Bandstand In The Park – Volume 2

1 "The Dam Busters" Film Theme (Eric Coates)
CENTRAL BAND OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE Conducted by Wing Commander A. E. SIMS, OBE
2 Jenny Wren (Davis)
BLACK DYKE MILLS BAND Conducted by Arthur O. Pearce
Cornet solo – WILLIAM LANG
3 Smiles ‘N’ Chuckles (Robert Farnon)
NEW ERA SYMPHONIC BAND Directed by MICHAEL JOHN
4 Amparito Roca (Jaime Texidor)
GRENADIER GUARDS BAND Conducted by Major F.J. HARRIS
5 Flash Harry (Ronald Binge)
BAND OF THE GRENADIER GUARDS Conducted by Major F.J. HARRIS, MBE
6 The Whistler And His Dog (Arthur Pryor)
BLACK DIAMONDS BAND
7 High School Cadets (John Philip Sousa)
GRAND MASSED BANDS Conducted by JAMES OLIVER
8 Evensong (Easthope Martin)
BBC WIRELESS MILITARY BAND Conducted by B. WALTON O’DONNELL
9 Down The Mall (John Belton, real names Tony Lowry and Douglas Brownsmith)
FODENS MOTOR WORKS BAND
10 The Jolly Airman (P. Beechfield-Carver)
CENTRAL BAND OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE Conducted by Wing Commander A.E. SIMS, OBE
11 Sing As We Go (Harry Parr-Davies)
BBC WIRELESS MILITARY BAND Conducted by B. WALTON O’DONNELL
12 Eros In Piccadilly (Jack Strachey)
THE RAF CENTRAL BAND Conducted by Squadron Leader A.E. SIMS
13 Knightsbridge (from "London Suite") (Eric Coates)
BAND OF H.M. GRENADIER GUARDS Under the Direction of Capt. GEORGE MILLER
14 Die Bosniaken Kommen (Eduard Wagnes)
DEUTSCHMEISTER KAPELLE Conducted by Julius Herrmann
15 Music In The Park (Joseph Bergeim)
IRISH GUARDS BAND
16 Royal Review (Arnold Steck, real name Leslie Statham)
BAND OF THE ROYAL NETHERLANDS NAVY Conducted by Capt. G. NIEUWLAND
17 "Cockleshell Heroes" Film Theme (F. Vivian Dunn)
BAND OF THE ROYAL MARINES SCHOOL OF MUSIC Conducted by Lt. Col. (later Sir) F. VIVIAN DUNN, CVO, FRAM
18 With Sword And Lance (Hermann Starke)
REGIMENTAL BAND OF H.M. GRENADIER GUARDS Conducted by Lt. Col. GEORGE MILLER
19 Over The Sticks (Edrich Siebert, real name Stanley Smith-Master)
CWS (MANCHESTER) BAND Conducted by ALEX MORTIMER
20 Golden Spurs (Tony Lowry)
BAND OF THE ROYAL NETHERLANDS NAVY Conducted by Capt. G. NIEUWLAND
21 El Charro (James L. Tarver)
GRENADIER GUARDS BAND Conducted by Major F.J. HARRIS
22 The Great Little Army (Kenneth J. Alford, real name Frederick Joseph Ricketts)
GRAND MASSED BANDS Conducted by JAMES OLIVER
23 New Post Horn Galop (Roger Barsotti)
BAND OF THE QUEEN’S ROYAL REGIMENT Conducted by ROGER BARSOTTI
24 March Of The Royal Air Forces Association (A.E. Sims)
CENTRAL BAND OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE Conducted by Wing Commander A.E. SIMS, MBE
25 Vindobona (Karl Komzak)
DEUTSCHMEISTER KAPELLE Conducted by JULIUS HERRMANN
26 Prince Igor Ballet Dances (Borodin, arr. Sir Dan Godfrey)
BBC WIRELESS MILITARY BAND Conducted by B. WALTON O’DONNELL

Guild GLCD 5147

The introduction to Guild’s first volume in this series (GLCD 5117) observed that there was a time when every self-respecting town would have its own bandstand as a proud feature of the main public park. Resorts – both inland and on the coast – would especially welcome such structures as evidence of their wish to offer cultural entertainment to the visitors they set out to attract. Bandstands knew no national boundaries: they could be found just about everywhere in the civilised world and, despite their name, they were not confined to ensembles generally referred to as ‘bands’, but used for all kinds of musical entertainment.

Bandstands can still be found in public places, although sadly some have been allowed to fall into disrepair. Others are rarely used for their original purpose, except on very isolated occasions. Therefore it is all the more pleasing when one comes across such a venue being occupied for music-making, just as it would have been many years ago. Perhaps the ‘golden age’ for bandstands was during the first half of the last century, when professional musicians formed a far greater number of the total workforce.

Military bands are today, in some instances, a shadow of their former selves. Once they would have numbered fifty or sixty regular players, but now they often perform with less than half that number of musicians. However many remain very versatile ensembles, with the musicians often doubling on other instruments (such as strings) so that their repertoire can be expanded to include works normally considered more within the remit of concert or salon orchestras. It should be remembered that Military bands play not only for parades but also ceremonial dinners and other social functions, where an orchestral sound is sometimes more appropriate. 

A fine example of a famous band which can perform virtually anything that is demanded of it is the Central Band of the Royal Air Force, heard on the opening track. Eric Coates (1886-1957) was regarded as ‘the uncrowned king of light music’ so it was hardly surprising that the producers of the 1954 film "The Dam Busters" approached him to write a suitable march to pay homage to the RAF heroes of World War 2. Leighton Lucas (1903-1982) had been engaged for the background score, but something rather special was required for the title music, and Coates duly obliged. The famous march became one of the composer’s best-loved pieces, and it is still being performed in concerts to this day. Critics have described it as the finest piece of English music since Elgar composed Land Of Hope And Glory. The opening bars are particularly impressive; conveying the sound of a bomber aircraft lumbering along the runway, gradually building up speed until it finally takes off. Although originally written for an orchestra, it makes an even bigger impact when scored for a band.

Boosey & Hawkes engaged the RAF Band to make some mood music recordings for them in 1948, and while Jack Strachey’s Eros In Piccadilly features strings carrying the main melody for most of the time, the warm full sound of the brass players certainly gives this piece an added ‘body’ that might have been difficult to achieve with the usual line-up of a concert orchestra.

Admirers of Service Bands will no doubt already be familiar with the famous names on this CD, so it is not proposed to go into any great detail in these notes. Recordings made by the Coldstream and Grenadier Guards have helped to perpetuate the names of those great regiments, and record companies have regularly invited them into their studios. But not all bands were associated with the armed forces. There were (and happily still are) many fine concert bands, and musicians in Municipal orchestras sometimes exchanged their string instruments in favour of woodwinds and brass, thus allowing their ensembles to offer their public a more varied selection of musical works.

In the post-war years Chappell & Co. enjoyed a period as Britain’s premier provider of production or background music, employing many of the finest composers in this specialised niche in the entertainment business. Robert Farnon (1917-2005) created numerous bright and catchy orchestral cameos which became familiar around the world, but his war service with the Canadian Army had also given him a solid grounding in military music, which he put to good use on a few rare occasions. Such an example is Smiles ‘N’ Chuckles which clearly is not to be taken too seriously. Bands often enjoyed being able to include quirky pieces like this in their concerts, to provide some light relief among the more serious works they were usually obliged to perform.

Arthur Willard Pryor (1870-1942) composed one of the best-known tunes of the first half of the last century, although many people probably couldn’t name it, and even more would not have known who wrote it. Considered by some to be America’s greatest trombone virtuoso, Pryor’s main claim to fame is having composed The Whistler And His Dog, but even if he had not written this popular and catchy tune he would still be remembered for many other musical achievements. He was a member of Sousa’s famous band for over ten years, and conducted many of its recordings up to 1903. He also claimed to have performed 10,000 solos while with the band, including several tours overseas. He then went on to make records with his own band and is credited with having influenced the growing popularity of ragtime; he continued to arrange and compose a vast amount of music until officially retiring in 1933. ‘Whistler’ (composed in 1905) has been arranged for, and recorded by, every kind of orchestra and ensemble and our version by the Black Diamonds Band is probably near to what the composer will originally have had in mind when he conceived this memorable novelty.

The brass band movement continues to flourish in Britain with some estimates claiming that there are still upwards of 1,000 of them. In the 1930s and 1940s, when they were much more prolific, there appeared to be an insatiable appetite for recordings of ‘Massed Brass Bands’ and Frank Andrews’ superb discography "Brass Band Cylinder & Non-microgroove Disc Recordings 1903-1960" lists over 300 of them. Many of these were made at Brass Band Festivals such as the ones at the De Montfort Hall, Leicester and Crystal Palace, London but there were numerous occasions when the record companies brought together groups of bands especially for recording sessions. Regal Zonophone made many such recordings with some featuring as many as 15 bands with 350 players, but the two we include here, conducted by James Oliver, use more modest forces having being made by the combined Hanwell Silver, Lewisham British Legion, St. Pancras Brass and St. Hilda’s Professional bands.

In Britain the BBC established its own bands once its radio service became established, and several different ensembles were created – and changed – before the right formula was discovered. The Wireless Military Band flourished from 1927 until its last performance on 16 March 1943. In 1936 it was renamed The BBC Military Band and record labels, which had hitherto called it "The BBC Wireless Military Band", reflected this change. Its high standing on the British musical arena is confirmed by the fact that leading figures in other fields were pleased to contribute to its repertoire; such as our final selection of dances from "Prince Igor" arranged by Sir Dan Godfrey (1868-1939), for many years conductor the world-famous Bournemouth Municipal Orchestra – the forerunner of today’s Bournemouth Symphony. This recording certainly confirms the extremely high standard of playing consistently achieved by the musicians in this band.

The origins of the fabled Deutschmeister Band can be traced back as far as the 1680s, but its golden age began during the last years of the 18th century, when Emperor Josef II ordered it to be stationed in Vienna, so delighted was he with its quality of music. To this day the Deutschmeister retains a premier status, although its existence was threatened following Austro-Hungary's defeat in the First World War. But such was the esteem in which Austrians had come to regard their Deutschmeister Band that public outcry demanded that it be preserved for posterity. And so the Band was retained in civilian guise to continue the art of playing those wonderful marches, waltzes and polkas which graced the Viennese capital. Many famous works by such noted composers as Johann Strauss, and Franz Lehar were written for the Band, which uses special instrumentation similar to that which most German bands employ, including Flugal horns, and flat snare drums. Czech-born Karl Komzak (1850-1905) was a composer who contributed profusely to the repertoire of the Band, and his Vondobona is a typical example.

Sir Francis Vivian Dunn (1908-1995) was an ideal choice to compose the music for the film "Cockleshell Heroes" because he had many strong links with military music. Early in his career he played violin under Sir Henry Wood, and was a founder member of the BBC Symphony with Sir Adrian Boult. He is credited with having guided the Royal Marines Band during 38 years’ service to a pre-eminent position in the military band world, and it is appropriate that he should be conducting them playing his own film theme on this CD. Sir Vivian directed the band on the Royal Yacht on several tours, and in 1969 EMI presented him with a gold disc following sales of over one million LPs by the Royal Marines Band. He also involved himself with the light music repertoire, and made several highly acclaimed albums conducting the Orchestra of the Light Music Society.

Londoner Edrich Siebert (1903-1984) (he was born Stanley Smith Master) is a popular composer in the brass band world, with a vast number of works to his credit. He began his musical career in 1917 as a boy musician in the Cheshire Regiment, and returned to service life during the Second World War. From 1946 onwards he devoted himself entirely to arranging and composing, and Over The Sticks was the signature tune of BBC Radio’s "Mid-day Music Hall".

