it available for the first time on a commercial release.

The other composer represented in this collection, Sam Fonteyn (real name Sam Soden), was an accomplished writer who may not have achieved the same recognition as the afore-mentioned, but nevertheless produced some very pleasing melodies. There are countless others like him in the world of light music, who often prefer to preserve their anonymity, happy in the knowledge that their work gives pleasure to unsuspecting millions.

David Ades (July 2003)

To co-incide with the release of a new CD, David Ades paints a profile of one of the greatest names in British Light Music

GEORGE MELACHRINO

George Melachrino conducted one of the finest British Light Orchestras in the years immediately following World War 2. Thanks to the Long Playing record, his fame spread throughout the world, especially in North America where his albums sold millions of copies.
He was born George Miltiades Melachrino in London in 1909. At the age of four he was being taught by his stepfather on a miniature violin, and was only thirteen when he made his first public appearance as a solo violinist. Three years later he enrolled at the Trinity College of Music, winning particular praise for his work with strings. He proceeded to master all the instruments of the orchestra, with the exception of the piano and harp. In addition he had a pleasant singing voice, and broadcast from the BBC Studios at Savoy Hill when only eighteen.
Like so many of his contemporaries, Melachrino discovered that his talents were well suited to the demands of the British dance bands which flourished during his youth. In numerous broadcasts and recordings he performed on clarinet, alto and tenor saxophone, violin, viola and as a most competent vocalist. While still in his teens, as early as 1926 he was recording with Geoffrey Gelder and his Kettner’s Five, and in the following years he was employed by Ambrose, Harry Hudson, Jack Jackson, Van Phillips, Rudy Starita, Jay Wilbur, Marius B. Winter and Carroll Gibbons and his Savoy Hotel Orpheans. Gibbons made him one of his ‘star’ vocalists, and his duets with Anne Lenner were especially popular. Examples of his work with this fine ensemble can be heard on Vocalion CDEA6047.
By 1938 he was getting star billing for his BBC broadcasts, and in 1939 he was leader of the dance orchestra at London’s Café de Paris.
World War 2 interrupted Melachrino’s career, although it helped to steer him in a different direction, musically speaking. Following a brief spell in the military police, a back injury resulted in him being drafted back into broadcasting, in special shows for the troops overseas. He became Musical Director of the Army Radio Unit, and toured with the ‘Stars In Battledress’. Melachrino formed a 50-piece ‘Orchestra In Khaki’, employing the finest professional musicians serving in the forces. He relished in the artistic freedom he enjoyed, which permitted him to perform a wide variety of music. In 1944 Regimental Sergeant Major George Melachrino (note that the British Army didn’t consider that their top musician should be a commissioned officer!) became conductor of the British Band of the Allied Expeditionary Forces, working alongside Major Glenn Miller and Captain Robert Farnon, who fronted the US and Canadian bands.
There is an intriguing story about how the wartime Melachrino style evolved. His senior at the War Office, Eric Maschwitz (of A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square fame), said he wanted to hear Pennsylvania Polka played by an orchestra of 80. So Melachrino’s AEF band numbered 80 musicians, making its conductor the first to introduce sweet, sentimental mood music by the use of masses of strings.
Each of the three AEF bands developed its own special style, building up a large following with the civilian population at home, as well as with the troops who were the main target audience. The British band gained a tremendous reputation, and Melachrino himself sang with all three service bands. His own composition First Rhapsody opened and closed each programme, when the British band started broadcasting to Europe. Originally a serious work for orchestra lasting seven and a half minutes, First Rhapsody was written in 1936. For the purpose of his signature tune, Melachrino adapted the principal theme, and reconstructed the work making it shorter and more popular in character. It was arranged in various forms, notably for solo piano and piano and orchestra. The British film "House of Darkness" was the story of how First Rhapsody came to be written. (Melachrino’s 12" 78 version of First Rhapsody was included in the EMI collection ‘Memories of the Light Programme’).
When the war was over, Melachrino’s AEF band formed the backbone of the magnificent orchestra that was to achieve world-wide fame for almost 20 years. The accent was now on strings, and it was in string orchestration that George excelled. Such was his popularity that he appeared in the 1948 Royal Variety performance.
The Melachrino Organisation grew into one of Britain’s most important musical empires, which included several orchestras and ensembles.
Today it is his recordings which serve to remind us of his exceptional talent. His post-war orchestra made around 100 78rpm records, and he was responsible for more than 50 LPs. For his repertoire he drew upon many of the popular standards and light classics of the day, often made instantly recognisable through his regular BBC radio broadcasts. Many of his records featured his own arrangements and compositions, and he was also in demand from the stage and the cinema, scoring over a dozen feature films. He was a gifted composer, and contributed a number of works for EMI’s short-lived Recorded Music Library, which provided themes and background music for films, radio and television world-wide.
Melachrino was married three times. His first wife and two sons aged 12 and 15 were killed by a flying bomb during the war. Afterwards he devoted much of his time to helping sick children. His second marriage was dissolved (we presume that it is this wife and daughter which appear in the Kolynos advertisement). In 1961 he had a son by his third wife, former ballet dancer Noreen Lee.
Sadly George Melachrino fell asleep in his bath and drowned at his London home in Gordon Place, Kensington on 18 June 1965, at the tragically early age of 56. On hearing the news, prophetically his publisher John Wallington said: "George’s death is a great loss to me personally, and to the world of Light Music. I am sure that his music will go on being played as long as Light Music is played." Sydney Grace, head of variety in the Grade Organisation said: "I admired him immensely, both for his talent and his bright way of life. George was a wonderful host. He was, I think, the instigator of the big orchestra with the tumbling strings, which he did during the war."
Perhaps such a sweeping statement requires some qualification. In the 1930s the likes of Louis Levy in Britain, and Andre Kostelanetz in the USA, were fronting orchestras where the strings were an important feature within the entire orchestra. But Melachrino was fortunate (during his Army years) in being able to call upon vast numbers of strings, with no worries about the cost, which became the dominant feature. Massive sales during the early years of the LP era still permitted light orchestras to use large numbers of string players (as well as Melachrino, one immediately thinks of Mantovani) but gradually modern recording techniques allowed the same effects to be achieved with fewer players.
When considering the choice of music for this CD, I was anxious to avoid too many duplications. Naturally the numbers had to be different from the existing Vocalion CD "Begin the Beguine", and all the tracks must out of copyright, which in Britain means at least 50 years old. Back in 1993 I made a similar compilation for EMI, but that CD was quickly deleted so I have felt justified in selecting works such as Winter Sunshine and Starlight Roof Waltz which ought to be available once again. To compensate, you’ll notice that there are some very rare numbers, which should appeal to ‘serious’ fans of the maestro.
Therefore this collection concentrates exclusively on George Melachrino’s recordings during the first five years of his post-war contract with HMV. It may be of interest to recall the recording techniques which were still in use at the time. In 1993 his producer, Walter J. Ridley, remembered many enjoyable hours working in EMI’s No. 1 Studio at Abbey Road. "During the first months of our association recording was still done on wax; a rather precarious business it was, too. The tiniest speck of dust on the surface of the wax (known as the biscuit) forced the recording to a halt, which all too frequently it did. The wax, over an inch thick and kept in a cabinet at a constant temperature, was placed on a turntable controlled by a pulley suspended from the ceiling, and a large weight kept it turning evenly as the weight descended." By 1950 tape recording had taken over, which permitted the luxury of editing, making the lives of both performers and technicians slightly less stressful.
The labels of the 78s used to describe George Melachrino either as "The Melachrino Orchestra conducted by George Melachrino" or "The Melachrino Strings conducted by George Melachrino". The first issued 78s were by the strings on B9515 (included on Vocalion CDEA6014), but the CD begins with the first 78 by the full orchestra - his own composition Winter Sunshine which was released in 1947. We can safely assume that Melachrino also arranged his own number, but unfortunately it is not possible to be so precise about all the music on this CD. With so many commitments, it would be unreasonable to expect that the maestro would find enough hours in the day to be able to score everything performed by his orchestra. Indeed he used other talented arrangers, notably his ‘right-hand-man’ William Hill-Bowen, who later made many fine recordings in his own name.
Arthur Wilkinson was another of Melachrino’s favoured arrangers, and in accordance with the custom at that time he and Hill-Bowen would be expected to reflect the style of the boss. Occasionally the 78 labels do mention the arranger, but for the rest we have to use our ears and trust to luck. Of course, an added complication is that most famous conductors were not averse to making slight (and sometimes big!) alterations to scores provided by others, wishing to stamp their own ‘trademarks’ on what they performed. It would be surprising if Melachrino resisted such a temptation.
The Kurt Weill classic September Song receives a tender treatment from the strings, probably by Melachrino himself. There is no doubt that Melachrino was responsible for scoring Robert Farnon’s My Song Of Spring (which also acquired unrecorded lyrics by Patricia Nash). Both conductors were enjoying star status as the 1950s dawned, and as a measure of their friendship and mutual respect, they each agreed to arrange and perform a well-known work by the other. Farnon orchestrated Winter Sunshine which he distinguished with an almost syncopated movement for its middle theme; the result was performed in several broadcasts. Melachrino did Farnon the honour of actually recording his My Song Of Spring, although this was probably a shrewd decision, because the song became popular following its introduction in the ice spectacular "London Melody" at the Empress Hall early in 1951. Later Farnon was to record it himself, in a different setting, as Sophistication Waltz (recently reissued on Vocalion CDLK4112).
There is a selection which is as surprising as it is delightful. In 1950 Walt Disney released his animated film "Cinderella", which may have lacked some of the charm of his earlier features but nonetheless contained many enjoyable moments and some good music. In fact Disney films usually had quite good songs; in their original settings they may have seemed fairly ordinary, but clever arrangers could often work minor miracles with them. Messrs Mack David, Al Hoffman and Jerry Livingston created a score with at least three big numbers, and it inspired George Melachrino (surely it must be his arrangement) to weave a ‘Fantasy’ which retells the familiar story using the songs as they appeared. (Many years before, Eric Coates had done something similar with his Cinderella Phantasy, first performed in 1929). The astonishing thing is that this Melachrino ‘Fantasy’ should ever have been recorded at all - especially on two sides of a 78! Children would hate this arrangement - it bears no resemblance to the film at all. Adults would assume (incorrectly) that the music was aimed at children, and not bother to even listen to it. Hopefully 50 years later such prejudices can be pushed aside, because Melachrino has given us almost seven minutes of pure magic. The opening songs - Cinderella and A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes - set the scene where poor downtrodden Cinderella is abused by her stepsisters, but still manages to indulge in daydreams. Then there is the pending Royal Ball, and the realisation that Cinderella won’t be going. Fortuitously the Fairy Godmother appears and sets Cinderella up in clothes (with the assistance of the mice) - The Work Song. Still there is time for hope - O Sing Sweet Nightingale - and Fairy Godmother conjures up transport (with the help of assorted creatures) - Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo - which succeeds in getting the heroine to the palace. She dances to the strains of So This Is Love, but the Fairy Godmother’s warning about watching the clock is cleverly underscored with the darting woodwind reminding us of the time-sensitive magic spell in Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo. The chimes of midnight bring the ball to an abrupt ending, but like all good fairy stories everything comes right in the end, to the strains of a reprise of A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes.
Among the other rare items is a work by a gentle man who has been unfairly neglected in recent decades. Reginald King (1904-1991) was a prolific composer and broadcaster, who became part of the furniture at Swan and Edgar’s restaurant in London’s West End, where his small orchestra performed Monday to Friday from the 1920s to the 1940s. William Hill-Bowen takes the piano solo in one of King’s more serious works Theme from ‘Runnymede Rhapsody’.
Hollywood musicals went through a vogue where a ballet sequence was inserted into the plot with the star dancers (usually Fred Astaire or Gene Kelly) performing a gangster routine. This probably inspired William Hill-Bowen to compose a ballet based on The Legend Of Frankie And Johnnie. The titles of the movements give plenty of clues as to the plot: Street Scene, Bedroom Scene, The Bar-room, Nelly Bly’s Dance, Shooting Scene, Death Of Johnnie. The resultant mini-concerto is an entertaining piece which fully deserves to be resurrected.
Melachrino’s work in films often involved movies which were ... to put it politely ... not exactly big hits. "Dark Secret" remains just that for most of us today, but the Theme Waltz is a charming melody which can be enjoyed in its own right, without having to sit through the film!