Ronald Binge (1910-1979) was a prolific composer and arranger, but his lasting fame will probably be linked with the famous ‘cascading strings’ effect he created during a long association with the world famous conductor Mantovani. The same style is cropping up in parts of Flash Harry and it was also particularly evident in his Cornet Carillon on GLCD 5117. It is interesting to note that he was starting to experiment with this sound as early as 1940 in a piece called The Choristerswhich is included on the Guild CD "Mantovani – By Special Request, Volume 2" (GLCD 5113). Going back to Flash Harry, as well as being a colloquial expression for someone who may be something of a ‘wide boy’, it was also an affectionate nickname for the famous conductor Sir Malcolm Sargent (1895-1967). Who did Ronnie Binge actually have in mind when he composed his clever cameo?

The final composer/conductor who deserves to be mentioned is Roger Barsotti, born in 1901 in London of Italian extraction. His career began as a flautist with the Hastings Municipal Orchestra, before joining the "Buffs" regiment as a band-boy in 1916 where he was soon promoted to Band Sergeant. Later he attended the Royal Military School of Music and was appointed bandmaster of the Queen's Royal Regiment in 1930, a position he occupied for fifteen years. Following retirement from the British army in 1946 after 30 years service, he took over the London Metropolitan Police Band – a post he held until 1968 when he became Musical Advisor to the Royal Parks. He wrote many works for military band, including at least thirty marches plus another forty or so assorted pieces including galops, xylophone solos, fanfares, piccolo solos, serenades and trombone features. For some years he contributed a series of mood music compositions to London publishers for their background music libraries, and this time he is also featured as the conductor waving the baton for his own Post Horn Galop, recorded for the Bosworth mood music library during the Second World War.

It has previously been noted that the worlds of Light Music and Military and Brass Bands are often overlapping, with each genre happy to ‘borrow’ from the other. Surely no one could argue that this is not the case, based on the evidence in this tuneful collection.

David Ades

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Musical Kaleidoscope – Volume 2

1 Kaleidoscope (Dolf van der Linden)
DOLF VAN DER LINDEN AND HIS METROPOLE ORCHESTRA
2 Circus Polka (Garfield de Mortimer – real name Trevor Boswell, Young)
REG OWEN AND HIS ORCHESTRA
3 Bewitched (Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart)
FELIX KING, HIS PIANO AND ORCHESTRA
4 Bobbysox Bounce (George Melachrino)
GEORGE MELACHRINO AND HIS ORCHESTRA
5 Shadow Of A Man (theme from the film) (Carr)
JACKIE BROWN AND HIS ORCHESTRA
6 Down The Solent – Overture (Felton Rapley)
NEW CENTURY ORCHESTRA Conducted by SIDNEY TORCH
7 The Broken Horseshoe (theme from the film) (Wilfred Burns)
WILFRED BURNS AND HIS ORCHESTRA
8 Sea Reivers (from "Two Hebridean Sea Poems") (Granville Bantock)
LONDON PROMENADE ORCHESTRA Conducted by WALTER COLLINS
9 Frenesi (Alberto Borras Dominguez, Leonard Whitcup)
DON FELIPE AND HIS CUBAN CABALLEROS (actually PHILIP GREEN)
10 Columbine (Leighton Lucas)
LEIGHTON LUCAS AND HIS ORCHESTRA
11 Oriental Dance (Granville Bantock)
LONDON PROMENADE ORCHESTRA Conducted by WALTER COLLINS
12 Saluting Base (Cecil Milner)
QUEEN’S HALL LIGHT ORCHESTRA Conducted by CHARLES WILLIAMS
13 Jay Walker (Maurice Grew)
STUTTGART RADIO ORCHESTRA Conducted by KURT REHFELD

Short and Sweet

14 Park Lane Serenade (Dolf van der Linden)
DOLF VAN DER LINDEN AND HIS ORCHESTRA
15 Ticker Tape (Sidney Torch)
TELECAST ORCHESTRA Conducted by ELLIOTT MAYES
16 Pioneer Trail (Charles Williams)
DANISH STATE RADIO ORCHESTRA Conducted by ROBERT FARNON
17 Intermission (Ronald Hanmer)
L’ORCHESTRE DEVEREAUX Conducted by GEORGES DEVEREAUX
18 Cigarette Girl (Len Stevens)
TELECAST ORCHESTRA Conducted by ELLIOTT MAYES
19 Skiddles (Sherman Feller, arr. Robinson)
GEORGE LIBERACE AND HIS ORCHESTRA
20 A Pinch Of Salt (G. Powell)
RAY VENTURA AND HIS ORCHESTRA
21 Doreen (Andrew Ackers, Sunny Skylar)
MONTY KELLY AND HIS ORCHESTRA
22 Dagger Dance (Victor Herbert)
ALFONZO D’ARTEGA AND HIS ORCHESTRA
23 Pizzicato Tango (Perry)
ARTURO CHAITE AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Three Pieces from "Woodland Sketches" Op.51 (Edward Alexander MacDowell)
24 In Autumn
25 From Uncle Remus
26 By A Meadow Brook
CAMARATA AND HIS ORCHESTRA

Drama, Menace and Excitement

27 The Duel (Sidney Torch)
QUEEN’S HALL LIGHT ORCHESTRA Conducted by SIDNEY TORCH
28 The Four Horsemen (Ronald Hanmer)
HARMONIC ORCHESTRA Conducted by HANS MAY
29 Follow That Car (Charles Williams)
QUEEN’S HALL LIGHT ORCHESTRA Conducted by ROBERT FARNON
30 Inhumanity (Trevor Duncan, real name Leonard Trebilco)
NEW CONCERT ORCHESTRA Conducted by FREDERIC CURZON

Guild GLCD 5140

Many of the orchestras and conductors on these latest Guild CDs will already be familiar to readers of this magazine, so we will concentrate more on the lesser known musicians, some of them appearing for the first time in the ‘Golden Age of Light Music’ series.

Guild’s second ‘Musical Kaleidoscope’ (the first is on GLCD 5139 and full details appeared in our last issue) also begins with a tune called Kaleidoscope, this time composed and conducted by that famous Dutch maestro Dolf van der Linden (1915-1999). He was the major figure in the Netherlands popular music field from the 1940s until the 1980s, and became one of the most respected conductors of the European Light Music scene.

Reg Owen (born George Owen Smith, 1921-1978) took up the saxophone at fifteen, played in youth bands then completed his education at the Royal College of Music in London. Following RAF service, in which he played for the Bomber Command Band, he became arranger for the Ted Heath orchestra from 1945, then arranged for other conductors including Cyril Stapleton. When he joined the PRS in 1954 he decided to change his name legally to "Reginald Owen." Regarded as one of England's leading orchestrators, Reg published his book "The Reg Owen Arranging Method" in 1956. By some he is labelled a ‘one hit wonder’ thanks to his best-selling recording of Manhattan Spiritual in 1958. His own film scores date from 1957 and include "Murder Reported" (1958), "Very Important Person" (1961), "A Coming-Out Party" (1961) and "Payroll" (1962). He moved to Brussels in 1961, though he continued to arrange, compose and conduct albums all over Europe, including France, Germany and Italy before moving finally to Spain where he died in 1978.

Felix Ferdinand King (1912-1982) became popular in Britain following the Second World War due to his recordings, broadcasts and tenure with his orchestra at some of the leading West End clubs. His long career actually began in the early 1930s as a dance band pianist, including for a while the newly-formed Victor Silvester orchestra in 1935. King also composed for films and ventured into Europe until war service in the RAF brought his career to a temporary halt.

Many of the light orchestral composers and conductors of the post-war years cut their teeth in the dance bands of the 1930s, and some certainly knew how to swing. A prime example is George Melachrino (1909-1965), whose Bobbysox Bounce has been requested by several loyal collectors of this series. It is not strictly Light Music, but Guild is pleased to bend the rules on this occasion and offer it as a ‘special track’ in this varied selection of often rare pieces which, hopefully, has included something for everybody.

"Shadow of a Man" was a 1954 British film which failed to excite the critics, which may explain why it seems to have vanished almost without trace. Jackie Brown is credited with composing and conducting the incidental music, while the title theme was probably the work of Michael Carr (real name Maurice Cohen, 1904-1968) who wrote many popular songs, often in collaboration with Jimmy Kennedy (1902-1984). Jackie Brown was one of Britain’s leading cinema organists, equally at home on large theatre consoles as well as their small electronic counterparts performed by enthusiasts at home. His output as a composer was relatively sparse, although light music aficionados regard his Metropolis (on Guild GLCD 5102) as one of the finest pieces of its kind. He worked on around a dozen films, and was the unseen conductor who used to direct the Billy Cotton Band for its television shows while Bill himself performed on-screen. Jackie also became a household name in Britain thanks to his regular appearances on Hughie Green’s (1920-1997) "Double Your Money" TV quiz show.

Bernard Wilfred Harris, better known as ‘Wilfred Burns’ (1917-1990) was another prolific composer of mood music who remained a backroom-boy for much of his career, although his name was seen on screen in a number of films. As a teenager he was a church organist and in 1936 joined the Army as a bandsman in the 4th Queens’ Own Hussars. He was posted abroad in November 1940 and captured in Greece the following April. Shrapnel wounds had destroyed his left eye, and damaged his hand and arm. He was a prisoner of war for two and half years, during which time he set up and ran a prisoners' band in which all the players had little or no sight, using instruments supplied by the Red Cross. After the Second World War ended he composed numerous pieces of mood music for various music publishers, and also worked at Elstree studios before eventually becoming a freelance film composer and musical director. His first of over twenty films was around 1949, with his final score in the 1970s. His best-known was probably the large screen version of the popular television series "Dad’s Army" in 1971. Leading London mood music publishers accepted more than 200 of his works for their libraries and he achieved possibly his greatest success when his piece Saturday Sports was chosen by BBC Television for its long-running "Sportsview" programme which began in 1954.

In response to several requests, Sir Granville Bantock (1868-1946), who was knighted in 1930, is represented by two contrasting works on this CD – Sea Reivers and Oriental Dance. He is said to have been influenced by the folk music of the Hebrides (off the coast of Scotland) and the music of Richard Wagner, and at one time his work was being compared with Elgar. In fact he succeeded Sir Edward Elgar as professor of music at the University of Birmingham in 1908. In recent years Bantock’s music has enjoyed a modest revival with new recordings of some of his major compositions, notably his Hebridean, Celtic and Pagan symphonies. He was instrumental in the founding of the City of Birmingham Orchestra whose first performance in 1920 was of his Overture: Saul.

Leighton Lucas (1903-1982) seems to have been at home in the realms of more serious music (especially ballet and opera) yet he also produced some pleasing light music and enjoyed success with scores for several prestigious films. In 1954 he wrote the incidental music for "The Dam Busters" (Eric Coates only contributed the famous march), and other projects included "Target for Tonight" (1941 – the theme is on Guild GLCD 5118), "The Yangtse Incident" (1957) and "Ice Cold in Alex" (1958). At one time the Leighton Lucas Orchestra was heard regularly on BBC Radio, and he made some mood music recordings for EMI’s short-lived recorded music library during the 1940s.

Edward Cecil Milner (1905-1989) was a respected backroom boy in London music circles, arranging for many top orchestras such as Mantovani, for whom he supplied over 200 scores. He was also an accomplished composer (he was being recognised while still in his twenties), with his works, such as Saluting Base for Chappells, willingly accepted by several background music publishers. It is particularly appropriate that this piece should be conducted by Charles Williams, since the two were closely associated from their days working on pre-war British films (another of Milner’s good friends from the same period was Clive Richardson). In the cinema he worked on some 50 films (often for Louis Levy) most notably the 1938 classic "The Lady Vanishes".

Some pieces of light music last only a little over a minute, but in those precious seconds many talented composers have managed to produce perfect cameos that have become memorable in their own way. Often they have been used as signature tunes helping to bury them even deeper into one’s musical subconscious, ready to be triggered at unexpected moments. Titles somehow seem irrelevant: it is the catchy passages and general ambience that is so appealing. Bowing to many requests, we have assembled a small group of such pieces under the heading ‘Short and Sweet’. Dolf van der Linden’s many fans in his native Netherlands will soon recognise Park Lane Serenade as his familiar theme, while British television viewers have heard Charles Williams’ Pioneer Trail for countless years in the annual BBC TV awards for the nation’s most popular sporting personalities. In the early days of commercial television in Britain there used to be advertising features (much like their cinema counterparts at the time) where companies could have their products shown in quick succession in vision only without a spoken soundtrack. The music used in the background in the London area while these messages were flashed on the screen was Cigarette Girl by Len Stevens. The other two pieces in this section will also be familiar to many through their repeated hearings for various purposes.

After the "Shorts" the spotlight firstly falls upon two orchestras new to this Guild series. George Liberace’s (1911-1983) claim to fame somewhat unfairly rests upon the fact that his brother ‘Lee’ (his real first names were Wladziu Valentino but he only used his surname professionally) was a flamboyant pianist who enjoyed considerable world-wide popularity especially in the 1950s. George worked with his brother as the backing band in his shows but in his later life he was more successful as a music publisher.

Frenchman Ray Ventura (1908-1979) was a multi-talented entertainer who, in addition to being an orchestra leader, also worked as an actor, producer, composer and writer. He was involved in numerous film productions particularly during the 1950s and 1960s.

Monty Kelly (1910-1971) was a trumpeter, arranger and bandleader who played with the Paul Whiteman and Skinnay Ennis bands before landing a job with NBC in New York. For a while he was a regular in the recording studios, and Cash Box magazine named him ‘most promising orchestra’ in 1953, but by then the era of popular instrumentals was starting to wane in the USA. His albums continued to do well, and they are still sought by light music fans.

Alfonso D’Artega (b. 1907) arrived in the USA from his native Mexico in 1918. Often merely known by his surname (spellings of his first name vary), he was a conductor, arranger and composer of wide and varied musical experience, and conducted orchestras for radio, television, transcriptions, recordings, concert stage and motion pictures.

Lack of space makes it impossible to mention every composer and conductor represented in this collection. However most of those not credited in these notes will have been profiled in previous Guild Light Music CDs.

Finally it seems that a significant number of music lovers occasionally appreciate listening to something a little more exciting and, at times, quite demanding. Since Guild Music launched "The Golden Age of Light Music" back in 2004 there has been a trickle of requests for dramatic mood music which, quite frankly, hasn’t fitted into the style of content in previous volumes. The trickle has almost become a steady stream, so the time has now come to bow to the wishes of some of our loyal followers. With composers such as Charles Williams, Ronald Hanmer, Sidney Torch, Trevor Duncan and other gifted writers active in this niche of the production music market, it would be churlish not to offer some occasional examples of their more melodramatic – and even horrific - moments. In science fiction films music has especially played an important role in establishing just the right mood, and in Britain the older generation still remembers the brilliant way in which it was used in the BBC’s vintage 1950s television series "Quatermass" (Inhumanity was the closing music for the first two "Quatermass" serials). If you prefer your music always to be melodic and tuneful you may wish to terminate this CD after track 26. For the courageous among you, prepare to be excited and shocked by the last four tracks!

David Ades

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Globetrotting

1 Broad Horizon (Trevor Duncan real name Leonard Trebilco)
STUTTGART RADIO ORCHESTRA Conducted by KURT REHFELD
2 Lovers In Paris (Lou Logist)
RAY VENTURA AND HIS ORCHESTRA
3 Alpine Festival (Fred Hartley)
FRED HARTLEY AND HIS ORCHESTRA
4 Swiss Boy (Cedric Dumont)
CEDRIC DUMONT AND HIS ORCHESTRA
5 Music for the Nostalgic Traveller in Italy (arr. William Hill-Bowen)
THE MELACHRINO ORCHESTRA Conducted by GEORGE MELACHRINO
6 The Italian Theme (Angelo Giacomazzi)
ARTURO CHAITE AND HIS ORCHESTRA
7 Flamenco Love (Larry Wagner)
REG OWEN AND HIS ORCHESTRA
8 Portuguese Party (Gilbert Vinter)
STUTTGART RADIO ORCHESTRA Conducted by KURT REHFELD
9 Majorca (Midinette) (Gaste, Bonnett)
JOE LOSS AND HIS ORCHESTRA
10 In The Mystic Land Of Egypt (Albert William Ketèlbey)
NEW SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Conducted by STANFORD ROBINSON
11 Oriental Bazaar (Peter Yorke)
DANISH STATE RADIO ORCHESTRA Conducted by ROBERT FARNON
12 Madagascar (Richard Hayman)
RICHARD HAYMAN AND HIS ORCHESTRA
13 Tahiti Tango (Ray Martin)
JACKIE BROWN AND HIS ORCHESTRA
14 Indian Mail – Descriptive (Lamothe)
ORCHESTRE RAYMONDE
15 Chinese Serenade (Victor Herbert)
ROCHESTER POPS Conducted by MORTON GOULD
16 Cuban Love Song (Jimmy McHugh)
MONTY KELLY AND HIS ORCHESTRA
17 Mexican Hat Dance (Jarabe Tapatio) (Partichela, arr. Morton Gould)
MORTON GOULD AND HIS ORCHESTRA
18 Street In Manhattan (Frank De Vol)
FRANK DE VOL AND HIS ORCHESTRA
19 "Song Of Norway" – selection (Robert Wright, George Forrest – based on melodies by Grieg)
PALACE THEATRE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Conducted by GIDEON FAGAN
Three English Dances (Roger Quilter)
20 No. 1
21 No. 2
22 No. 3
NEW CONCERT ORCHESTRA Conducted by RAE JENKINS
23 Journey’s End (Jack Beaver)
NEW CENTURY ORCHESTRA Conducted by SIDNEY TORCH

Guild GLCD 5141

The popular song spoke of "Faraway places with strange sounding names", and it is a fact that many of the places mentioned in the music in this collection were just names to most people when the recordings were made in the middle years of the last century. Since then ‘Globetrotting’ has become a pastime for millions, and the music has taken on the additional role of providing pleasant memories of past visits, both near and far from home.

No longer do exotic locations appear out of reach to intrepid adventurers, so the opening track Broad Horizons seems an appropriate way to commence our journey. It is one of many works depicting the beauty of the great outdoors created by Leonard Trebilco (1924-2005), who composed most of his music under the pseudonym Trevor Duncan. ‘Treb’ (as he was known to his friends) contributed hundreds of pieces to background music libraries, and there are already many examples of his work in this Guild Light Music series, including the special tribute to him on GLCD5124 – ‘Hall of Fame’ Volume 2.

Fred Hartley (1905-1980) was a familiar name in British broadcasting for many years, having made his first appearance on the BBC as a solo pianist as early as 1925. He was then employed as an accompanist, and founded his famous Novelty Quintet in 1931. In 1946 he was appointed the BBC’s Head of Light Music

Cédric Dumont (1916-2007) was born in Hamburg, Germany, but during his long career he became known as "Mr. Music Man of Switzerland". Growing up in the 1930s he came into contact with Jack Hylton in England, and over in the USA he seems to have worked briefly with Teddy Wilson, Harry James and Benny Goodman. He settled in Switzerland at the outbreak of World War 2 and was soon broadcasting from the studios in Basel. His career touched the classics as well as jazz, but it was in the sphere of light music that he became known throughout Europe. British mood music libraries engaged him to conduct their works (often anonymously) when they were unable to record in Britain due to a Musicians’ Union ban, particularly during the 1950s.

William Hill-Bowen (1918-1964) was George Melachrino’s right-hand man in the years immediately following World War 2, often appearing on piano but, perhaps, more importantly as a brilliant arranger who managed to recreate his master’s famous style to perfection. Such an example is the charming selection of well-loved Italian melodies, which includes Funiculi Funicula (Denza), Santa Lucia (Cottrau), Tarantella (traditional), Catari Catari (Cardillo), Gondola Song (Vassini), Parlami d’Amore Mariu (Bixio) and La Danza (Rossini). Later Hill-Bowen was to receive due recognition for his talents, partly thanks to a series of LPs commissioned by RCA.

Gilbert Vinter (1909-1969) is mainly remembered in Britain as the conductor of the BBC Midland Light Orchestra when it was one of the foremost contributors of quality light music on the BBC. As a young man he played bassoon in the BBC Wireless Band and the London Philharmonic, and taught at the Royal Academy of Music. During World War II, he was a member of the Royal Air Force Central Band and later led several RAF bands. After the war, Vinter joined the BBC as a staff conductor and he also developed his skill as a composer. Many of his works were for brass band, and among his finest works is The Trumpets, which is scored for a large brass band, chorus, and bass soloist. Portuguese Party was a bright piece he wrote in 1956 for Inter-art Music Publishers when they launched their new production music library Impress. It was well-received, and enjoyed many broadcasts and eventually a commercial recording on HMV. The Guild Light Music CD "Musical Kaleidoscope – Volume 1" (GLCD 5139) includes Gilbert Vinter’s arrangement Music of the People – England played by the BBC Midland Light Orchestra under his baton in 1952. It is a clever work which incorporates some of the street cries of old London as well as traditional English airs.

It may seem strange to find the name of Joe (Joshua Alexander) Loss (1909-1990) on this CD, because most of his career was firmly built on the solid rock of dance music, at which he was supremely successful. But like many others who have tended to get ‘pigeon-holed’ simply because they have been so good at providing what their public wanted, there is always the urge to expand horizons. Maybe Joe Loss looked with envy at what his peers were doing with large light orchestras in the 1950s, which encouraged him to add strings to his fine band. The result is a pleasing arrangement of the popular melody Majorca which certainly did the image of that popular Mediterranean island no harm at all. Joe’s career stretches from the 1930s to the 1980s and such was the kudos attached to his name that he was able to operate several bands within his organisation to satisfy the many demands from society functions, including royalty.

Albert William Ketèlbey (1875-1959) was a highly successful composer, who earned the equivalent of millions of pounds during the peak of his popularity. Pieces such as In a Monastery Garden, In a Persian Market and In The Mystic Land Of Egypt (on this CD) brought him international fame, no doubt assisted by his enthusiastic participation in the rapidly growing business of producing gramophone records.

In the USA Frank De Vol (1911-1999) is known primarily as the composer for the radio and TV series "The Brady Bunch" (and later as an actor), but light music fans appreciate that his career has been far more substantial. It was not uncommon to see the credit ‘Music by De Vol’ on many films, and he started playing violin in cinema orchestras just as the silent films era was coming to an end. After touring with the Alvino Rey orchestra, in the 1940s he began a recording career, first as an arranger for vocalists Ella Fitzgerald, Tony Bennett, Doris Day, Vic Damone and Nat "King" Cole. His arrangement of "Nature Boy" sung by Nat "King" Cole became a number one hit in 1948. In the 1950s his own Hollywood orchestra, called "Music of the Century", played frequently at the Hollywood Palladium, and he worked on numerous motion picture scores.