George Melachrino left a fine legacy of recordings which today’s music lovers are now starting to appreciate anew. His music always bore a hallmark of quality, and he proved that it is not necessary to resort to cheap gimmicks in order to be able to sell records. It was tragic that he was taken from us while at the peak of his popularity, at a time when he must still have had much to offer. We can only be grateful that, for almost 20 years his orchestral output was prolific, and there are many examples of his work patiently waiting to be rediscovered by his appreciative admirers, old and new.

GEORGE MELACHRINO AND HIS ORCHESTRA AND STRINGS*

"Cascade of Stars"

1. WINTER SUNSHINE (George Melachrino) 2. SEPTEMBER SONG* (Kurt Weil) 3. MY SONG OF SPRING (Robert Farnon) 4. ZINGARA (Chaminade, arr. Arthur Wilkinson) 5. MIDNIGHT IN MAYFAIR* (Newell Chase) 6. CINDERELLA - FILM FANTASY (David, Hoffman, Livingston) 7. CASCADE OF STARS* (Osna Maderna) 8. AUTUMN LEAVES* (Joseph Kosma) 9. SILVER LINING FANTASY 10. IF YOU GO (Michael Emer) 11. DANSE MEXICAINE (Arthur Wilkinson)
12. THEME FROM ‘RUNNYMEDE RHAPSODY’ (Reginald King) 13. STARLIGHT ROOF WALTZ (George Melachrino)
14. ANTE EL ESCORIAL (Ernesto Lecuona) 15. VIOLINS IN THE NIGHT* (George Melachrino) 16. THE LEGEND OF FRANKIE AND JOHNNIE (William Hill-Bowen) 17. THEME WALTZ - FROM FILM ‘DARK SECRET’* (George Melachrino)
18. WORDS AND MUSIC - SELECTION (Richard Rodgers)

VOCALION CDEA 6060

The enthusiastic response to Vocalion’s first two CDs featuring vintage recordings by the Queen’s Hall Light Orchestra has prompted a third collection, recently released

QUEEN’S HALL LIGHT ORCHESTRA - Volume 3

1 ALL SPORTS MARCH* (Robert Farnon) C339; 2 PADDLE BOAT (Joyce Cochrane) C358; 3 MELODY OF THE STARS (Peter Yorke) C366; 4 GOING FOR A RIDE (Sidney Torch) C314; 5 STATE OCCASION* (Robert Farnon) C294;
6 SOLILOQUY* (Haydn Wood) F9295; 7 VALSE D’AMOUR*** (Tony Lowry) C273; 8 ALL THE FUN OF THE FAIR** (Percy Fletcher) C127; 9 MUSIC IN THE AIR (Byron Lloyd) DB2436; 10 SUNSET AT SEA** (Charles Williams) C132; 11 WAIATA POI (Alfred Hill) C326; 12 COMIC CUTS (Sidney Torch) C378; 13 PALE MOON (Frederick Knight Logan) DB2564;
14 CUBANA** (Charles Williams) C199; 15 ECSTASY (Felton Rapley) C384; 16 GRAND PARADE** (Clive Richardson) C276; 17 SONG OF CAPRI (Mischa Spoliansky) DB2564; 18 SPRING SONG** (Haydn Wood) C214; 19 MY WALTZ FOR YOU (Sidney Torch) C291; 20 FIESTA* (Mark Lubbock) C311; 21 THE AWAKENING (Robert Busby) C334; 22 KINGS OF SPORT* (Jack Beaver) C295; 23 FIDDLER’S FOLLY (Len Stevens) C358; 24 CASANOVA MELODY* (Michael Sarsfield) C374; 25 GRANDSTAND* (Robert Farnon) C344

BONUS TRACKS

The "Dan Dare" music from Radio Luxembourg

26 COMMANDOS** (Charles Williams) C110; 27 RADIO LOCATION** (Clive Richardson) C178; 28 SEARCHLIGHT** (Charles Williams) C234; C series 10" Chappell 78 rpm; DB series 10" Columbia (EMI) 78 rpm; F series 10" Decca 78 rpm

Compiled by David Ades

Conducted by SIDNEY TORCH except …

* ROBERT FARNON

** CHARLES WILLIAMS

*** PHILIP GREEN

Vocalion CDEA6094

Selecting another programme of first-rate music has presented no problem, because this famous orchestra was responsible for premiering so many fine works by leading composers. In addition, it also offered frequent fresh new performances of established favourites.

Full details of the first two volumes appeared in JIM 148 – September 2001 (listing on page 9). An accompanying article also covered the history of this famous orchestra, plus profiles of many of the leading composers whose works it performed.

Rather than repeat well-known information that will already be familiar to our readers, the following details highlight a few of the composers on this new CD who were not specifically mentioned in the JIM 148 article.

Joyce Cochrane wrote several attractive songs for shows and films (such as You’re Only Dreaming for the 1950 film "Dance Hall" featuring the Ted Heath and Geraldo orchestras), and her Honey Child was recorded by Gracie Fields. Paddle Boat (arranged by Sidney Torch) is another of her purely descriptive pieces, which was recorded commercially by Torch, although it is the original Chappell version which is featured on this CD.

Wearing his arranger’s hat, we hear the unmistakeable influence of a Sidney Torch score in Byron Lloyd’s Music In The Air which introduced a BBC radio programme of the same name; and also Song of Capri by Mischa Spoliansky (1898-1985) from the film "That Dangerous Age". Arrangers are rarely credited, so it is quite possible that Torch may have had a hand in Tony Lowry’s Valse D’Amour or Felton Rapley’s Ecstasy. However Chappells employed several talented musicians at that time, such as Cecil Milner and Len Stevens, who were capable of recreating the distinguished ‘house sound’ that had been formulated originally by Charles Williams, and later fostered by Sidney Torch and Robert

Derby born Percy (Eastman) Fletcher (1879-1932) is remembered today for his band pieces, but he also contributed to the light orchestral repertoire, notably Bal Masqué from his ‘Two Parisian Sketches’ (1914). All The Fun Of The Fair is one of his ‘Rustic Revels Suite’ (the others being Dancing On The Green and Quality Court).

Alfred (Francis) Hill (1870-1960) was born in Australia, but he also contributed to the musical life of New Zealand, and Waita Poi could almost be described as their unofficial national anthem. As a song it is known as Tiny Ball On End Of String. Hill’s main formal musical education was gained in Germany at the Leipzig Conservatory (from 1887) resulting in numerous concertos, string quartets chamber works and (towards the end of his life) seven symphonies.

Frederick Knight Logan (1871-1929) hails from the USA, and Pale Moon (a song composed in 1920) appears to be his only work that survives today. It was originally arranged by the famous violinist Fritz Kreisler for violin and piano, but its full glory is revealed in this tender orchestration by Cecil Milner.

Mark Lubbock (1898-1986) contributed music for many early radio programmes, and was also involved with theatrical touring companies. Fiesta is in fiery contrast to his Moon Lullaby, featured in the second volume of this series.

Robert Busby (1901-1952) worked with several British dance bands in the 1920s and 1930s, and even composed for the fledgling German film industry. After a spell in the Jack Payne Orchestra (Busby was a multi-instrumentalist who could play the trumpet, trombone, clarinet, cello, piano and organ, although Payne employed him as pianist and arranger) he joined Louis Levy’s team of composers at Gaumont British and Gainsborough films, and post-war received his own on-screen credit for "Waterloo Road" and "Holiday Camp", among others. Just prior to his early death at the age of 51, he had been the popular conductor of the BBC Revue Orchestra. His charming piece The Awakening suggests a rippling brook wending its way through a wood at dawning, in slightly more mellow mood than his earlier spritely Up With The Lark (heard on the first Vocalion Queen’s Hall Light Orchestra CD).

Jack Beaver (1900-1963) was another ‘backroom boy’ who provided many scores for the Louis Levy organisation – in total he was responsible for over 100 films and documentaries. He was also a very prolific contributor to several different production music libraries, achieving success with Cavalcade of Youth and Picture Parade. Kings of Sport is just one of many bright sports marches that were always in demand from the newsreel companies, and Jack Beaver excelled at such a challenge.

Len Stevens (d. 1989) is represented by Fiddler’s Folly, a work which became popular in the early 1950s thanks to two commercial recordings. Surprisingly (since he was employed by Chappells for arranging the works of many other composers) Fiddler’s Folly was actually scored by Sidney Torch. Len Stevens (his full name was Herbert Leonard Stevens) was a prolific composer, contributing mood music to several different libraries, with a style that his admirers quickly grew to recognise. Like so many of the talented musicians employed in the music business, he could turn his hand to any kind of music that was needed, and he was also involved in the musical theatre.

Michael Sarsfield is a pseudonym for Dr. Hubert Clifford who composed several mood pieces for Chappell’s Recorded Music Library in his own name, and also conducted a few titles. Born in Tasmania, for many years Clifford was musical director for London Films, and he has recently been remembered in more serious vein for his Symphony 1940. He provided the background music for three British Transport Films – "West Country Journey" (1953), "London’s Country" (1954) and "Round The Island" (1956). The last named made such an impression on him, that he decided to move to the area it covered – the Isle of Wight. Casanova Melody was also issued on a commercial 78 in the 1950s.

The final three ‘bonus’ tracks in this collection are intended as a humorous hark back to a publishing phenomenon of the early 1950s – the famous Hulton comic "Eagle" (the first issue appeared on 14 April 1950) and its equally famous front-page hero "Dan Dare – Pilot of the Future". Although he is now the subject of a recent animated series on television, many members of the older generation in Britain will prefer to remember his nightly exploits on Radio Luxembourg from 1951 to 1956, with Noel Johnson (fresh from the leading role in the BBC’s "Dick Barton – Special Agent") as Dan. Three pieces of music were used time and time again, but they have never previously been available on a commercial recording. But at long last Dan’s fans can hear once more the opening theme Commandos, plus Radio Location (an early name for a form of Radar) and Searchlight – used frequently as links in Dan Dare’s fights with the Mekon of Mekonta and all his other adversaries on the planet Venus and further afield in the solar system. Charles Williams (who had also written the "Dick Barton" theme Devil’s Galop) was the composer of two of the numbers, with Clive Richardson’s atmospheric Radio Location providing the ethereal balance. As mentioned above, they are included here just for fun, but Vocalion hopes that they will provide some happy memories for the generation now rather disparagingly described as ‘silver surfers’!