Gideon Fagan (1904-1980) was born in Cape Town, South Africa, and studied music under Vaughan Williams at London’s Royal College of Music from 1922 to 1926. He worked in films and his conducting assignments included a spell with the BBC Northern Orchestra (now the BBC Philharmonic) from 1939 to 1942, and several West End shows. He contributed a few compositions to recorded music libraries, and his best-known work was probably Pastoral Montage (for Chappell) which the BBC used as the music accompanying its television interlude film of a windmill. Fagan returned to South Africa in 1949 and was appointed a music director of the South African Broadcasting Corporation in 1963, then lectured at Cape Town University from 1967 to 1973.

Roger Quilter (1877-1953) has been regarded essentially as a miniaturist, and it is for his songs (particularly his settings of poems by Shakespeare and Herrick) that he is and always will be chiefly remembered. His famous Children's Overture was featured on Guild GLCD 5125, and this time it is the turn of his Three English Dances which were orchestrated by Percy Fletcher (1879-1932) and received their première at London’s Queen’s Hall on 30 June 1910.

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, and Journey’s End is one of the early pieces he wrote for the fledgling Francis, Day & Hunter mood music library, which was launched in the late 1940s.

David Ades

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1950s Volume 5 - Sunny Side Up

1 Sunny Side Up (De Sylva, Brown, Henderson – arr. Robert Farnon)
ROBERT FARNON AND HIS ORCHESTRA
2 Las Vegas (Bert Kaempfert)
BERT KAEMPFERT AND HIS ORCHESTRA (‘BOB PARKER’ on record label)
3 Cherry Pink And Apple Blossom White (Luis Gugliemi, Jacques Larue, David Mack –
arr. John Gregory, real name Giovanni Gregori)
CYRIL ORNADEL AND HIS ORCHESTRA
4 Baffi (Nino Ravasini)
MONIA LITER AND HIS ORCHESTRA
5 Clown On The Eiffel Tower (Jacques Strop, Dany Michel)
FRANCK POURCEL AND HIS ORCHESTRA
6 My Friend Elizabeth (Robert Katscher)
RAY MARTIN AND HIS CONCERT ORCHESTRA
7 Toot Sweet (Ira Lee)
DAVID CARROLL AND HIS ORCHESTRA
8 Red Cloak (Ron Goodwin)
RON GOODWIN AND HIS CONCERT ORCHESTRA
9 Bumps-a-Daisy (George Siravo)
GEORGE SIRAVO AND HIS ORCHESTRA
10 The Telegraph Operator And The Chorus Girl (Bernie Wayne, real name Bernard Weitzner)
BERNIE WAYNE AND HIS ORCHESTRA
11 Pizzicato Waltz (Georges Boulanger)
GEORGE LIBERACE AND HIS ORCHESTRA
12 Easy On The Eyes (Marvin M. Wright)
GROSVENOR STUDIO ORCHESTRA
13 Vuelve (Noro Morales, arr. Laurie Johnson)
AMBROSE AND HIS ORCHESTRA WITH STRINGS Conducted by LAURIE
JOHNSON
14 Madame Pompadour (Jack Say, real name Jacques Ysaye)
ROBERT FRENCH AND HIS CONTINENTAL ORCHESTRA
15 Starlight (Angela Morley)
DANISH STATE RADIO ORCHESTRA Conducted by ROBERT FARNON
16 Party Dress (Tony Tamburello, arr. Bruce Campbell)
TELECAST ORCHESTRA Conducted by ELLIOTT MAYES
17 Mischievous Mac (Ronald Binge)
CRAWFORD LIGHT ORCHESTRA
18 Holiday On The Road (Peter (Gabriel Philippe) Pares, Roger Roger)
GROSVENOR STUDIO ORCHESTRA
19 Lido Fashion Parade (Len Stevens)
CRAWFORD LIGHT ORCHESTRA
20 Flat Spin (Cyril Watters)
LOUIS VOSS AND HIS ORCHESTRA
21 Fairy Coach (Ernest Tomlinson)
CRAWFORD LIGHT ORCHESTRA
22 Practical Joker (Van Phillips)
STUTTGART RADIO ORCHESTRA Conducted by KURT REHFELD
23 Bel Air (Frank Sterling, real name Dennis Berry)
DOLF VAN DER LINDEN AND HIS ORCHESTRA
London Transport Suite (Sidney Torch)
24 The Hansom Cab
25 Rosie The Red Omnibus
26 5.52 From Victorloo
DANISH STATE RADIO ORCHESTRA Conducted by ROBERT FARNON
27 My Last Love (Lewis, Cochrane)
GEOFF LOVE AND HIS CONCERT ORCHESTRA
28 Prairie Duster (Mahlon Merrick)
MAHLON MERRICK AND HIS ORCHESTRA
29 Orange (Nelson Riddle)
SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Conducted by FRANK SINATRA
30 Dance Of Fury (Nacio Herb Brown)
DAVID ROSE AND HIS ORCHESTRA

Guild GLCD 5142

The human brain is – quite simply – amazing. Described in one dictionary as being a "convoluted nervous tissue in (the) skull of vertebrates", it is capable of a seemingly endless stream of thoughts and actions, and older people will often claim that experiences from previous decades are still locked in, just waiting for something to release them once again. Music can often trigger memories previously believed to be long forgotten, and some of the tracks in this collection may well provoke a glow of recognition among those hearing them for the second time around.

This selection has been chosen with the aim of recalling the cheerful, bright and breezy style of music that – over fifty years later – our memories tell us seemed prevalent in the 1950s. Typically the entertainment profession at the time was trying to provide an antidote to the post-war misery and austerity that was still afflicting so many countries. Listening to these happy sounds one can be forgiven for forgetting that the early 1950s witnessed rationing and shortages of most luxury items, while the later years in the decade were overshadowed by the threat of global nuclear war. They were hardly the happiest of times to be alive, but you will find plenty of clues to suggest otherwise as you listen to this CD!

The title track Sunny Side Up sets the tone admirably, with a Robert Farnon (1917-2005) arrangement that was chosen as the play-out music for many of Kenneth Horne’s shows on the BBC Light Programme. Usually only the first few bars were heard by listeners at home, which was a pity because this is a fine example of the way in which a full concert orchestra can be made to swing like a dance band. Farnon had learned this technique during his period as conductor of the Canadian Band of the Allied Expeditionary Forces in World War Two, and it was to be the kind of orchestration that would add such a tremendous backing to Tony Bennett when the two of them worked together on radio, television, records and in the concert hall in later years.

Bert Kaempfert (who was born Berthold Heinrich Kämpfert, 1923-1980) became one of Germany’s most famous musicians on the international stage from the 1960s onwards. He could play the accordion, clarinet, piano and saxophone, but more importantly he was also a gifted composer and arranger. Working as a producer at Polydor in Hamburg he was ideally placed to promote his talents, but before his career really took off he was obliged to look after many of the label’s top singers. Under the pseudonym ‘Bob Parker’ he made several orchestral records of his own compositions, and Las Vegas revealed that he was the equal of many writers working in a similar fashion in Europe and the USA at that time. As his career progressed he tended to move away from light music and achieved considerable success with an easy listening style that inclined towards jazz and often relied upon a rhythmic beat described in Germany as ‘knackbass’ (crackling bass).

Johnny Gregory (born Giovanni Gregori in London, 1924) is best known as a prolific arranger and conductor who worked for various British labels including Philips where his contract lasted for over 20 years. He is also a composer and has written the music for some 27 films, scored over 500 compositions and made numerous records which span the broad scope from light music to Latin American and Oriental. In 1976 he received an Ivor Novello Award for Introduction and Air to a Stained Glass Window and is generally recognised as one of the best orchestral and string ensemble composer/arrangers. His greatest international fame came from his many recordings of Latin American music as ‘Chaquito’. In this collection he appears early in his career as the arranger of Cherry Pink And Apple Blossom White for an album featuring Cyril Ornadel and his Orchestra for World Record Club before it was taken over by EMI. When first launched, it offered a cheap alternative to the major labels, and kept its costs low by selling its LPs in standard plastic sleeves with no individual covers.

Cyril Ornadel (b. 1924) rose to prominence in Britain during the 1950s, largely due to his weekly appearances conducting the orchestra for the popular television series "Sunday Night at the London Palladium". He was MD for numerous top musicals in London’s West End, and his composing credits include the hit show "Pickwick" and the song Portrait of my Love which gave Matt Monro an international hit.

Franck Pourcel (1913-2000) was one of the leading light orchestra leaders in France, and thanks to his collaboration with Paul Mauriat (1925-2006) he became internationally famous with the song I Will Follow Him. Although some of Pourcel’s recordings can be categorised as light music (and Clown On The Eiffel Tower is certainly one example), he later tended to veer towards jazz and rock following the pattern of some of his contemporaries. With hindsight one can ask which kind of audience he was really trying to attract, but his career flourished (he is said to have recorded over 2,000 songs) and he was held in the highest esteem in his own country.

The Synchro-Fox mood music library issued its first British mood music 78s in 1957, and we feature two of the early ones. Easy On The Eyes is by Marvin M. Wright whose credits include cues for the American TV series "Felony Squad" (1966-1969). The other title from Synchro-Fox brings us a typical Roger Roger (1911-1995) composition Holiday On The Road (Peter Pares is credited as co-composer) which sounds like it may have been recorded in Roger’s own studio in Paris.

Cyril Watters (1907-1984) was highly respected within the music profession and, although from 1953 to 1961 he was chief arranger with Boosey & Hawkes, he often contributed to the recorded music libraries of many of the top London music publishers. One of his greatest successes was the wistful Willow Waltz (chosen as the theme for the television series "The World of Tim Frazer" in 1960) but he was equally at home with brighter, up-tempo numbers such as Flat Spin on this CD. For several years during the 1960s he guided The Light Music Society through a difficult period when broadcasters and record companies seemed to be turning their backs on the genre, but his quiet persuasion undoubtedly benefited many of his colleagues. He was a true gentleman, in every good sense of the word, and was widely admired by his friends and colleagues for his personal qualities, as well as his tuneful music.

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 BBC radio production "The Story of Cinderella" in 1955, and another piece from the same source is Fairy Coach on this CD. 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 present Chairman of the Light Music Society.

The American Van Phillips (1905-1992) was a talented man whose achievements covered a wide variety of activities. He was brought to London by Carroll Gibbons (1903-1954) in 1925 to play saxophone in the Savoy Havana Band. A few years later he was a recording studio manager at Columbia Records, working with the bands of Jack Payne, Billy Cotton, Ambrose and Henry Hall. He also made 78s under his own name which were highly praised for their innovative arrangements and musicianship. His career soon involved West End shows ("Bow Bells" was his first musical show orchestration in 1931), and British films also used his skills – "Contraband" in 1934 was his first full score, to be followed by work for Richard Tauber and Jack Buchanan, among others. BBC broadcasts and a 39-week series for Radio Luxembourg further enhanced his public profile, and in the 1950s he composed the distinctive music for the landmark BBC Light Programme radio series "Journey Into Space". Phillips’ contribution to this CD is his composition Practical Joker, which he wrote for the newly-launched Impress Mood Music Library in 1956. Comments at the time pointed to the similarity with well known works by Robert Farnon and Angela Morley (when she was working as Wally Stott), but no doubt this was at the insistence of the label’s manager. Other works revealed his own particular style, which soon became recognisable to light music admirers. In later life his hobby of travel photography took over his life completely, and his 1966 "Traveller’s Book of Photography" sold over 150,000 copies. He remained active in this field until 1987, when he finally retired from his travels at the age of 82.

Mahlon LeGrande Merrick (1900-1969) began his musical career as a saxophone player, but eventually he concentrated on working in radio, films and especially television. He was associated with a number of popular television series notably "The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show" and "The Jack Benny Program", remaining the musical director for the popular comedian for thirty years. A versatile composer, a number of his works appear under the pseudonym ‘Gene LeGrande’, and his best-known piece Look Sharp Be Sharp - also known as the Gillette Look Sharp March (played by the Boston ‘Pops’ Orchestra) is on Guild GLCD 5135. Prairie Duster comes from an album called "Seven Winds" he recorded for the small US label Urania in the mid-1950s.

In the summer of 1956 Frank Sinatra (1915-1998) conducted an album of orchestral music to celebrate the opening of the new Capitol Records Tower in Hollywood, supposedly built to resemble a stack of records. Critics have observed that by this time Sinatra will have regarded that his comeback was secure, thanks to his best-selling albums and critically acclaimed films. Like many creative artists before him, he wanted to do something completely different, so he engaged a team of top composers and arrangers to create short works based on poems by his radio scriptwriter, Norman Sickel. The poems were all about different colours, so the album was appropriately called "Tone Poems Of Color". Capitol assembled around sixty Hollywood musicians for their star singer, who proceeded to make one of the most unusual recordings of his long career. The line-up included some of Sinatra's well known arranger/conductors such as Nelson Riddle, Billy May, and Gordon Jenkins, as well as iconic figures like Elmer Bernstein and Andre Previn. Photos taken at the sessions reveal that Nelson Riddle was on hand (at least part of the time) in case he was needed, but seemingly Sinatra managed to cope although the resulting LP was hardly among the top ten favourites of his loyal fans, and it remained out of the catalogues for many years. The piece selected this time is Orange by Nelson Riddle (1921-1985) who was a trombonist during his early career, which could explain why that particular instrument was featured in some of his most inventive arrangements for Frank Sinatra. Riddle’s scores also enhanced the recording careers of many top stars, from Nat ‘King’ Cole and Dean Martin to Judy Garland and Peggy Lee. He made a few instrumental albums on his own, but one is left with the impression that he could have achieved more in this area, had he not been so successful accompanying the finest singers around.

David Ades

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Animal Antics

1 Dance Of The Little Pink Horse (Bernie Wayne, real name Bernard Weitzner)
BERNIE WAYNE AND HIS ORCHESTRA
2 The Waltzing Cat (Leroy Anderson)
LEROY ANDERSON AND HIS ‘POPS’ CONCERT ORCHESTRA
3 My Dog Has Fleas (David Rose)
VICTOR YOUNG AND HIS ORCHESTRA
4 The Donkey Serenade; introducing Sympathy (Rudolf Friml, arr. Sidney Torch)
SIDNEY TORCH AND HIS ORCHESTRA
5 Morning Canter (Arnold Steck, real name Leslie Statham)
DANISH STATE RADIO ORCHESTRA Conducted by ROBERT FARNON
6 Nightingale (George Rosner, Fred Wise, Xavier Cugat, arr. Percy Faith)
PERCY FAITH AND HIS ORCHESTRA
7 Fauns And Satyrs (Oliphant Chuckerbutty)
LOUIS VOSS AND HIS ORCHESTRA
8 Mosquitos’ Parade (Howard Whitney)
SIDNEY BOWMAN AND HIS ORCHESTRA
9 Dance Of The Three Blind Mice (Donald Thorne)
NEW CONCERT ORCHESTRA Conducted by JACK LEON
10 The Glow Worm (Paul Lincke)
NEW CONCERT ORCHESTRA Conducted by JAY WILBUR
11 Flamingo (Ed Anderson, Ted Grouya, arr. Richard Jones)
THE PITTSBURGH STRINGS Conducted by RICHARD JONES
12 Lambs In Clover (Jack Strachey)
L’ORCHESTRE DEVEREAUX Conducted by GEORGES DEVEREAUX
13 Meadow Lark (King Palmer)
DOLF VAN DER LINDEN AND HIS METROPOLE ORCHESTRA
14 Snake Charmer (Charles Williams)
DANISH STATE RADIO ORCHESTRA Conducted by ROBERT FARNON
15 I Hear A Thrush At Eventide (Charles Wakefield Cadman, arr. Cecil Milner)
NEW CONCERT ORCHESTRA Conducted by JAY WILBUR
16 Peacock Patrol (Peter Barrington, real name Felton Rapley)
NEW CONCERT ORCHESTRA Conducted by R. de PORTEN
17 Gilbert The Goose (Kermit Leslie & Walter Leslie real surnames Levinsky)
KERMIT LESLIE AND HIS ORCHESTRA
18 Pelican Parade (Dolf van der Linden)
DOLF VAN DER LINDEN AND HIS ORCHESTRA
19 Skylark (Hoagy Carmichael, arr. Ron Goodwin)
RON GOODWIN AND HIS CONCERT ORCHESTRA
20 Butterfly Fantasy (Eugene Ettore, arr. Mischa Michaeloff)
MISCHA MICHAELOFF AND HIS ORCHESTRA, Leader ALFRED SVERDLOFF
21 Chicken Reel (Leroy Anderson)
BOSTON POPS ORCHESTRA Conducted by ARTHUR FIEDLER
22 Bird Charmer (Robert Farnon)
DANISH STATE RADIO ORCHESTRA Conducted by ROBERT FARNON
23 Tiger Tango (Clyde Hamilton real name Cyril Stapleton, Robert Earley real name
Robert Frederick Standish – better known as Bob Sharples)
CYRIL STAPLETON AND HIS ORCHESTRA
24 Bullfrog On A Spree (Burton, George Liberace)
GEORGE LIBERACE AND HIS ORCHESTRA
25 March Of The Penguins (Norman Richardson)
THE RAF CENTRAL BAND Conducted by Squadron Leader A.E. SIMS
26 The Frolicsome Hare (H. Ashworth Hope)
LESLIE JEFFRIES AND HIS ORCHESTRA
27 Frogs’ Wedding (Karl Bell)
REGENT CLASSIC ORCHESTRA
28 Animal Antics (Colin Wark)
LONDON PALLADIUM ORCHESTRA

Guild GLCD 5143

Those who observe strict adherence to the formal rules of pedantry will be quick to point out that the title of this collection is misleading … and they are quite right! Not all the tracks refer to animals; there are birds and insects among the other creatures thrown in for good measure. A more accurate title would be ‘non-human antics’, but somehow that lacks the attractive alliteration of "Animal Antics". So please forgive us a small measure of indulgence, and accept our good intentions in allowing human composers to pay tribute to those creatures on our planet that are genetically different from us.

Our attractive opening number – Dance Of The Little Pink Horse - is yet another catchy novelty by the American Bernard Weitzner (1919-1993) who was known as Bernie Wayne. His career was riding high in the 1950s with tunes such as Vanessa, Port-au-Prince (on GLCD 5130), Veradero (GLCD 5111) and The Magic Touch (GLCD 5111). Two of his best-known numbers were songs: Blue Velvet which was a number-one hit single for Bobby Vinton, and (There She Is) Miss America sung by Bert Parks during the crowning moments of the Miss America beauty pageant.

Generations of musicians – both amateur and professional – will have automatically sung My Dog Has Fleas when tuning the four strings of the ukulele, banjo and variations of these once-popular instruments. Several composers have felt the urge to write tunes using the familiar quartet of notes, but surely the award for the most inventive must go to David Rose (1910-1990). Rather surprisingly he does not appear to have made an early commercial recording of this piece, but this is not really a disappointment since the version by Victor Young (1900-1956) is such fun.

Soorjo Alexander William Oliphant Chuckerbutty (1884-1960) was once described by fellow organist Quentin Maclean (1896-1962) as "the only organist I know who combines whole-time cinema work with whole-time church work and makes a job of both." He began playing piano at the age of six and was composing by the time he reached 14. In 1928 he recorded on organ with Hal Swain and his Band at the Café Royal, London, and continued to make 78s alongside his other duties as a church organist. Most of his compositions were for the organ, and few are heard today, apart from Paean (on Guild GMCD 7212 played by James Culp) which has entered the standard repertoire. Performing on the theatre organ he was known as ‘Wilson Oliphant’, and when writing about playing the organ he used the name S.W.Chuckerbutty. Fauns And Satyrs seems to be something of a rarity, although it is possible that he composed it as an organ work and, realising its potential, his regular publishers Bosworth decided to have it orchestrated for their mood music library. But what exactly are Fauns and Satyrs? Legend has it that they lived among the woods and hills and were he-creatures, like men, with the hind-legs of goats, short horns on their foreheads, and long pointed ears. But there was a difference between the Fauns and Satyrs. The Fauns were handsome, gentle, innocent, and rather foolish. The Satyrs were hideous, clumsy, hairy monsters, with flat faces, little eyes, and huge mouths, great gluttons, often drunk, and sometimes mischievous: most of them were dull and stupid, but many of them had plenty of sense and knowledge. How can one composer possibly encompass all of that within three minutes? Mr. Chuckerbutty did!

Donald James Dean Thorne (1901-1967) has not produced a large amount of light music, but he is remembered especially for one particular piece – Rippling Waters (on Guild GLCD 5112) which the BBC chose as the background music for their 1950s television interlude of angel fish in an aquarium. Donald Thorne spent his early musical career as a pianist for dances at the Savoy, Berkeley and Claridges hotels in London, as well as providing arrangements of popular tunes to leading bands such as Jack Hylton, Henry Hall, Jack Payne, Roy Fox, Debroy Somers and Carroll Gibbons. In 1934 he joined Granada Theatres at Tooting and Maidstone as a theatre organist, and thereafter spent much of his time at various venues on the circuit. Following war service he continued playing on electronic organs, one of his prestige bookings being aboard RMS Queen Mary. His other compositions (sometimes under the pseudonyms Eric Denville and August Leserve) include a suite "Lights of London", which is rarely heard, and he wrote a few pieces for military band.

Cedric King Palmer (1913-1999) was a prolific composer of mood music who contributed over 600 works during a period of 30 years to the recorded music libraries of several London publishers. He was able to adapt his writing to many different styles, and Meadow Lark finds him in a reflective, lyrical mood. To survive in the music business meant accepting many varied commissions, and King Palmer could turn his hand to making popular arrangements of the classics which he often conducted with his own orchestra on the BBC Light programme in the 1940s and 1950s. His many bright and tuneful pieces disguised the fact that he possessed a serious knowledge of music; at the age of 26 he completed a study of the work of Granville Bantock (1868-1946), and in 1944 Palmer wrote ‘Teach Yourself Music’ for the Hodder and Stoughton Home University Series which ran to several editions. He ceased composing mood music in the 1970s, and towards the end of his life he became a patient and popular piano teacher, with sometimes over 60 pupils on his books.

I Hear A Thrush At Eventide by the American composer Charles Wakefield Cadman (1881-1946) benefits from a beautifully sensitive arrangement by Edward Cecil Milner (1905-1989), a respected backroom boy in London music circles, arranging for many top orchestras such as Mantovani, for whom he supplied around 220 scores. He was also an accomplished composer in his own right (he was being recognised while still in his twenties), with his works willingly accepted by several background music publishers. Cadman is regarded as a truly American composer, supposedly unschooled in the European tradition which was usual for his contemporaries. He achieved early success with two songs, At Dawning and From The Land Of Sky-blue Water, but at various times it seems that he was prone to get involved in disagreements which may have hampered his career: in 1929 he was hired by Fox Studios in Hollywood to score several films for them, but became embroiled in a dispute with Dmitri Tiomkin, and subsequently left. After being virtually ignored during the second half of the last century, Cadman’s music is now gaining fresh interest in the USA, largely due to his life-long association with the Indianist Movement.

Among several very rare items in this collection is what appears to be the only 12" 78rpm record of light music ever released by the British Nixa label, before it grew into one of the larger independents towards the end of the 1950s when it also embraced the Pye and Polygon catalogues (the story of how Polygon became part of Nixa was told in the notes to GLCD 5130 – the 1950s Volume 4).