David Ades

EMI salutes one of its great Light Music stars

RON GOODWIN [1925-2003] ‘That Magnificent Man and his Music Machine’

RON GOODWIN conducting his Concert Orchestra

CD1 : The Early Years – popular singles

1. R3649 JET JOURNEY (Ron Goodwin); 2. R4074 BLUE STAR - theme from the television series "Medic" (Victor Young); 3. R4297 SKIFFLING STRINGS [SWINGING SWEETHEARTS] (Ron Goodwin); 4. R4349 LINGERING LOVERS (Ron Goodwin); 5. R4391 COLONEL BOGEY AND THE RIVER KWAI MARCH (Alford, Arnold); 6. R4041 SUMMERTIME IN VENICE (Icini); 7. R4272 RED CLOAK (Ron Goodwin); 8. R3736 THE MELBA WALTZ (Mischa Spoliansky); 9. R3890 THE MESSENGER BOY (Ron Goodwin); 10. R4649 THE GIRL FROM CORSICA (Trevor Duncan); 11. R4349 SWEDISH POLKA (Hugo Alfven); 12. R3999 UNDER THE LINDEN TREE (Felix); 13. R4144 CONCETTA (Harry Dexter); 14. R3923 ON THE WATERFRONT (Leonard Bernstein); 15. R4162 THE HEADLESS HORSEMEN (Ron Goodwin); 16. R3923 MIDNIGHT BLUE (Eric Spear); 17. R3855 THE SONG OF THE HIGH SEAS (Richard Rodgers); 18. R4391 THE LAUGHING SAILOR (Evans, Stock, Weldon); 19. R3775 TROPICAL MIRAGE (Ron Goodwin); 20. R4144 HANDYMAN (Russell, Chisholm);
21. R4041 THREE GALLEONS (Alguero, Jnr); 22. R3855 GUADALCANAL MARCH (Richard Rodgers); 23. R4094 THE LITTLE LAPLANDER (Delgada); 24. R4480 WAGON TRAIN (Rene, Russell); 25. R3649 WHEN I FALL IN LOVE (Victor Young); 26. R4094 BLUEBELL POLKA (Stanley); 27. R3686 SONG FROM THE MOULIN ROUGE (Engvick, Auric);
28. R4480 JOSITA (Philip Green); 29. R4272 ELIZABETHAN SERENADE (Ronald Binge);

CD2 : Ron Goodwin’s Original Compositions

from Films and LPs

1. TWO 142 633 SQUADRON – MAIN FILM THEME (from LP "Adventure); 2. 45-R5146 LOVE THEME FROM FILM "633 SQUADRON"; 3. TWO 142 THE TRAP – FILM THEME (from LP "Adventure"); 4. TWO 142 THOSE MAGNIFICENT MEN IN THEIR FLYING MACHINES – SUITE FROM THE FILM (from LP "Adventure"); 5. TWO 339 LANCELOT AND GUINEVERE (from LP "Ron Goodwin in Concert"); 6. PCS 3019 LONDON SERENADE (from LP "Serenade"); 7. PCS 3006 RETURN MY LOVE (from LP "Out Of This World"); 8. TWO 318 WHERE EAGLES DARE – FILM THEME (from LP "Excitement");
9. PCS 3006 MERCURY GETS THE MESSAGE (from LP "Out Of This World"); 10. 45-R4892 CAFÉ ROYAL WALTZ – FROM FILM "THE TRIALS OF OSCAR WILDE"; 11. 45-DB8472 DECLINE AND FALL – THEME FROM THE FILM;
12. TWO 1007 FRENZY – FILM THEME (from the LP "Spellbound"); 13. 45-R4760 EL MOROCCO TEA ROOMS (as featured on the Peter Sellers LP "The Best of Sellers"); 14. TWO 142 OPERATION CROSSBOW – FILM THEME (from LP "Adventure"); 15 . PCS 3006 JUMPING JUPITER (from LP "Out Of The World"); 16. TWOX1034 MONTE CARLO OR BUST – SUITE FROM THE FILM (from LP "The Big Sound of Ron Goodwin"); 17. PCS 3019 INDIA (from LP "Serenade");
18. TWO 142 MISS MARPLE’S THEME (from LP "Adventure"); 19. PCS 3006 THE MILKY WAY (from LP "Out Of This World"); 20. TWO 318 BATTLE OF BRITAIN – FILM THEME (from LP "Excitement"); 21. 45-R4994 KILL OR CURE - FILM THEME; 22. TWO 339 THE GIRL WITH THE MISTY EYES (from LP "Ron Goodwin in Concert"); 23. PCS 3006 DEPARTURE (from LP "Out Of This World); 24. TWO 1007 ACES HIGH – FROM FILM "BATTLE OF BRITAIN" (from LP "Spellbound")

EMI 582 5502

In our last issue we paid tribute to Ron Goodwin the man, who had died suddenly aged 77 at his home in Brimpton Common, Reading, on 8 January 2003. This time we concentrate on Ron Goodwin – the supreme musician, who has been honoured by EMI with a 2-CD collection of some of his finest recordings, released on 31 March.

Ron Goodwin was a brilliant composer, arranger and conductor, whose tuneful music reached the furthest corners of the world. Fortunately he was a prolific recording artist, so future generations will also be able to enjoy his music that has so enriched all our lives during the second half of the 20^th century.

The seeds of his future success were sown way back in the early 1940s, when the teenaged Ron Goodwin embarked upon a half-hearted attempt to build a career in the insurance business. In his spare time he formed a jazz band ‘Ron Goodwin and the Woodchoppers’ which convinced him that his future was with his first love, music. After ‘serving his musical apprenticeship’ with two London publishers, he eventually got work with the small independent British record company Polygon, where he accompanied their contract artists including Petula Clark and Jimmy Young (he arranged and conducted Young’s big hit Too Young). Ron also cut two orchestral 78s, which presumably brought him to the attention of George Martin at Parlophone, where his illustrious career really took off.

‘Ron Goodwin and his Concert Orchestra’ soon became a familiar name through recordings and broadcasts. As his records started selling well overseas (especially in North America), his name came to the attention of the people who mattered in the movie business. From the outset, Parlophone allowed him to record some of his own compositions, so his credentials as a composer, as well as an accomplished arranger, were soon firmly established.

Some of his most popular LPs included Film Favourites (1954), Music to Set You Dreaming (1956), Out of this World (his first stereo album in 1958), Serenade (1961), Adventure (1966), Legend of the Glass Mountain (1968) Excitement (1970), Ron Goodwin in Concert (1971), Ron Goodwin Plays Burt Bacharach (1972), and Spellbound (1972). He also worked with Peter Sellers on his best-selling comedy albums (notably Goodness Gracious Me with Sophia Loren in 1960), and soundtrack albums were released from several of his films.

The Early Years – Popular Singles

The first CD in this collection concentrates on the 78 & 45 rpm Parlophone singles that made Ron Goodwin a leading conductor, arranger and composer during the 1950s. Several of the numbers are his own compositions, while others were popular as film and television themes – or simply as catchy, bright and tuneful pieces which caught the public’s attention.

Appropriately the CD opens with Ron’s very first Parlophone 78 in his own name – Jet Journey – which he had composed himself, and it came to typify the way in which he was able to galvanise a large concert orchestra into a state of frenzied excitement. It caused quite a stir when it first reached the record shops in 1953! Other fine Goodwin ‘originals’ that generate a similar level of excitement include Red Cloak and The Headless Horsemen.

In the USA it was Ron Goodwin’s Swinging Sweethearts that first caused him to be noticed, and quickly prompted a sequel Lingering Lovers. Originally Swinging Sweethearts had been known in Britain as Skiffling Strings, but the skiffle craze of the 1950s failed to travel westwards across the Atlantic, so the title would have been meaningless to north American ears. It prompted EMI’s US subsidiary, Capitol, to release an LP of Ron’s British singles, and from then on his international fame was assured. It should not be forgotten that this happened before the name ‘Ron Goodwin’ became familiar on the credits of numerous films screened around the world.

Always willing to support his fellow composers, Ron recorded two singles that gave a big boost to Trevor Duncan (The Girl From Corsica) and Ronald Binge (Elizabethan Serenade). Each of them today has a rightful place high on the list of the top light music composers of the last century, but there can be little doubt that the best-selling singles by the lush Goodwin orchestra did their careers no harm at all.

That perky little number Swedish Polka was recorded by many orchestras around the world, but the Goodwin version predictably offered something different. It is a prime example of a clever arrangement that surprises (almost shocks) on a first hearing, then leaves the listener eagerly waiting for the unexpected to be repeated on each successive playing. What was it that caused so much excitement? The answer lies in the repeat of the chorus, when the folksy melody is suddenly grabbed by none other than a Dixieland band!

Television was starting to make a big impact during the 1950s, and popular themes included Blue Star (from "Medic"); The Song of the High Seas and Guadalcanal March (from NBC’s famous documentary series "Victory at Sea"); and Wagon Train,one of numerous cowboy series around at that time. There is also a tenuous television connection with Midnight Blue, which was composed by Eric Spear who later went on to write perhaps the most famous TV theme of all time for "Coronation Street".

Film music featured on this CD covers a wide range of moods, from Malcolm Arnold’s adaptation of Kenneth Alford’s Colonel Bogey for "The Bridge on the River Kwai"; the romantic sounds conjured up for Melba (the waltz is also called Dream Time) and Moulin Rouge (the song is known as Where Is Your Heart); Leonard Bernstein’s brooding theme for Marlon Brando’s equally brooding performance in On the Waterfront; and the passions that Philip Green portrayed for the character Josita in the film "Sea Fury".

Original Compositions for Films and LPs

Ron Goodwin became one of Britain’s major film composers, contributing memorable scores to a number of big successes at the box office. His composing skills were not confined to the big screen, and he often included some of his own works on the LPs he regularly recorded for EMI on their Parlophone and Columbia labels. The second CD moves from mono into stereo, and emphasises what a talented composer he really was, and how he managed to create such wonderful sounds from the forces of a full-sized concert orchestra.

Major films were very important in bringing Ron Goodwin’s work to the attention of a worldwide audience, and they cannot be ignored in any tribute to his memory. Although many of his admirers will already have the main theme from 633 Squadron in their collections, it is likely that the second track on this CD will be unfamiliar to many. The Love Theme from the film confirms an earlier comment that Ron never short-changed his public; some film composers are content to weave endless variations on just one theme, but the Goodwin philosophy was that different characters deserved their own individual music. Originally available as the B-side on a 45 single, a previously unreleased stereo tape has been unearthed for this beautiful theme which reveals it in its full splendour. Several other stereo versions of older mono singles are also included in this collection for the first time.