Eugene Ettore’s Butterfly Fantasy was given an imaginative orchestration by Mischa Michaeloff, who made its first British recording with his own orchestra. When the 78 was released in 1951, Nixa’s publicity stated: "it describes in sound-pictures the birth of a male butterfly and his first attempts at flight, which eventually land him on the ground with a resounding bump! Picking himself up, he espies a lovely lady butterfly and, after a series of tactics to attract her attention, finally succeeds and they fly away together." The other side of this 78, Serbian Sunset, appeared on GLCD 5118 – Buried Treasures. Mischa Michaeloff (researches suggest his family name may have been Michailoff-Sissermann) was musical adviser to Auguste Cranz, Johann Strauss publishers, during the 1930s and he also worked with the tenor Richard Tauber. In the early 1950s he conducted the Mischa Michaeloff Mazurka Orchestra on BBC Radio, and contributed to programmes such as "Music While You Work" and "Bright and Early". He recorded two albums "Wandering Gypsies" and "Strictly From Hungary" for RCA featuring his ‘Symphonic Gypsies’ and an LP of French tunes for Nixa.

Eugene Ettore, the composer of Butterfly Fantasy, is regarded as one of America’s outstanding Accordion Artistes of the last century. His father was a vaudevillian who gave his son a solid grounding in many aspects of music, revealing a passion for composing. During World War 2 he gained practical experience of a professional musician’s life in Military and Dance bands, and carried on the Italian tradition of father and son in the accordion world. He served three terms as President of the American Accordionists’ Association. Among his other popular compositions are Musette Polka, Bambi Samba and Spanish Holiday, and his works range from classical to boogie-woogie.

Bird Charmer was composed by Robert Farnon (1917-2005) with his son David in mind. The inspiration actually came from David’s mother Pat, who said that "he could charm the birds out of the trees!" This was not the first time that Farnon had dedicated one of his creations to his children: Playtime (on GLCD 5125) was written for another son, Paul.

On this occasion our title track actually closes the CD. It is also the oldest recording in this collection, having been released in 1931 with William Pethers conducting the London Palladium Orchestra. The sound gives a clue to the fact that electrical recordings were still relatively new (the first were issued in 1925) although it compares well with many others that were to follow later in the 1930s. Animal Antics was composed by Colin Wark (1896-1939) who seems to have had a varied musical career – for a while working with Puccini and other Italian composers transcribing their works for piano. According to his son David, Colin Wark was responsible for launching Pasquale Troise and his Mandoliers in the early 1930s.

David Ades

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Light Music CDs. Some highly recommended releases.

Light Music is ignored by most Record Stores and Radio Stations, yet it is enjoyed by millions of people around the world.

You may know it as Easy Listening or Concert Music ... or maybe Middle-of-the Road. Whatever you happen to call it, Light Music offers relaxing enjoyment at any time of the day or night, and we hope that you will return regularly to this page in the Robert Farnon Society website to keep fully informed on the latest releases.

Releases up to December 2007

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For 2007:

LIGHT MUSIC CDs – DECEMBER

Light Music For All Seasons

GLCD 5138   LIGHT MUSIC FOR ALL SEASONS1 April In Paris (Vernon Duke, arr. Michel Legrand)
MICHEL LEGRAND AND HIS ORCHESTRA
2 I’ll Remember April (Don Raye, Gene de Paul, Pat Johnston)
GORDON JENKINS AND HIS ORCHESTRA
3 Tulips In Springtime (Rebekah Harkness, Tom Glazer)
ALFONSO D’ARTEGA AND HIS ORCHESTRA
4 Springtime (Walter Collins)
LONDON PROMENADE ORCHESTRA Conducted by WALTER COLLINS
5 Spring It Was (John Bradford, Tony Romano)
SIDNEY TORCH AND HIS ORCHESTRA
6 Spring Flowers (Charles Williams)
QUEEN’S HALL LIGHT ORCHESTRA Conducted by CHARLES WILLIAMS
7 One Morning In May (Victor Schertzinger, arr. Robert Farnon)
ROBERT FARNON AND HIS ORCHESTRA
8 June Bride (Charles Kenbury, real name Dennis Berry)
DOLF VAN DER LINDEN AND HIS METROPOLE ORCHESTRA
9 Heat Wave (Irving Berlin)
KINGSWAY PROMENADE ORCHESTRA Conducted by STANLEY BLACK
10 Summer Afternoon – Idyll (Eric Coates)
ERIC COATES and SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
11 Midsummer Gladness (Cecil Milner)
SYMPHONIA ORCHESTRA Conducted by LUDO PHILIPP
12 Summertime In Venice (from the film "Summer Madness") (Icini)
RON GOODWIN AND HIS CONCERT ORCHESTRA
13 Indian Summer (Victor Herbert, arr. George Melachrino)
THE MELACHRINO STRINGS Conducted by GEORGE MELACHRINO
14 Blue September (Peter de Rose, arr. Laurie Johnson)
THE AMBROSE ORCHESTRA Conducted by LAURIE JOHNSON
15 Autumn Leaves (Joseph Kosma)
RICHARD HAYMAN AND HIS ORCHESTRA
16 Autumn Serenade (Peter de Rose)
ROBERTO INGLEZ AND HIS ORCHESTRA
17 Lonely September (Charles Hathaway)
DAVID CARROLL AND HIS ORCHESTRA
18 September Song (Kurt Weill, arr. Richard Jones)
THE PITTSBURGH STRINGS Conducted by RICHARD JONES
19 In A November Garden (Victor Young)
VICTOR YOUNG AND HIS ORCHESTRA
20 Snow Shadow (Len Stevens)
DANISH STATE RADIO ORCHESTRA Conducted by ROBERT FARNON
21 Snowfall (Claude Thornhill)
LEROY HOLMES AND HIS ORCHESTRA
22 Sleigh Ride (Leroy Anderson)
ETHEL SMITH – Organ with orchestral accompaniment
23 Winter (Horace Shepherd)
NEW CONCERT ORCHESTRA Conducted by R. de PORTEN
24 A Christmas Fantasy
THE MELACHRINO ORCHESTRA Conducted by GEORGE MELACHRINO

Guild GLCD 5138

The four seasons provide the inspiration for the talented composers whose works are featured in this collection. We open our selection with a sparkling arrangement of April In Paris conducted by the French musician Michel Jean Legrand (b. 1932 in Paris) taken from his album "I Love Paris" which effectively launched his international career. An accomplished pianist, Michel has scored over 200 films and television shows and recorded over 100 albums ranging from jazz, popular and classical music. He has won numerous awards, and is probably the best-known French musician in the USA, having worked with most of the top singers from Frank Sinatra and Sarah Vaughan to Barbra Streisand and Dame Kiri te Kanawa.

Gordon Jenkins(1910-1984) arranged for many of the top bands in America during the two World Wars, and he soon carved out an impressive career in radio and films. He signed with US Decca in 1945, and eventually became their managing director. Under his guidance the label had several big hits, and his major work Manhattan Tower (first recorded at the end of 1945) brought him considerable critical acclaim – to be followed by similar musical narratives California (1949) and Seven Dreams (1953).

Alfonso D’Artega (b. 1907) arrived in the USA from his native Mexico in 1918. Often merely known by his surname (spellings of his first name vary), he was a conductor, arranger and composer of wide and varied musical experience, and conducted orchestras for radio, television, transcriptions, recordings, concert stage and motion pictures. In 1946 he originated and conducted in Carnegie Hall the Pop Concerts, with the members of the New York Philharmonic. He portrayed the role of Tchaikovsky in the 1947 United Artists production Carnegie Hall, and also conducted the sound track for the film. He has appeared as guest conductor with the Buffalo Symphony, Miami Symphony, Lewisohn Stadium Symphony, and with the Symphony of the Air. In addition to conducting, D'Artega also composed well over 50 popular compositions, both alone and sometimes with others. Perhaps his best known work was In The Blue Of Evening (on which he collaborated with Thomas Montgomery Adair). It was a hit recording for Frank Sinatra with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra in 1943.

Walter R. Collins is remembered for his days as the distinguished Musical Director of the De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill-on-Sea, and also for conducting the London Promenade Orchestra for the Paxton Recorded Music Library during the 1940s. Earlier, in 1928, his own orchestra was sufficiently well respected to undertake a tour in Germany, and during his long career he was a prolific composer and arranger.

The contribution from Sidney Torch (1908-1990) Spring Is Here is taken from a rare album called "Music From Across The Sea" for the US label Coral. Those familiar with Torch’s work will find little evidence of his usual style in the orchestration; indeed it is possible that Torch merely fronted the orchestra.

Charles Williams(real name Isaac Cozerbreit: 1893-1978) began his career accompanying silent films, then played violin under the batons of Beecham and Elgar. Right from the start of the ‘talkies’, he provided scores for numerous British films, and his "Dream Of Olwen" is still remembered long after the film in which it appeared – "While I Live". In 1960 his theme for the film "The Apartment" topped the American charts, although in reality the producers had resurrected one of his earlier works "Jealous Lover".

Born in Toronto, Canada, Robert Farnon(1917-2005) possessed the ability to create exceptional arrangements – something recognised by André Previn who said that he was the world’s greatest living writer for strings. In his later career Farnon was in demand to arrange and conduct for major international stars such as Frank Sinatra, Sarah Vaughan, Tony Bennett, Lena Horne and George Shearing.

Dolf van der Linden (real name David Gysbert van der Linden, 1915-1999) was the leading figure on the light music scene in the Netherlands from the 1940s until the1980s. As well as broadcasting frequently with his Metropole Orchestra, he made numerous recordings for the background music libraries of major music publishers.

Stanley Black (1913-2002) had a busy career encompassing numerous broadcasts, films and a recording contract with Decca which resulted in many top selling albums prompting international concert tours. Black received numerous awards, including the OBE in 1985 for his services to music. He was a Life Fellow of the Institute of Arts and Letters, and Life President of the Celebrities Guild of Great Britain.

Eric Coates (1886-1957) was a successful composer of ballads in the early years of the last century, before devoting all his energies to light music. He was particularly adept at writing catchy melodies that appealed as BBC signatures tunes, but he also created many pleasing pastoral cameos such as the Idyll Summer Afternoon.

Cecil Milner (1905-1989) was a respected backroom boy in London music circles, arranging for many top orchestras such as Mantovani, for whom he supplied around 220 scores between 1952 and 1974. He was also an accomplished composer, with his works willingly accepted by background music publishers such as Charles Brull, who issued Midsummer Gladness on one of their mood music 78 discs in 1954. In the cinema he worked on the 1938 film "The Lady Vanishes".

Ron Goodwin(1925-2003) was a brilliant composer, arranger and conductor, whose tuneful music reached the furthest corners of the world. As he gained recognition for his original compositions he became in demand for film scores and among his best-remembered are "633 Squadron", "Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines" and Alfred Hitchcock’s "Frenzy".

Although the record label for Blue September names the Ambrose Orchestra, in truth all the credit has to go to the arranger and conductor Laurie Johnson (b.1927), who has been a leading figure on the British entertainment scene for 50 years. A gifted arranger and composer, Laurie has contributed to films, musical theatre, radio, television and records, with his music used in many well-known productions such as "The Avengers" and "The Professionals".

As well as being a respected arranger and conductor, Richard Hayman (b. 1920) was also a harmonica virtuoso, and he sometimes adapted his scores of popular melodies so that he could perform on his favourite instrument.

Roberto Inglez was actually a Scotsman called Robert Inglis (1919-1974) who specialised in Latin American music. He built up a loyal following through his work in leading London West End clubs and his frequent BBC broadcasts.