Where Eagles Dare is now very familiar through its frequent TV screenings, yet the brilliant opening music never fails to impress. Ron Goodwin described how he achieved such a dramatic effect: "It starts with a solo snare drum which is joined after eight bars by a second snare drum. Two more snare drums enter after a further eight bars, then the large bass drum (or grande casse), followed by the trombones, tuba, lower strings and lower woodwind on the first statement of the main theme. This is taken up by the full orchestra which leads into a fugal treatment of the theme, building into the orchestral repetition of the solo drum pattern. The main theme forms the dramatic basis of the whole score."

Peter Sellers made some wonderful comedy records, and perhaps the sketch which has been most often recalled is Balham – Gateway To The South (it was even made into a short film starring Robbie Coltrane). Ron provided the incidental music, and the sequence describing Balham’s exciting nightlife centred on the El Morocco Tea Rooms was accompanied by some suitably kitsch sounds. Pressure from the public prompted a rare 45 single, which keen collectors will be delighted to rediscover here.

From various theme albums we can hear again some original Goodwin compositions which deserve to be remembered: London Serenade – a bustling ‘busy’ number from the LP "Serenade"; The Girl With The Misty Eyes who obviously hails from Latin America; and India – another atmospheric work from "Serenade". Goodwin’s first stereo album "Out Of This World" provided a much happier impression of our solar system than that envisaged by Gustav Holst forty-two years earlier. Departure appropriately begins the journey with the orchestra building to a tremendous climax as the rocket is launched into space and rapidly gains velocity, before the escape from the Earth’s gravity allows the motors to cut out leaving our craft in the breathtaking immensity of the outer void. Mercury Gets The Message is scored for a small group consisting mainly of flute, vibes, piano and rhythm; a particularly interesting passage introduces four trombones playing a phrase based upon the Morse SOS signal. The composer described it as "jazz in the classical form". Jumping Jupiter is intended as an interpretation of the phrase, rather than the planet. The awe-inspiring splendour of the universe is unfolded in an overall panorama of The Milky Way, in which Ron faithfully captures the distant and nebulous nature of this enormous constellation. Finally Return My Love signals the end of the journey in a suitably romantic manner.

Ron Goodwin – to quote from the title of one of his most famous film scores – has made a magnificent contribution to the musical life of his native England and the world. His recordings, film scores and concert appearances have enabled him to become a familiar name to countless millions, and our lives are all the richer for the many beautiful sounds with which he regaled us. Thank-you Ron, from the bottom of our hearts.

David Ades

Two landmark Light Music LPs are available once more

The Light Music Society Orchestra conducted by SIR VIVIAN DUNN, K.C.V.O.

CD 1

Percy Grainger and other works TWO295

1 Country Gardens
2 Molly on the Shore
3 Londonderry Air
4 Handel in the Strand
5 Mock Morris
6 Shepherd’s Hey
7 Children’s Overture (Roger Quilter)
8 The Haunted Ballroom (Geoffrey Toye)
9 Dusk (Armstrong Gibbs, arr. Jay Wilbur)
10 Shepherd Fennel’s Dance (Henry Balfour Gardiner) 

CD 2

Britain’s Choice TWO297

1 March from the ‘Colour Suite’ (Gordon Langford)
2 A La Claire Fontaine (Robert Farnon)
Suite of English Folk Dances (Ernest Tomlinson)
3 Jenny Pluck Pears
4 Ten Pound Lass
5 Dick’s Maggot
6 Nonesuch
7 Hunt the Squirrel
8 Woodicock
9 March from ‘A Little Suite’ (Trevor Duncan)
10 The Boulevardier (Frederic Curzon)
11 The Watermill (Ronald Binge)
12 Tabarinage (Robert Docker)
The King of Kerry – Suite (Peter Hope)
13 Jaunting Car
14 Lough Leane
15 Killorglin Fair

Vocalion CDLK4182 [2 CDs for the price of 1]

The Light Music Society (LMS) was formed in the 1950s at a time when it appeared that there was a danger that Light Music would no longer be heard as often on the radio or in the concert hall. There was also concern that the growing influence of teenagers on record sales would diminish the interest of record companies in this sphere of the music scene.

Membership of the society was open to anyone interested in Light Music, and many long-standing members of the Robert Farnon also participated in the activities of the LMS back in the 1960s and 1970s. However it has to be acknowledged that the strength was provided by the involvement of the very composers and publishers whose future was being threatened by changing musical tastes.

In retrospect it can be claimed that the existence of the LMS, through its contacts at a high level in the BBC, did delay the eventual decline in Light Music, that reached a nadir in the 1980s. By then the society had ceased to function actively, but this sorry state of affairs was reversed towards the end of the last century when the highly respected composer Ernest Tomlinson announced that he had undertaken a major restoration exercise in salvaging many priceless scores, often on the point of being consigned to landfill sites.

The current situation is that the Light Music Society is flourishing once again, and it is actively encouraging performances with practical assistance through the provision of manuscripts that are simply not available anywhere else. It would be impossible to exaggerate the importance of Ernest Tomlinson’s tireless efforts: he deserves recognition at the highest level.

In 1968 the Light Music Society Orchestra gave its first public performance at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, heralding a new era of recordings and broadcasts. Their first two LPs are featured on this CD reissue, and they provide sparkling performances of some fine compositions that have never been bettered.

All of the composers represented on the first CD in this collection were born within a span of twelve years between 1877 and 1889. They grew up subject to the same musical influences, yet the wide diversity of their composing talents serves to illustrate the broad canvas that is encompassed by the term ‘Light Music’.

Six of the numbers were written by Percy Aldridge Grainger (1882-1961), born in Melbourne, Australia. He was already an accomplished pianist by the time he arrived in London in 1909, and he soon made a name for himself as a soloist. From boyhood he had developed a passionate interest in folk music, and in England he was one of the first to take around with him a primitive phonograph which enabled him to record folk tunes on cylinders (he rediscovered Brigg Fair in Lincolnshire, and gave it to Delius).

Country Gardens and Shepherd's Hey are Morris Dance versions of the old songs The Vicar of Bray and The Keel Row, supplied to Grainger by Cecil J. Sharp. The Bray of the former is in Berkshire and the latter song has long been particularly associated with Tyneside. Molly on the Shore is a combination of two Irish reel tunes and so fond was Grainger of this that he arranged it successively for string quartet, small orchestra and large orchestra. Londonderry Air is really better named ‘Air from County Derry’. Widely regarded as one of the loveliest tunes in the whole of music, it was taken down by Miss Jane Ross of Limavady from a peasant who visited the little town on market day. It first appeared in print in 1855. The bright and brilliant Handel in the Strand and Mock Morris are not folk tune arrangements although anyone might be forgiven for thinking they were. The composer himself has told us that the former was inspired by his delight on returning to the exhilarating sea air of the Dutch coast after giving a series of concerts inland, and that the latter was influenced by a popular music hall ditty ‘Always merry and bright’.

Roger Quilter (1877-1953) was born in London and educated at Eton. Essentially a miniaturist, it is for his songs, particularly his settings of poems by Shakespeare and Herrick, that he is and always will be chiefly remembered. The delicately dancing Children's Overture dates from 1914 and was inspired by a volume of nursery rhymes called ‘Baby's Opera’ and delightfully illustrated by Walter Crane, friend of William Morris and sometime Principal of the Royal College of Art, South Kensington. The tunes are put together with supreme sensitivity and skill, and orchestrated with rare transparency.

Geoffrey Toye (1889-1942) was the younger son of John Toye, a house master at Winchester who for a long time ran a musical society for the boys. After leaving the Royal Academy of Music, Toye conducted at several theatres in London. Following his war service he undertook some more important conducting engagements and then became in turn a Governor of the Sadler's Wells Theatre and Managing Director of the Royal Opera, Covent Garden. It was while at Sadler's Wells that he wrote the book and music of his ballet The Haunted Ballroom (first produced in 1934), from which this waltz was arranged and orchestrated by Frank Tapp.

Cecil Armstrong Gibbs (1889-1960) was born in Cheltenham and educated at Cambridge and the Royal Academy of Music. Like Roger Quilter, he is chiefly remembered by his songs. In 1936 he wrote an orchestral suite to which he gave the name Fancy Dress. Some years later he fitted the third movement, the rather barcarolle-like waltz which we hear here, with words, and it is by its new name Dusk that it has become best known, whether sung or played.

Henry Balfour Gardiner (1877-1950) was born in London, educated at Charterhouse and Oxford, and spent some time as music master at Winchester before launching himself upon a career as a composer. He was highly self-critical and had the rare gift of recognising his own limitations, and so spent a great deal of his time and much of his private means helping others. It was he, for instance, who gave HoIst the opportunity of first hearing The Planets at a semi-private concert in the old Queen's Hall, London. He wrote music in various forms but little of it is heard today. Shepherd Fennel’s Dance however, has always, and rightly, been a prime favourite, particularly with 'Prom' audiences some decades ago. It dates from 1911 and was inspired by an episode in Thomas Hardy's ‘Wessex Tales’.

The numbers included in Britain’s Choice were chosen by a panel set up by the LMS in association with the Composers’ Guild of Great Britain. As the LP notes confirm, the degree of unanimity among the panel was such that the items virtually chose themselves.

The opening spirited March from Colour Suite by Gordon Langford (b. 1930) is typical of the bright, modern sounds that rejuvenated Light Music in the post-war years. Gordon is well known for his work with brass bands, and he is equally appreciated as a fine pianist. As a composer and arranger he is just as happy working in jazz or symphonic works.

Another all-round musician whose capabilities know no bounds is Robert Farnon (b. 1917), widely regarded as the greatest living composer of Light Music. He composed A La Claire Fontaine in the 1950s for his suite of "Canadian Impressions" (on Vocalion CDLK4104), revealing a sensitive side to his nature in stark contrast to the vitality of his Jumping Bean and Portrait of a Flirt.

We will let Ernest Tomlinson (b. 1924) describe how he came to compose his Suite of English Folk Dances : "In 1951 I went along to a festival given by the English Folk Dance and Song Society at the Royal Albert Hall, and was so enchanted with the lovely tunes they danced to that I came away inspired to write a suite based on some of them. The ones I finally chose were all taken from John Playford’s ‘The English Dancing Master’ published in various editions between 1650 and 1728. My aim was to preserve as far as possible the spirit of the original dances, which spirit was beautifully conveyed by the performers in the studio."

‘Trevor Duncan’ is actually Leonard Trebilco (b. 1924), born in Cornwall and educated at Trinity College of Music. He has written an amazing amount of music specifically for use in television, documentaries and films, and the choice of the March from his Little Suite as the signature tune for BBC Television’s ‘Dr. Finlay’s Casebook’ confirmed his position as one of our top composers.

Frederic Curzon (1899-1973 ) enjoyed early success as a composer in the 1930s with his Robin Hood Suite at a time when Eric Coates and Haydn Wood were still contributing many fine works to the Light Music repertoire. Curzon was also an organist, and an executive with a leading publisher, in which capacity he assisted many young composers in developing their careers. His Boulevardier became very popular when first recorded in the 1940s, and it has remained so ever since.

Ronald Binge (1910-1979) was responsible for devising the ‘cascading strings’ sound that allowed Mantovani to enjoy his worldwide fame – a fact not widely known until some years later. Happily for Ron he did achieve great success as a composer in his own right, firstly through Elizabethan Serenade, and later with Sailing By, the music that closed Radio 4 for so long.

Robert Docker (1918-1992) was a regular broadcaster, mainly as a pianist, but also through his activities ‘behind the scenes’ as a composer and arranger, working closely with people such as Sidney Torch. His Tabarinage (Buffoonery) takes a tongue-in-cheek look at the Can-Can.

Peter Hope (b. 1930) completes the selection with his Ring of Kerry Suite which won him a well-deserved Ivor Novello Award in 1969. The name describes a popular tourist road in the south-west of Ireland, and the suite paints some of the scenes along the way.

The brilliant conductor involved in all of these performances was Sir Vivian Dunn, KCVO, OBE, FRAM (1908-1995). As a Lieutenant-Colonel of the Royal Marines he was the first Military Director of Music to be knighted. He spent nearly 40 years with the Royal Marines Band Service, establishing it as one of the finest of its kind in the world. Before he was appointed Director of Music of the Portsmouth Division Band in 1931, at the age of 22, he had been a member of the first violin section of the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Adrian Boult. Although he made a career in military music, Sir Vivian did not neglect orchestral music, and during World War 2 he conducted many broadcasts to the Forces with the Orchestra of the Portsmouth Division, Royal Marines. In the cinema he scored the film "Cockleshell Heroes" and the catchy march has become a firm favourite.

His choice as the conductor of the Light Music Society Orchestra was inspired, and many of the composers of the music on these recordings were fulsome in their praise of his interpretations of their work. During the last years of his life we were honoured to have Sir Vivian as a member of the Robert Farnon Society. He attended several of our London meetings, and members who were privileged to meet him will forever remember how approachable and charming he was.

David Ades

Two HMV LPs from 1960 & 1961 have just made a welcome reappearance on Vocalion

Sinfonia of London conducted by ROBERT IRVING and DOUGLAS GAMLEY

Musical Merry-Go-Round CSD1333

1 The Carousel Waltz (Rodgers, arr. Gamley) b
2 Clowns’ Dance (Ibert) a
3 Visions d’Art (from ‘Les Forains’) (Sauguet) a
4 Circus Polka (Stravinsky) a
5 Waltz (from ‘Masquerade’) (Khachaturian) a
6 La Ronde (Oscar Straus, arr. Don Banks) b
7 Coney Island (Don Banks) b
8 Gopak (from ‘Sorchinski Fair’) (Mussorgsky, orch. Liadov) a
9 Prater Fest (Douglas Gamley) b
10 Dance of the Comedians (from ‘The Bartered Bride’) (Smetana) a

Famous Evergreens CSD1319

11 Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 (Liszt, arr. Sir Henry J. Wood) a
12 Ave Maria (Schubert, arr. Don Banks) a
13 Songs Without Words, Op. 67 No. 4 (‘Bees’ Wedding’)
(Mendelssohn, arr. Don Banks) a
14 Waltz in A Flat Major, Op. 39 No. 15 (Brahms, arr. Gamley) b
15 Santa Lucia* (Cottrau, arr. Gamley) a
16 Waltz (from ‘The Sleeping Beauty’ Ballet, Act 1) (Tchaikovsky) a
17 Jealousy (Gade, arr. Gamley) b
18 Clair de Lune (Debussy, arr. André Coplet) a
19 Moto Perpetuo (Novaček, arr. Gamley) b
20 Intermezzo (from ‘Cavalleria Rusticana’) (Mascagni) a
21 Dance of the Hours (from ‘La Gioconda’, Act 3) (Ponchielli) a

b Douglas Gamley

Vocalion CDLK4181

More than 50 years later, the Festival of Britain in 1951 has left us with a major concert hall on London’s South Bank – the Royal Festival Hall. When Musical Merry-Go-Round was released in 1961 another legacy of the Festival could still be enjoyed – the Fun Fair in Battersea Park. Stereo recordings were still something of a novelty to record buyers, and the original sleeve notes of this album went to great lengths to explain how the special effects had been achieved.

"The scheme for this record originated during a summer evening visit to London's Battersea Fun Fair. It was while watching the Merry-go-round that there came the idea of a unique stereo illusion. It was reasoned that if stereo could give precise location of Left and Right, why not also a revolving effect? - but how to achieve this? Various suggestions were made, including microphones mounted on a revolving spindle, and even placing the orchestra on a revolving platform. However, the solution came, as all scientific solutions must, by painstaking experimentation. A careful electronically synchronised manipulation of Left and Right tracks was found to provide the complete illusion of the music issuing from a Merry-go-round. The two pieces to receive this treatment suggested themselves immediately; the Carousel Waltz and La Ronde are ideally suitable, not only in their titles, but also for the nature of the melodies, and the scores were prepared in collaboration with the sound-technicians so that the shape of the music could match the period of revolution. The actual recording was made in a completely straightforward manner with the usual stereo distribution of the orchestra, e.g. trumpets on extreme right, horns on extreme left, upper strings left, lower strings right, woodwind located centrally, etc. Some of this stereo information was then reduced to provide one single revolving track. Incidentally, it will be noticed that the Merry-go-round stops occasionally to collect its passengers."

The world of the Circus and the Fairground provided the inspiration for all the music in this entertaining collection, ranging from the penetrating mind of Igor Stravinsky, to the unashamed melodic invention of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Straus.

Two new compositions were specially commissioned for this album. Coney Island is the work of Don Banks (1923-1980), which cleverly describes the brash artificial world in this famous American amusement park. Banks was an Australian composer and orchestrator, who was based in London in the 1950s and 1960s, working in many spheres including feature films, documentaries, television and the theatre (you can read more about him at the end of this feature). In complete contrast another new work Prater Fest, composed by Douglas Gamley, is far more genteel; it reflects Vienna in the days of its greatness, when the elite of Europe would wander along the long avenue of chestnut trees to the playground which has been immortalised through the big wheel sequence in the Harry Lime film "The Third Man".

Famous Evergreens provides a charming selection of classical melodies that will be instantly recognisable, even if some of the precise titles may be somewhat elusive.

Brahms is reported to have been a keen admirer of Johann Strauss, but his waltzes owed more to the influence of Schubert. Douglas Gamley interprets the normally serious composer in one of his lighter moods. His deft touch as a sensitive arranger is also evident in Santa Lucia, whose words express the beauty of the Bay of Naples, with never a hint of the constant threat imposed by Vesuvius, just waiting to erupt once again. Douglas Gamley also features on the piano in this number, which must have been dear to his heart because he loved to escape to his second home in Italy.

Further Gamley scores crop up in Gade’s Jealousy (many people are surprised to learn that Jacob Gade [1879-1963] came from Denmark), and Novaček’s Moto Perpetuo, sometimes called Perpetuum Mobile. The remaining works are all familiar ‘standards’ that music lovers have enjoyed for generations.

Robert Augustine Irving was born in Winchester on 28 August 1913, and his education took place at Winchester College, New College Oxford and the Royal College of Music in London. In 1936 he was engaged as répétiteur at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and he was also a music master at Winchester College. He joined the Royal Air Force upon the outbreak of World War 2 in 1939, and after hostilities ceased he conducted the BBC Scottish Orchestra in Glasgow from 1945 until 1948. He was appointed musical director of the Sadlers Wells (later ‘Royal’) Ballet from 1949 to 1958. In 1958 he went to the New York City Ballet, and became recognised as one of the world’s leading ballet conductors, frequently invited as guest conductor in the USA and Europe.

John Douglas Gamley was born in Melbourne, Australia, on 23 September 1924. He came to England in the early 1950s, and his talents as a composer, arranger and pianist were soon in demand. He composed and scored the music for many films, and his credits include "Tom Thumb" (1958), "And Now The Screaming Starts!" (1973), "Madhouse" (1974), "The Beast Must Die" (1974), "The Land That Time Forgot" (1975) and "Enigma" (1982). He also worked alongside Henry Mancini for "Shot in the Dark" and "Charade". As many readers will already know, Douglas was a close musical associate of Robert Farnon, both in films and at recording sessions involving Tony Bennett, Lena Horne, George Shearing and numerous others. Douglas made many recordings with Joan Sutherland, and was active in both the classical and popular spheres – talents which made him particularly suitable for the repertoire on this compact disc. In his later life he tended to spend six months of the year in Australia, where he conducted the Australian Pops Orchestra. The rest of the time was divided between working in London, and relaxing in Italy, where the climate suited him better as an asthma sufferer. Douglas was a charming, gentle man who could always be relied upon in any musical situation. He died in London on 5 February 1998.

Don Banks (1923-1980)