David Carroll(b. 1913) was musical director of Mercury Records from 1951 to the early 1960s, during which time he accompanied many of the label’s contract singers as well as making some instrumental recordings of his own. Several of his LPs had a ‘dance’ theme, often including his own compositions, and he employed the cream of Chicago’s session musicians.

Victor Young (1900-1956) appears as both composer and conductor in the delicate tone poem In A November Garden. In the original LP sleeve notes Young says that he developed this from a theme in a Paramount film starring Loretta Young and Alan Ladd (he fails to name the movie but it may have been "And Now Tomorrow" in 1944). Young excelled as a violinist, arranger, film composer, songwriter, conductor and record producer. This wide experience in all forms of music, from his first hit song, Sweet Sue, Just You in 1928 to his tremendous score for "Around the World in 80 Days" in 1956, was exceptional even by Tin Pan Alley and Hollywood standards, all the more so because his international reputation was achieved in such a short lifetime. Like so many of his contemporaries, he found work with various dance bands of the 1920s and 1930s, before eventually ending up in Hollywood, where he discovered the ideal outlet for his melodic gifts.

He didn’t orchestrate everything he wrote for the screen (surely he couldn’t have found the time), but used experienced arranger/composers such as Leo Shuken and Sidney Cutner to fill out his sketches. For a while his fellow orchestra leader in the US Decca stable was Gordon Jenkins, who is reported as having said that Victor was a lovely man and a wonderful composer, "but he always had a bad band - full of relatives and refugees from the old country who needed work". Although born in Chicago, Young had strong ties with his grandparents’ country Poland, where he spent some of his formative years (his widowed father abandoned him as a child) and studied at the Warsaw Conservatory of Music together with his sister Helen.

Leroy Holmes (1913-1986) was fairly active in the recording studios in the USA during the 1950s, often specialising in music from films. He seems to be best remembered for his work as orchestra leader on the "Tonight Show" 1956-57.

Ethel Smith (born Goldsmith, 1910-1996) was a virtuoso on the organ who became an international star following her 1940s recording of Tico Tico. This resulted in appearances in several Hollywood films, and she continued to enjoy a successful career with recordings and public appearances for the next thirty years. Her version of Sleigh Ride is a refreshing change to the familiar orchestral version of the Leroy Anderson (1908-1975) classic, which is available on so many other CDs.

The composer of the sensitive piece Winter deserves a special mention. Horace Shepherd (1892-1960 – also known as Hugh Kairs) was musical director and composer of the score for at least ten British films from the 1930s to 1950s, perhaps the best-known being "Hatter’s Castle" (1942) based on the A.J. Cronin novel. He also seems to have been active in Europe – the 1930 French film "Prix de Beauté" being just one example. He contributed a few titles to production music libraries, and is listed as the director of "Making The Grade" (1947), a short film about actors becoming stars which featured Jessie Matthews.

George Melachrino (1909-1965) was one of the top British conductors of light music, with his records (especially LPs) selling in large numbers around the world. Like many of his contemporaries, he served his musical apprenticeship in British Dance Bands (particularly Carroll Gibbons) before World War 2 found him fronting the British Band of the Allied Expeditionary Forces. One of his earliest orchestral HMV 78s takes us from summer to autumn with Victor Herbert’s Indian Summer, then he provides the seasonal climax with a medley of Christmas airs. The first part is subtitled "Christmas Morn" and concentrates mainly on Jingle Bells, although there are snatches of Christians Awake, First Nowell, Home Sweet Home and Good King Wenceslas. Then the mood changes to "Christmas Night" with sounds of children’s jollity eventually fading as midnight approaches, brilliantly conveyed through Come Landlord Fill The Flowing Bowl, Girls And Boys Come Out To Play, Ring A Ring o’Roses, Mistletoe Bough and Silent Night. The arranger is uncredited and, although William Hill-Bowen (1918-1964) was responsible for many of Melachrino’s scores at this time, comparison with George Melachrino’s similar treatments of traditional airs (notably There Is A Tavern In The Town on Guild GLCD 5118, and Little Brown Jug on GLCD 5129) lends strong support to the assumption that the maestro himself created this delightful "Christmas Fantasy". David Ades

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Musical Kaleidoscope – Volume 1

GLCD 5139   MUSICAL KALEIDOSCOPE - 11 Kaleidoscope (Artur Clemens Schreckenberger)
NEW CENTURY ORCHESTRA Conducted by ERICH BÖRSCHEL
2 Double Cross (theme from BBC TV series) (Ernest Maxin, arr. Frank Cordell)
FRANK CORDELL AND HIS ORCHESTRA
3 Ballet Of Madeira (Gregori, Freitas)
JOHNNY DOUGLAS AND HIS ORCHESTRA
4 Dance Of The Spanish Onion (David Rose)
MANTOVANI AND HIS ORCHESTRA
5 Cockney Girl (George Melachrino)
GEORGE MELACHRINO AND HIS ORCHESTRA
6 Fiesta (Paul Stewart, real name Jack Coles)
THE EMBASSY ORCHESTRA Directed by JACK COLES
7 In Happy Mood (Percival Mackey)
WEST END CELEBRITY ORCHESTRA
8 Policeman’s Holiday (Montague Ewing)
NEW LIGHT SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
9 Pavanne (Morton Gould)
JAY WILBUR’S SERENADERS
10 Plaisir D’Amour (Jean Paul Egide Martini -real name Johann Schwartzendorf- arr. Fred Hartley)
FRED HARTLEY AND HIS MUSIC
11 Roses At Dawning (Le Boy Kahn, Gus Kahn, Neil Moret)
REGINALD KING’S ORCHESTRA
12 Legend (Henry Croudson)
LONDON PROMENADE ORCHESTRA Conducted by WALTER COLLINS
13 Keep Moving (Frederick George Charrosin)
LOUIS VOSS AND HIS ORCHESTRA
14 Sailors’ Holiday (Edgar Martell)
WEST END CELEBRITY ORCHESTRA
15 Blue Devils (Charles Williams, arr. Adolf Lotter)
LONDON PALLADIUM ORCHESTRA Conducted by RICHARD CREAN

Seven Famous BBC Orchestras

16 Oranges And Lemons (Traditional arr. Jack Byfield)
LONDON STUDIO PLAYERS Conducted by MICHAEL KREIN
17 Music for "Rivers Of The North Of England" – Serene & Flowing (Lambert Williamson)
BBC NORTHERN ORCHESTRA Conducted by CHARLES GROVES
18 Dance Of A Whimsical Elf (Haydn Wood)
BBC THEATRE ORCHESTRA Conducted by HAROLD LOWE
19 Manx Dirk Dance (Reeaghyn-dy-vannin) (from "Two Celtic Dances For Orchestra") (Arnold Foster)
BBC SCOTTISH ORCHESTRA Conducted by GUY WARRACK
Open Windows – Suite (Geoffrey Henman, orchestrated by Oliphant Chuckerbutty)
20 Country Air
21 Butterflies
22 Song Of The Sinhalese
23 Dancing Sunlight
BBC REVUE ORCHESTRA Conducted by CHARLES GROVES
24 Music Of The People – England (Traditional arr. Gilbert Vinter)
BBC MIDLAND LIGHT ORCHESTRA Conducted by GILBERT VINTER
25 Here’s To The Good Old Whisky (Traditional, arr. Clive Richardson)
BBC VARIETY ORCHESTRA Conducted by CHARLES SHADWELL
26 Oranges And Lemons (Traditional arr. Spike Hughes)
BBC THEATRE ORCHESTRA Conducted by HAROLD LOWE
27 Legion Patrol (Jack Simpson)
BILLY COTTON AND HIS BAND

Guild GLCD 5139

Putting together collections for Guild Music’s "Golden Age of Light Music" series is usually most pleasurable, but at times it can also be frustrating. The reason is that there are certain pieces of music which, for various reasons, just don’t seem to fit in with the theme of a particular compilation being prepared. Yet they may be high on the list of titles which have an important place in the body of work by a particular composer, and often they have been specially requested by music lovers who have been seeking them for decades: one collector recently thanked Guild for a piece of music last heard over fifty years ago! So this selection is notable for not having a specific theme – except that it is a deliberate attempt to offer a wide variety of styles and ensembles to stimulate the senses and hopefully spring a few surprises along the way. A good number of the tracks are requests, and maybe this CD could be called "Son of Buried Treasures" because it does bear some resemblance to a previous mélange on GLCD 5118 which was so favourably received.

As work on this collection progressed it soon became obvious that a further volume would be needed, if we were to be able to include all the special requests we have received. A second helping is available on Guild GLCD 5140 and, like this one, it commences with a piece called Kaleidoscope. This time the composer is Artur Clemens Schreckenberger (d. 1989) who was also active as an arranger and publisher in Germany. Our researches have revealed little about his career, but thankfully the same cannot be said of Frank Cordell (1918-1980). He was a fine British composer, arranger and conductor whose work first became noticed through the tuneful backings he often supplied to some contract singers on HMV singles in the 1950s. Occasionally he was allowed his own 78s, and he was also responsible for several fine LPs which quickly became collectors’ items. The cinema beckoned with some prestigious projects including "The Captain’s Table" (1959), "Flight From Ashiya" (1964), "Khartoum" (1966), "Mosquito Squadron" (1969), "Ring Of Bright Water" (1969), "Hell Boats" (1970), "Cromwell" (1970) for he was nominated for an Oscar, "Trial By Combat" (1976) and "God Told Me To" (1976). From time to time he contributed to publishers’ production music libraries, and also composed (and conducted) under the name Francis Meillear (or Meilleur). Frank’s track on this CD is the theme for a BBC Television series of the 1950s, composed by Ernest Maxin (b. 1923) who was also the producer of "Double Cross" – a comedy thriller starring Jimmy Jewel, Ben Warriss and Jill Day. During his long career in television he was variously performer, writer and producer (notably "Morecambe and Wise"), and he also conducted a few orchestral recordings under his own name.

Johnny Douglas (1920-2003) was a talented pianist, composer and arranger who recorded over 500 titles for Decca, and received many commissions for radio and television work. In 1958 he was asked to score and conduct "Living Strings Play Music of the Sea" for RCA, which was recorded at the Kingsway Hall, London, with an orchestra of 61 musicians. This began his long association with RCA, New York, and during the next twenty-five years he made 80 albums for RCA alone and received a Gold disc for the RCA album entitled "Feelings". Johnny has to his credit over 100 albums and 36 feature films, the most well-known of the latter being "The Railway Children" for which he received a British Academy Film & TV Arts Nomination.

Mantovani (1905-1980) was, for a time, the most successful British recording orchestra leader, whose LPs sold in their millions world-wide. But before Ronald Binge (1910-1979) created the ‘cascading strings’ effect that would make Italian-born Annunzio Mantovani so popular, he was already making light music recordings of a high standard, and Dance Of The Spanish Onion by the legendary David Rose (1910-1990) is a perfect example. Rather than follow the original score, Mantovani cleverly adapted it to provide a special appeal which still sounds fresh today.

George Miltiades Melachrino (1909-1965) sold millions of LPs around the world, especially in north America, yet his early career found him playing and singing in British dance bands of the 1930s. He was also an accomplished composer, and his contribution to this collection is certainly a rarity. Cockney Girl was actually three short pieces written for the short-lived EMI Mood Music Library in the late 1940s, which the publishers hoped would be used as the theme for a radio series. At that time a number of composers were writing works with the same object in mind, offering an opening, middle theme and final closing music to suit various moods. Cockney Girl is presented here without the gaps, illustrating the kind of carefree, bright light music that was so plentiful in the years following the Second World War.