One of the highlights of these releases was the involvement of Don Banks, who contributed several arrangements plus one superb original composition, Coney Island. This work described the famous American amusement park, and it opens with a kaleidoscopic impression of the brash, artificial world of the Fun Fair, as it seemed in the middle years of the last century. This leads into a gentle Carousel in 5/8 time, which asymmetrical rhythm corresponds to the movement of the carousel horses. This in turn leads to the Water-shoot – cleverly portrayed very literally – and then we are in the quiet atmosphere of the Tunnel of Love, where the languorous and seductive tones of three alto saxophones, placed in a perspective of depth, create the illusion of the long, echoing tunnel. The kaleidoscope turns again to reveal the Big Dipper careering past, and the work finishes with a return to the bustling jollity of the opening scene. The composer of this exhilarating number was Don Banks, who was born in Australia on 25 October 1923. Don Banks' studies in piano and musical theory commenced at the age of five. His father was a professional jazz musician who played trombone, alto saxophone and percussion, and who led his own band and Banks learned to play the various instruments that inevitably surrounded him in his early years. Often he would 'sit in' with his father's band, and later he earned his living as a jazz pianist and trombonist with bands such as that of Roger and Graeme Bell, where he gained valuable experience as an arranger and orchestrator. Jazz was Banks' earliest and strongest musical influence and his enthusiasm for it never waned. At various times throughout his life he gave broadcasts and lectured on jazz music, and in 1977 was co-adjudicator of the NSW State Government prize for a Jazz Composition. Between 1941 and 1946 Banks served with the Australian Army Medical Corps. He studied piano, harmony and counterpoint privately during the last two years of his service and on being discharged entered the University of Melbourne Conservatorium of Music. He majored in piano and composition, studying under Waldemar Seidel (piano), A.E.H. Nickson and Dorian Le Gallienne (composition), and was awarded a Diploma of Music with first class honours in 1949. In 1950 he left for Europe, and for the next two years studied composition privately with Matyas Seiber. Seiber placed great emphasis on intensive analysis, and this period of study was to be a decisive influence on Banks. In 1952, Banks co-founded (with Margaret Sutherland) the Australian Musical Association in London, which became a vital platform for Australian composition. Also in 1952, he attended the Seminar in American Studies Summer School in Salzburg, where he studied under Milton Babbitt, and then travelled to Florence on an Italian Government Scholarship to study composition and orchestration with Luigi Dallapiccola for a year. In 1956 Banks was selected by Youth and Music (London) to attend a Composers' Seminar in Switzerland, where he studied with Luigi Nono. Banks earned his living in London as a professional orchestrator and, from 1956, as a composer of commercial music, including music for feature films, documentaries, animated films, television, advertisements, record libraries and theatre. Notable among the film scores are those he wrote for some of the Hammer horror films, such as Hysteria, The Reptiles and Rasputin, The Mad Monk. Between 1960 and 1971 he also gave private lessons in composition, analysis and orchestration. Banks was active in many areas of music throughout his life, and in his last few years in Britain (1965-1971), held a number of positions. He guest-lectured on various subjects for educational establishments including universities, the Newport College of Art, and the Society for Musical Education of the Under Twelves, he broadcast for the BBC Third Programme, was three times an adjudicator for the Royal Amateur Orchestral Society Prize, and was an external examiner to the University of Wales. He was also chairman of the Society for the Promotion of New Music (SPNM) in 1967-68, and organised and co-directed their Composers' Seminars in 1967, 1968 and 1970. Appointed Music Director at the University of London Goldsmiths' College in 1969, Banks initiated new courses in conducting, guitar, folk music and jazz, and also developed an Electronic Music Studio. Following a brief visit in 1970, Don Banks returned to Australia in 1972 to take up a Fellowship in Creative Arts in Canberra. Throughout the year of the Fellowship he gave lectures, attended and directed seminars, adjudicated and involved himself in the activities of the International Society for Contemporary Music in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. He was also invited by the Prime Minister to chair the Music Board of the Australian Council for the Arts. In 1973 Banks, still in Australia, directed the Fourth National Young Composer's Seminar at the University of Western Australia's Department of Music and provided introductory sessions in Electronic Music for young composers at the Canberra School of Music's Electronic Music Studio. Having decided to settle permanently in Australia, Banks returned briefly to the UK to finalise his affairs before taking up the position of Head of Composition and Electronic Music Studies at the Canberra School of Music in October 1973. Apart from the administrative and lecturing duties of this position, Banks was also responsible for the development of the Canberra School of Music's Electronic Music Centre, which under his guidance became the most advanced studio complex in the southern hemisphere. He was also an 'ex-officio' consultant for the development of electronic music studios in high schools and tertiary institutions, and in May 1977 chaired the Electronic Music section of the ASME National Conference. In October 1977 Banks took up an appointment as Guest Composer at the NSW State Conservatorium of Music, and in 1978 became Head of the School of Composition Studies there. In 1980 he was made a Member of the Order of Australia for services to music and received an honorary doctorate from the University of Melbourne. Don Banks died of cancer on 5 September, 1980. His musical estate, consisting of papers, correspondence, manuscripts of almost all his works, scores, tapes, discs and books, is preserved in the National Library of Australia in Canberra. The instruments that constitute the electronic studio of Don Banks are preserved by the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney.

David Ades

BILL McGUFFIE and his Piano and Strings "Strange Enchantment"

1 YOU MAKE ME FEEL SO YOUNG
2 THREE COINS IN THE FOUNTAIN
3 EMMANUELLE
4 I’VE GOT YOU UNDER MY SKIN
5 YOU MY LOVE
6 I’LL GET BY
7 COME FLY WITH ME
8 THE GREAT PRETENDER
9 THIS I FIND IS BEAUTIFUL
10 ACCOUNT FOR BASIE
11 ANOTHER SUITCASE IN ANOTHER HALL
12 MY WAY
13 YOU ARE MY DEAREST LOVE
14 WHAT’S NEW PUSSYCAT?
15 I LOOKED AROUND
16 SO DEEP IS THE NIGHT
17 INNAMORATI A VENEZIA
18 BOY ON A DOLPHIN
19 STRANGE ENCHANTMENT
20 EVERY WHICH WAY BUT LOOSE
21 BLESS YOU FOR BEING AN ANGEL
22 I STILL SEE YOU (THE GO-BETWEEN)
23 I’LL TAKE GOOD CARE OF YOU
24 ALMA LLANERA

Vocalion CDLK4172

In the summer of 2000, Vocalion released "The Piano Artistry of Bill McGuffie with his Big Band" (CDLK4103) which was warmly received by Bill’s many friends and admirers (for full details see Journal Into Melody 144 – September 2000 – page 22). Very soon it became clear that a second collection of his music should be made available, and this time it was decided that the choice should centre upon Bill’s work with strings – although it was fully realised that whatever Bill performed he couldn’t completely escape from his first love of jazz.

Once again, Bill’s widow Rosemary gave her wholehearted support and encouragement, and the result is this mixture of the old and the new – popular favourites with some lesser-known, but equally enjoyable numbers – all given the polished treatment that was Bill McGuffie’s trademark.

Bill is still regarded with affection as one of Britain's finest pianists of the 20th century. Whether performing as a solo pianist, fronting a big band, or simply participating as a session musician in a large orchestra, he always displayed a supreme air of professionalism which endeared him to everyone who was privileged to know and work with him.

William McGuffie (his parents called him Billy, and he was also known to his friends as Wee Willie McGuffie) was born on 11 December 1927 at Carmyle, near Glasgow, Scotland. The third finger of his right hand was amputated in childhood following an accident, but he never allowed this to handicap his playing. At the age of 11 the Victoria College in Glasgow awarded him its Medal in recognition of his proficiency; a year later he made his first radio broadcast on Children's Hour.

Until he was 14 he was content to enjoy classical music. Then he heard some jazz, and asked his father to buy him some jazz records. McGuffie senior purchased six Charlie Kunz 78s. "His intentions were good!" recalled Bill some years later. While still aged 14 he began playing regularly with the BBC Scottish Variety Orchestra, and was proud to have accompanied two great Scottish artists of the Music Hall, Harry lauder and Will Fyffe.

Bill was also fascinated by the piano he heard in the Victor Silvester Orchestra on records and in radio broadcasts. "If only I could play all those notes" he thought. It was some while before he learned that Silvester actually employed two pianists at that time; with perseverance Bill managed to sound like them both.

Although music was his first love, initially he didn't consider it as a long-term career. He was a teenager during the Second World War, and began studying to become a naval architect. However he moved to Ayr to work with the Miff Hobson Orchestra, then in 1944 took the big step to try his luck in London, where his first engagement was with Teddy Foster at the Lyceum ballroom. Four years with Joe Loss followed, before joining the bands of Ambrose, Sidney Lipton and Maurice Winnick at the famous Ciro's club. Together with Carroll Gibbons, Bill played for staff parties at Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle.

This grounding in the bread-and-butter side of the music business was to stand Bill in good stead at the Mayfair Club, where he led his own ensemble. But his major breakthrough came in the early 1950s when he spent three years with Cyril Stapleton's BBC Show Band - the first broadcast was heard on Saturday 3 October 1952. This superb ensemble included some of Britain's finest musicians, and the talents of top arrangers were employed to establish this band as one of the finest of its kind in the world. It should have gone on much longer, but inevitably became a victim of the financial constraints which have ever since plagued radio, thanks to the insatiable demands of television.

Bill left the Show Band after three years to go to California, where he worked at MGM Studios with Andre Previn and Johnny Green on several films, including The Tender Trap and Kismet .

Back in Britain, happily Bill's talents remained in strong demand. In England he toured with Stoll Theatre and Moss Empires, topping the bill in Variety. He was a valued member of Kenny Baker's Dozen, and under the influence of Robert Farnon and Philip Green he developed his skills as an arranger and composer, especially for films. His cinema credits are numerous, including themes and sometimes full scores for Too Hot to Handle (1960), It Takes a Thief (1960), The Long Shadow (1961 ), The Boys (1961 ), The Leather Boys (1963), Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. (1966), The Asphyx (1972) and The Small Miracle (1973). Back in 1955 he had worked with Robert Farnon on the film Gentlemen Marry Brunettes, starring Jane Russell, and can be seen on-screen in one sequence. In fact Bill made a brief appearance (a la Hitchcock) in virtually every film he worked on, sometimes as a cocktail pianist if the script called for it.

Another Farnon assignment was the last 'Road' movie, the British-made Road to Hong Kong (1962). Old-timers Bob Hope, Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour were joined by Joan Collins, who actually sang one number. Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin made guest appearances, and the eagle-eyed can also spot Bill briefly in one sequence.

Bill McGuffie could be heard regularly, as soloist or with his own Group, on radio in programmes such as Kings of the Keyboard, Piano Playtime, Night Ride, Music Through Midnight, Roundabout, Band Parade and Week Ending. He played in the orchestra for Breakfast (and Bedtime) With Braden and Round the Horne. He arranged and conducted for television programmes starring Hermione Gingold, Jimmy Edwards and Ronnie Barker.

Apart from his regular session work, Bill was also in demand from record companies to appear on disc in his own name, both as solo pianist and also fronting small groups and big bands.

In the early 1970s he played with Benny Goodman's Band and American Sextet on their European tours, but a stroke in 1974 laid him low for a while. At the time he was working for BBC Radio on Week Ending and also recording fourteen numbers per session every two weeks for Night Ride. Five weeks later, he was back at work in the studio.

This collection showcases the McGuffie talent at its peak, near the end of his distinguished career. In earlier years he had tended to concentrate more on small group recordings, occasionally featuring his own numbers. Perhaps Bill's most famous original composition is Sweet September, for which he won an Ivor Novello Award in 1963. International recognition came through a recording by Bill Evans, in a Klaus Ogerman arrangement, and Pete Jolly and The Shadows made cover versions. It was also published in Spain, under the title Tu Recuerdo.

He wrote under two other names: Guido Miguel for Spanish compositions, and Raphael Maertek. This came about after a Scottish friend had said that Bill had 'maer' (more) technique than some!

In 1980 the British Academy of Composers Songwriters and Authors awarded Bill its coveted Gold Badge of Merit. In his more serious moments Bill appreciated the music of Ravel and Debussy. In the jazz world he was a great admirer of the Count Basie Band. It may surprise some of his admirers to learn that Bill never considered himself to be a jazz pianist. Respected broadcaster Steve Race once singled Bill out as "a pianist who generates his own beat".

Bill McGuffie died at Chertsey, Surrey, on 22 March 1987 aged 59. Fortunately for us, he has left a legacy of fine recordings which will continue to provide endless musical pleasure for generations to come.

David Ades

Two Pye LPs from 1960 have been granted a new lease of life by Vocalion

Pro Arte Orchestra conducted by STANFORD ROBINSON   Tribute to Eric Coates

1 LONDON BRIDGE
2 THE ENCHANTED GARDEN
3 BY THE SLEEPY LAGOON
4 CINDERELLA
5 SECOND SYMPHONIC RHAPSODY

Bird Songs at Eventide; I Heard You Singing

6 FOOTLIGHTS

Edwardian Favourites arranged by Stanford Robinson

7 PAUL RUBENS MELODIES
8 JOSEF STRAUSS POT-POURRI
9 LIONEL MONCKTON MELODIES
10 EDWARD GERMAN MELODIES

Vocalion CDLK4183

The death of Eric Coates prompted Stanford Robinson to record this tribute with the Pro Arte Orchestra, a highly regarded ensemble drawn from many of London’s top orchestras for broadcasting, concerts and recordings. To provide the accompanying sleeve notes for the LP, the record company could have chosen none better than the composer’s only son, Austin Coates (1922-1997), from whose notes the following extracts are taken.

When Eric Coates died, on December 21st 1957, it was rightly said that perhaps no composer had ever provided music to suit the public taste so unerringly for such a long time. Just under fifty years lie between his first song success, in Edwardian times, and his last orchestral works, including the memorable March for the film The Dam Busters; and for a great part of this time Eric Coates was recognised as a unique figure - 'the uncrowned king of light music'.

Greatly influenced in his early years by Edward German, after 1920 Eric Coates developed his own distinctive style, the most significant feature of which was his understanding and use of the newly-introduced American syncopated idiom. He was the first European composer to treat modern syncopation as a serious contribution to orchestral music, and to introduce into symphonic writing the dance-band practice of treating each instrument of the brass section as a soloist. Much of the brilliance and vivacity of his orchestration is attributable to this.

For many years an orchestral musician himself (he was principal viola in Sir Henry J. Wood's Queen's Hall Orchestra from 1912 to 1919), Eric Coates, in the later days of his success as a composer-conductor, never forgot his old friends in the many orchestras he conducted, and had an understanding of orchestral musicians which enabled him to secure from them superb performances of his music in a way which, to many people, seemed effortless.

Happy throughout his life - in his youth, in his marriage, in his success as a writer -Iike many happy people, Eric Coates tended to live in (to use his own title) an enchanted garden of his own imagination. In the concert hall, to see his immaculate appearance, polished conducting, and unfailing modesty with audience and orchestra alike, it was difficult to realise what an unworldly person he was. His world was that of the invariable happy ending. When he wrote a fantasy he called it a phantasy; and a waltz was always a valse. Somehow in that way it belonged more to his world. An unusual quality about his music is that, despite this unworldliness, he expressed moods of the twentieth century as few others have succeeded in doing, with his curiously metallic brilliance of orchestration, his hectic zest and uncomplicated romanticism. Like Gershwin, he expresses something of this century that will evoke our time to future generations,

The ten years from 1929 to 1939 were the most prolific in Eric Coates' career, and marked his rise to international fame. On this record is a representative selection of his music written during this period, the gayest and most colourful English music produced in the past forty years.

The Enchanted Garden was originally written as a ballet, scored for twelve solo instruments, on the theme of Snowdrop and the Seven Dwarfs, first performed at the opening of the Cambridge Theatre, London, in 1928. It is particularly appropriate that this, the first recording of the work, should be conducted by Stanford Robinson, because it was he who first realised the possibilities of Snowdrop as a symphonic score, and consistently urged the composer to rewrite it for full orchestra. This Eric Coates finally did in 1938, renaming it The Enchanted Garden. In the same year he conducted first performances of it in the Scandinavian capitals and at Hilversum.

The theme is the conflict between good and evil influences in the garden. The Princess has been left alone while her Prince is away, and he has given an injunction (the commanding opening bars) to all the good spirits and friendly animals of the garden to look after her. At first all is gentleness and love, but after a time the restless, malevolent elements in the garden come sneering in. They cannot at once get the better of the Princess' protectors, but finally (in a vigorous tarantella and fugue) they are on the point of mastering the garden, when the Prince returns holding a flaming sword, and order is restored.

Unlike The Three Bears and Cinderella, in which a knowledge of the story is essential to the enjoyment of the music, The Enchanted Garden music speaks for itself, and needs no programme explanation. After the opening injunction there follow three themes, the second in slow syncopation, the third in quick tempo, which are developed in various ways throughout the ballet. The syncopated idiom, distinctive of Eric Coates' style, is here handled with the utmost delicacy. The climax of the work comes at the end of the tarantella, with the repetition fortissimo of the injunction, after which the main themes resolve themselves in a tranquil and simple statement of great beauty in the closing bars.

Cinderella, successor to The Selfish Giant and The Three Bears, is the third and last of the composer's "phantasies". It is based entirely on the word Cinderella, announced softly in the opening bars, where Cinderella sits alone by the fire, after her sisters have gone to the ball. Soon comes the gentle call of the Fairy Godmother, followed by the sudden and miraculous appearance of carriage and horses, beautiful clothes and the celebrated glass slippers. With the warning to be home by midnight, Cinderella drives off, the horses trotting gaily through the town. She enters the Prince's palace as a waltz is in full swing. After a moment the Prince sees her, inquires who she is, and invites her to dance. There follows the famous slow waltz, which gradually increases in speed and vigour, as more and more dancers join, culminating in the striking of midnight, and the instant evaporation of all Cinderella's happiness. Once more she is in rags by the fire, wondering now whether it was all a dream, yet hardly believing it could be, since she so clearly remembers the waltz music. Meanwhile, in the distance, trumpets are sounding; for the Prince has discovered the glass slipper Cinderella left behind, and troops are to be sent throughout the town to find the girl whose foot the slipper fits. The troops set forth (not a particularly fine body of men, one gathers) and draw near Cinderella's house, where after a moment of suspense it is found that Cinderella is the girl they are looking for, and she is driven off to the palace, where of course she marries and lives happily ever after. Cinderella was first performed at the Eastbourne Festival, 1929, and has since become one of Eric Coates' most widely played works.

No Eric Coates programme would be complete without one of his inimitable marches, and one of the quick waltzes of which he may be called the originator. For this record Stanford Robinson has selected London Bridge (1934) and Footlights (1939), both of which he did much to popularize in the days when he was conductor of the BBC Theatre Orchestra. By the Sleepy Lagoon (1930) needs no intro- duction, neither do the songs I Heard You Singing and Bird Songs at Eventide, though they may be less familiar in this orchestral version, which comes from Two Symphonic Rhapsodies, written in 1933.

Stanford Robinson was responsible for arranging the four selections which made up the second album to be featured on this CD, Edwardian Favourites. He was born in Leeds on 5 July 1904. During his early musical career he played the piano in hotel orchestras, until attending the Royal College of Music in London, where he studied conducting under Sir Adrian Boult. From 1924 to 1966 he was on the staff of the BBC, originally as organiser of the BBC’s London Wireless Chorus in 1924. He conducted the BBC Theatre Orchestra from 1932 to 1946, and was also director of music productions (including opera and operetta) from 1936 to 1946.

From 1946 to 1949 he was opera director and associate conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, and he served as conductor of the BBC Opera Orchestra as an opera organiser from 1949 until 1952. Thereafter he served in various capacities (including numerous broadcasts) until his official retirement in 1966, when he went to the southern hemisphere and conducted various orchestras in Australia and New Zealand during the remainder of 1966 and 1967. In 1968 he was appointed chief conductor of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra.

Stanford Robinson’s brother Eric achieved even greater public recognition, through his work conducting his orchestra in many early BBC Television programmes, such as Music For You.

David Ades

Fifty years ago Light Music was a regular feature on the new release lists from record companies. Many treasured 78s are now falling out of copyright, so we can all enjoy them again on CDs, sounding better than ever before.

"Pink Champagne"

A Collection of Superb Vintage Light Music

1 CURTAIN TIME (Bob Haymes)
ACQUAVIVA AND HIS ORCHESTRA

2 LOVELY DAY (Tom Wyler)
FRANK CHACKSFIELD AND HIS SINGING STRINGS

3 MUSIC FOR "RIVERS OF THE NORTH OF ENGLAND" (Lambert Williamson)
a] SERENE
b] FLOWING

4 CHIMING STRINGS (Clive Richardson)
L’ORCHESTRE DEVEREAUX Conducted by GEORGES DEVEREAUX

5 VANESSA (Bernie Wayne)
MELACHRINO STRINGS Conducted by GEORGE MELACHRINO

6 THE FILM OPENS [ELEVENTH HOUR MELODY] (King Palmer)
LONDON PROMENADE ORCHESTRA Conducted by WALTER COLLINS

7 MELODY IN MOCCASINS (Wilfred Burns)
PHILIP GREEN AND HIS ORCHESTRA

8 SEVENTH HEAVEN (Robert Farnon)
DANISH STATE RADIO ORCHESTRA Conducted by ROBERT FARNON

9 GIN-FIZZ (Bolesworth)
FRANK CHACKSFIELD AND HIS SINGING STRINGS

10 VENDETTA (Jones, Armstrong)
RAY MARTIN AND HIS ORCHESTRA

11 CROSS ROADS (Richard Telford)
REGENT CLASSIC ORCHESTRA

12 LAUGHING MARIONETTE (Walter Collins)
JACK HYLTON AND HIS ORCHESTRA

13 PULLING STRINGS (McCann, Bolesworth)
FRANK CHACKSFIELD AND HIS SINGING STRINGS

14 TINKERBELL (King Palmer)
LONDON PROMENADE ORCHESTRA Conducted by WALTER COLLINS

15 TOMBOY (Trevor Duncan)
NEW CONCERT ORCHESTRA Conducted by CEDRIC DUMONT

16 PLAYTIME (Robert Farnon)
DANISH STATE RADIO ORCHESTRA Conducted by ROBERT FARNON

17 THE FALCONS (Charles Williams)
CHARLES WILLIAMS AND HIS CONCERT ORCHESTRA

18 SPEAKEASY (Lewis Gensler)
SIDNEY TORCH AND HIS ORCHESTRA

19 DANCE OF THE HAILSTONES (Kenneth Essex)
LOUIS VOSS AND HIS ORCHESTRA

20 BUBBLE, BUBBLE, BUBBLE [PINK CHAMPAGNE] (Wright, Forrest)
HENRI RENÉ AND HIS ORCHESTRA

21 MURIELLA (Ray Martin)
RAY MARTIN AND HIS CONCERT ORCHESTRA

22 HAPPY TIME (Tom Wyler)
FRANK CHACKSFIELD AND HIS SINGING STRINGS

23 WALTZ IN SWINGTIME (Jerome Kern)
PERCY FAITH AND HIS ORCHESTRA

24 VERADERO (Bernie Wayne)
MUSIC BY CAMARATA

25 WINDY CORNER (Bruce Campbell)
DANISH STATE RADIO ORCHESTRA Conducted by ROBERT FARNON

26 BAA BAA BLACK SHEEP (Trad. arr. Peter Yorke)
BBC VARIETY ORCHESTRA Conducted by CHARLES SHADWELL

27 DANCING TAMBOURINE (Polla, arr. Morton Gould)
ROBIN HOOD DELL ORCHESTRA Conducted by MORTON GOULD

Living Era CD AJA 5470

Light Music is currently enjoying a welcome, and long-overdue revival. Once again collectors are being given the opportunity to acquire CDs of the kind of music which used to be so familiar around fifty years ago. Generations of radio listeners grew up knowing the names of the famous orchestra leaders that regularly filled their homes with pleasant sounds. Today radio ignores them, but thankfully record companies do not. Following the warm reaction to "Twilight Memories" (CD AJA 5419) in 2002, Living Era is releasing another collection of old favourites, plus hopefully a few pleasant surprises.

Readers of this magazine will recognise many familiar orchestras on the above list, and hopefully they will be glad to be able to acquire pristine new recordings of several old favourites. But there are also some tracks which will not already be in private collections, making this a valuable addition to the catalogue of readily available Light Music.

The American conductor Nicholas Acquaviva did not make a lot of records, but he became known in the USA through his involvement with the Symphony of the Air orchestra, and as organiser and conductor of the New York ‘Pops’ Symphony Orchestra. Bob Haymes (who had a famous brother, the singer Dick Haymes) was also an American actor who appeared in around 20 films in the 1930s and 40s. He dabbled in songwriting (That’s All was his biggest success), but his exciting Curtain Time in this superb version by Acquaviva has become a minor light music classic.

The name ‘Tom Wyler’ hides the true identity of Toni Leutwiler, a Swiss violinist and conductor who was at the forefront of the light music scene in Switzerland during the 1950s. A prolific composer, two of his best-known works, Lovely Day and Happy Time, are heard on this CD; he described them as "joyful and technically demanding compositions which every violinist could not fail to appreciate had been written by a fellow violinist." Here they are performed by Frank Chacksfield and his Singing Strings, in recordings made just a year before he moved to Decca and gained international success with Limelight and Ebb Tide.

In 1950 BBC radio produced a programme called "Rivers of the North of England".Lambert Williamson was commissioned to write some incidental music, and the result was so outstanding that it became familiar for decades afterwards as the theme for a long-running monthly series "The Countryside In …". Despite its enduring popularity with light music lovers, it has never previously been available on a commercial recording. For years collectors have searched in vain for this music, and it has occasionally been featured at London meetings of the Robert Farnon Society. At last an important piece of Light Music is now readily available for enjoying at home.

Clive Richardson was the composer responsible for such gems as Melody on the Move, Holiday Spirit, Shadow Waltz and London Fantasia. He contributed regularly to London publishers’ mood music libraries, and Chiming Strings was heard often in the background of newsreels of the 1950s. Clive was a talented pianist, and was one half of the ‘Four Hands in Harmony’ act with Tony Lowry. Towards the end of his long life he became a member of the Robert Farnon Society, and he made welcome appearances at our London meetings.

When American songwriter Bernie Wayne died in April 1993, it made national news in the USA, because he composed the pop standard Blue Velvet and music for the ‘Miss America’ pageant. But he also wrote a string of catchy instrumentals that were recorded by many light orchestras in the 1950s. Two of his best are featured on this CD: Vanessa by the George Melachrino Strings (with William Hill-Bowen on Harpsichord), and Veradero with the American Salvatore (‘Tutti’) Camarata conducting a fine orchestra of British musicians, probably in London’s Kingsway Hall.

Cedric King Palmer excelled at producing numerous pieces of mood music for various publishers, but he was also highly regarded as an author of musical textbooks. The Film Opens was probably one of his most successful works, due to it being chosen as the theme for "The Eleventh Hour", a popular television series in the USA. Tinkerbell reveals the lighter side of his nature, and both works come from the Paxton library.

Wilfred Burns was also a prolific composer, and he was in demand to score many British films in the 1950s and 60s. Although it originated in the Harmonic Music Library, we have chosen the commercial recording of Melody in Moccasins by Philip Green and his Orchestra for this collection, simply because it is such a sparkling performance.

Robert Farnon hardly needs any introduction to light music admirers (and especially readers of this magazine!). He is widely regarded as one of the finest composers of the last century, and has been responsible for numerous LPs which are now finding appreciative new audiences through their reissue on CD. His famous light music compositions include Jumping Bean, Portrait of a Flirt, Journey Into Melody, Westminster Waltz and The Colditz March. This new CD features two of his works which, although lesser known, possess all the charm of his very best. Seventh Heaven conjures up images of glamorous Hollywood premieres, while Playtime was composed at the piano with his young son Paul on his knees.

It is not uncommon for composers to adopt pseudonyms, and names against tune titles on record labels often only mention surnames. From time to time researchers draw a blank when trying to identify the writers responsible for some attractive pieces, and inevitably there are some in this collection. The two remaining Frank Chacksfield numbers – Gin-Fizz and Pulling Strings – are by Bolesworth (the latter also co-composed by McCann). Chacksfield himself used many different names for his own compositions, but to assume they are his would be pure speculation. One thing is certain: they were both composed by a talented writer. Maybe a reader can tell us more about the mysterious ‘Bolesworth’? If so, we’ll share the information in a future issue.

Ray Martin was one of the leading lights behind EMI’s Columbia label successes in the mid-1950s, and he also had a distinguished career as a composer / arranger / conductor in his own right. His big hit was Marching Strings, but there were many others as well. Before he was signed by EMI, he made a few sides for Decca and Polygon, and two tracks have been selected for this CD. Vendetta is an exciting number from his own pen (he used the pseudonym ‘Chris Armstrong’), but he freely admitted to having been responsible for the tender Muriella. He seems to have only recorded one 78 for Decca, and shortly after Vendetta was issued he moved to EMI’s Columbia label with spectacular results – as can be heard on the two Vocalion collections of his singles (In the Ray Martin Manner CDLK4105 & CDLK4119).

Cross Roads is a bright and breezy number, typical of the kind of mood music that was demanded by films and television in the 1950s. It comes from the London publishers Bosworth, but little seems known about the composer Richard Telford; is this another pseudonym? (If you know the answer, please get in touch!).

It is not always appreciated today that dance bands were responsible for introducing occasional pieces of light music to their audiences. Jack Hylton played the works of Eric Coates and Edward German, but he is in lighter mood with Laughing Marionette, a novelty by Walter Collins, conductor of the London Promenade Orchestra on two tracks on this CD. In 1928 the Jack Hylton Orchestra was undertaking a successful tour of Germany, at the same time that Walter Collins was similarly engaged with his own orchestra. Legend has it that they met in Berlin in November, when this number was recorded. David Ades included this number in one of the "Legends of Light Music" programmes on BBC Radio-2, and the favourable reaction encouraged him to feature it on this new CD. The sound quality for a 1928 78 is quite amazing.

Leonard Trebilco adopted the pseudonym ‘Trevor Duncan’, to avoid a conflict of interest while he was working at the BBC. His first big success had been High Heels, but this was soon followed by a string of other catchy instrumentals, Tomboy being one of the best. This recording was made in Switzerland, under the baton of Cedric Dumont, for many years the leading light music conductor in that country. Leonard Trebilco later achieved public recognition through melodies such as The Girl From Corsica and the theme music for BBC Television’s Dr. Finlay’s Casebook. He is a very prolific composer, and there are many fine examples of his talent waiting to be rediscovered.

Charles Williams has secured his place of honour among British light music composers. His list of superb works include Devil’s Galop (the ‘Dick Barton’ theme), Girls in Grey, The Dream of Olwen, Rhythm on Rails, and literally hundreds of other pieces. He scored many British films – especially during the 1940s – and was responsible for conducting almost the entire Chappell Recorded Music Library during its formative years. Only occasionally did he submit work to other publishers, but one example is his exciting piece The Falcons, which he recorded with his own orchestra for Columbia.

Although composers of light music tended to specialise in the genre, there are many instances where songwriters have also contributed the occasional piece of orchestral music that has caught the public’s attention. The American Lewis E. Gensler was responsible for several popular songs in the 1930s, perhaps the best-known being Love Is Just Around The Corner. Prohibition must have provided some useful inspiration (maybe first-hand knowledge?) because his pulsating Speakeasy seemed a natural for the Sidney Torch treatment.

Rufus Isaacs was a busy composer for various mood music publishers, using a variety of different pseudonyms. He usually chose ‘Kenneth Essex’ when writing bright, cheerful pieces, of which Dance Of The Hailstones is a prime example. Louis Voss made this fine recording for the Bosworth library, not previously available commercially.

We’re back with the songwriters – in this case Robert Wright and George Forrest, probably best-known for their adaptation of Borodin for "Kismet". Bubble, Bubble, Bubble was very popular 50 years ago; it also went under the title Pink Champagne and had a catchy vocal version. But it works extremely well as a purely instrumental number, played here by Henri René and his Orchestra (despite his French sounding name, he hails from New York).

Percy Faith was one of the leading popular orchestral conductors in the USA, although he actually hailed from Canada where a young Robert Farnon played trumpet in his CBC Orchestra. Numerous Faith LPs have been reissued on CD in recent years, but his recording output was so prolific that it is inevitable that some gems remain undiscovered. One such number is Waltz in Swingtime which Jerome Kern composed for the Astaire-Rogers 1937 film musical "Swing Time". It is best-known as a purely instrumental number, and this arrangement by Percy Faith is sparkling – to say the least. It has never before been issued in Britain, and has not made it on to CD anywhere in the world – until now. Alan Bunting assures us that it will be welcomed by keen Faith collectors.

Bruce Campbell is one of several composers who benefited from encouragement, and indeed positive help, from Robert Farnon in their early composing careers for the London publishers Chappells. Windy Corner was one of Bruce’s first pieces, and the Farnon touches are there for all to hear. The two Canadians had worked together since the mid-1940s, with Campbell assisting Robert Farnon on many broadcasts and recording projects. Bruce Campbell went on to compose a vast quantity of mood music, which was much in demand from various publishers.

Few arrangers have managed to resist the temptation to work on traditional melodies, and the 1940s British radio show "I.T.M.A." used to make a weekly feature of such numbers. Peter Yorke was just one of many leading musicians who contributed witty scores, which were played in the programme by the BBC Variety Orchestra conducted by Charles Shadwell. They made few commercial records, so we are lucky that Baa Baa Black Sheep was preserved on shellac for posterity. In the 1930s Peter Yorke had been closely associated with the full, rich orchestral sound of the Louis Levy Orchestra, and he developed this successfully with his own Concert Orchestra for numerous recordings and radio broadcasts in the post-war years. (Some of Peter Yorke’s work for Louis Levy can be heard on the Living Era CD "Music from the Movies – the 1930s" – CD AJA 5445).

This exercise in mining the rich musical seam known as ‘Light Music’ reaches a worthy conclusion with a much sought-after number by a giant of American music – Morton Gould. He arranged a 1927 novelty number called Dancing Tambourine by W.C. Polla for the symphony size Robin Hood Dell Orchestra, thereby transforming a relatively minor work into an enduring light orchestral favourite. Gould was an extremely versatile musician, who had made his name with the public through American radio in the 1930s. He seemed equally at home with classical and popular music, and was particularly supportive of American composers.

Whether you call it Light Music, Concert Music, Easy Listening or Mood Music, the kind of music featured on this CD is gaining in popularity all the time. It provides a refreshing change from the usual output of radio stations, and offers a haven of peace and tranquillity far removed from the outside world. The good news is that there is so much of it waiting to be rediscovered for the 21^st Century.

David Ades

This CD has been compiled by David Ades, with audio restoration and remastering by Alan Bunting. It is available from record stores in many countries, and can also be purchased from the RFS Record Service for £8 [US $16].