Jack Coles (1914-1991) was a student at Kneller Hall School of Music where he won a Gold Cup for being the best all-round pupil of his year. He played trumpet in dance bands and orchestras until 1946 when he formed his own Music Masters dance band for broadcasting. Later he ventured more into the realms of Light Music with his Orchestre Moderne, appearing on popular shows such as Music While You Work, Melody Hour and Morning Music. Eventually in 1960 he became conductor of the BBC Midland Light Orchestra, and he was also busy in the fields of composing and arranging for films, theatre, television and radio. For some reason he was not often asked to make commercial recordings, and the Embassy 78 in this collection appears to be the only example of a light orchestral single on this budget label which was exclusive to Woolworths in the UK and concentrated mainly on ‘cover’ versions of Top 20 hits. Jack (his real names were John Robert Coles) also wrote mood music, and in addition to works under his own name he also composed as ‘Paul Stewart’ and ‘Paul Vincent’. His biggest success as a writer was Tyrolean Tango, which was re-named The Echo Tango when recorded in the USA by Duke Ellington.

Montague Ewing (1890-1957) also composed under the name ‘Sherman Myers’, and he had a most successful career mainly as a composer and arranger of light music and popular songs. Probably most successful of all was his Policeman’s Holiday which enjoyed additional appeal when lyrics were added.

The famous Pavanne by Morton Gould (1913-1996) is given a refreshingly different treatment by the British bandleader Jay Wilbur (1898-1970). He had a long career which encompassed numerous recordings in the 1930s for labels such as Dominion, Imperial and Rex, and a spell making mood music recordings for London publishers Boosey & Hawkes. Like several other musicians, when he found that his style fell out of favour in Britain after the war, he emigrated to continue his career in South Africa where he died in Cape Town.

Fred Hartley (1905-1980) was a prolific composer and arranger who became known to millions in Britain through his regular broadcasts. He joined the BBC as an accompanist, having made his first broadcast as a solo pianist as early as 1925. He founded his Novelty Quintet in 1931, and by 1946 he had become the BBC’s Head of Light Music.

Special attention should be drawn to Blue Devils by the famous light music composer Charles Williams (1893-1978). This march was his first big success as a composer, and it was originally published as The Kensington March. Respected researchers believe that it was written for the opening of the Kensington Kinema early in 1926, where Charles Williams conducted the orchestra. It is suggested that the piece was renamed when Williams left the Kensington cinema at the end of 1928; the official publication date for Blue Devils is shown as 1929 on the sheet music. Its enduring popularity prompted the London Palladium Orchestra to record it for HMV in 1933.

In the 1940s and 1950s the BBC in Britain was almost certainly the largest single employer of musicians in the world – this is also true today although the numbers are considerably smaller.

Back then, in addition to the seven orchestras featured on this CD, there were also The BBC Symphony Orchestra (extant); The BBC Scottish Variety Orchestra (which became the BBC Scottish Radio Orchestra); The BBC Northern Ireland Light Orchestra (which was subsumed into the Ulster Orchestra); The BBC Northern Variety Orchestra (which became The BBC Northern Dance Orchestra); The BBC West Of England Light Orchestra (later The West Of England Players); The BBC Welsh Orchestra (now the BBC National Orchestra of Wales); and The BBC Dance Orchestra. To complement these orchestras there was also the prestigious BBC Military Band (featured on Guild GLCD 5117)

As well as the above ‘house’ orchestras, the BBC schedules of those days regularly featured literally dozens of other musical ensembles, ranging from orchestras and brass bands to small groups and theatre organs. To avoid (or cause!) confusion, it should be noted that the BBC Theatre Orchestra later became the BBC Opera Orchestra which, in 1952, formed the basis of the BBC Concert Orchestra, which still exists, as does The BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. The Midland Light Orchestra became the Midland Radio Orchestra; the Variety and Revue Orchestras were combined, in 1964, into The BBC Radio Orchestra; and the BBC Northern Orchestra is now known as The BBC Philharmonic Orchestra. Other than the Concert Orchestra, all of the remaining BBC light orchestras were disbanded in the 1970s and 80s with the Radio Orchestra surviving until the early 1990s.

The traditional English air Oranges and Lemons used to open broadcasting on the BBC Light Programme, and two different arrangements were employed. Both became very familiar to millions of listeners, and since neither of the original versions has been previously available on a commercial recording we have decided to include them both in this mini-tribute to the golden age of BBC orchestras. They should not be confused with the re-recordings made by Vilem Tausky (1910-2004) and the BBC Concert Orchestra and used from 1962. The other well-known theme in this section is Music for "Rivers Of The North Of England" – originally incidental music for a radio feature, but subsequently chosen to introduce a monthly series of programmes about the countryside which ran for many years on the BBC Home Service.

Keeping with our BBC theme, for many years in Britain Sunday lunch was accompanied by popular music on the BBC Light Programme, and one of the longest running radio series was "The Billy Cotton Band Show", first broadcast in 1949. Bill’s signature tune was Somebody Stole My Gal, but if there was still time to fill at the end of the show the band played Legion Patrol by Jack Simpson, a well-known percussionist who fronted his own group on records in the 1940s. Usually only the first few bars of this number were heard, and many people failed to realise that Billy Cotton (1899-1969) had actually made a record of it. But he certainly did, and in response to several requests it appears as the closing music in this Kaleidoscope - happily on this occasion it is not faded out! David Ades

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LIGHT MUSIC CDs – SEPTEMBER

The Guild "Golden Age of Light Music" continues to restore many neglected works to the catalogue, and the latest two are listed below.

 Marching and Waltzing

 1 King Cotton (John Philip Sousa)
LONDON COLISEUM ORCHESTRA Conducted by REGINALD BURSTON
2 Melba Waltz (from the film "Melba") (Mischa Spoliansky, arr. Ron Goodwin)
RON GOODWIN AND HIS CONCERT ORCHESTRA
3 Blaze Away (Abraham Holzmann, arr. Sidney Torch)
SIDNEY TORCH AND HIS ORCHESTRA
4 Absinthe Frappé (Victor Herbert)
AL GOODMAN AND HIS ORCHESTRA
5 Royal Standard (Archibald Joyce)
WEST END CELEBRITY ORCHESTRA Conducted by LOUIS VOSS
6 One Love (David Rose)
DAVID ROSE AND HIS ORCHESTRA
7 The Spirit Of Youth – March (Gilbert)
LONDON PALLADIUM ORCHESTRA Conducted by JACK FRERE
8 Mayfair Cinderella (Albert William Ketèlbey)
LONDON CONCERT ORCHESTRA
9 Oxford Street (from "London Again" Suite) (Eric Coates)
TIVOLI CONCERT HALL ORCHESTRA Conducted by SVEND CHRISTIAN FELUMB
10 The Young Ballerina (BBC TV’s music for the famous Potters Wheel interlude) (Charles Williams)
DANISH STATE RADIO ORCHESTRA Conducted by ROBERT FARNON
11 Proud And Free (Ronald Hanmer)
SYMPHONIA ORCHESTRA Conducted by THEO ARDEN
12 Shadow Waltz (from film "Gold Diggers of 1933") (Harry Warren)
MORTON GOULD AND HIS ORCHESTRA
13 Strings On Parade (Ray Martin)
CYRIL STAPLETON AND HIS CONCERT ORCHESTRA
14 Someday I’ll Find You (from "Private Lives") (Noel Coward)
FRANK CHACKSFIELD AND HIS ORCHESTRA
15 Empire Builders March (from film "Rhodes Of Africa") (Hubert Bath)
LOUIS LEVY and his GAUMONT BRITISH SYMPHONY
16 Love’s Roundabout (from film "La Ronde") (Oscar Straus)
LOU PREAGER AND HIS CHARM OF THE WALTZ ORCHESTRA
17 Out Of Town March (Robert Farnon)
DANISH STATE RADIO ORCHESTRA Conducted by ROBERT FARNON
18 Just The One I Adore (Gypsy Seydell Beal, Eddie Medel)
DAVID CARROLL AND HIS ORCHESTRA
19 Tom Marches On (Clive Richardson)
LONDON PROMENADE ORCHESTRA Conducted by WALTER COLLINS
20 Mademoiselle de Paris (Paul Jules Durand, arr. Percy Faith)
PERCY FAITH AND HIS ORCHESTRA
21 On The Quarter Deck (Kenneth J. Alford, real name Frederick Joseph Ricketts)
OLD TYME ORCHESTRA Conducted by JACK LEON
22 Ziehrer Waltz Medley (Carl Michael Ziehrer)
MAREK WEBER AND HIS ORCHESTRA
23 Battle March (C.C. Moller)
AAHRUS CIVIC ORCHESTRA Conducted by THOMAS JENSEN
24 Family Album – Waltz (from "Tonight at 8.30") (Noel Coward)
PHOENIX THEATRE ORCHESTRA Conducted by CLIFFORD GREENWOOD
25 The Middy (Kenneth J. Alford, real name Frederick Joseph Ricketts)
REGENT CONCERT ORCHESTRA
26 Melody Of Love (Hans Engelmann)
BILLY VAUGHN AND HIS ORCHESTRA
27 Great Quest (Trevor Duncan, real name Leonard Trebilco)
NEW CONCERT ORCHESTRA Conducted by DOLF VAN DER LINDEN


GUILD GLCD5136

"Marching and Waltzing" was the title of a popular BBC radio programme around forty years ago. The format was simple: an enjoyable selection of alternating marches and waltzes, with occasional less familiar compositions interspersed with tried and tested favourites.

The notion that marches and waltzes always adhered to strict guidelines, which could result in a boring sequence of similar-sounding pieces, was certainly proved untrue. Both of these musical forms have been developed by talented composers and arrangers into many varied styles. As Eric Coates famously once commented: "my marches aren’t intended for marching and my waltzes aren’t intended for waltzing", and the same can be said of the works of many composers.

However those listeners who would appreciate some examples of what might be termed ‘true’ marches and waltzes will not be disappointed with this collection. Equally others who get satisfaction from hearing how arrangers have adapted the underlying rhythms inherent in the basic structure of these works should also find much to please them.

The CD commences with a great number from the man widely regarded as the American ‘March King’ – John Philip Sousa (1854-1932). His King Cotton (composed in 1895) was used as a signature tune for this programme by the BBC, although Vienna Blood was also chosen on occasions. Sousa is probably the most famous composer of military marches, and he was also a busy conductor. In addition to marches he was active in other musical fields: incredibly he wrote ten operas and a number of musical suites. He also composed scores for Broadway musicals, although it took several attempts before he had a measure of success in this genre with El Capitan in 1896. He formed his own band in 1892 and undertook many tours, both in the USA and in Europe. He also found time to write three novels and an autobiography, but he did not take kindly to new inventions. For many years he resisted conducting on radio, and in a submission to a congressional hearing in 1906 he predicted that the fledgling recording industry would result in people losing the use of their vocal cords because they would listen to others singing songs, rather than perform them for themselves. Despite his feelings towards the new technologies, they must have earned him a considerable amount in royalties, particularly from around 100 marches of which the most famous were Semper Fidelis, Liberty Bell, Washington Post and The Stars and Stripes Forever – the last named piece being the final work he conducted at the age of 77 in Reading, Pennsylvania, where he died following a rehearsal.

Another American composer who was a contemporary of Sousa was Abraham Holzmann (1874-1939) whose greatest march success was Blaze Away, composed in 1901. But he earned his living mainly from Tin Pan Alley where he wrote and arranged popular songs for publishers such as Leo Feist. [Leo Feist (1869-1930) began his career as a corset salesman and composed songs for his own enjoyment. When he failed to find a publisher for his work, he set up his own firm to deal in popular songs. "You can’t go wrong with a Feist song" was the slogan printed on every copy of the firm’s sheet music, which eventually numbered in thousands.] Today Abe Holzmann is fondly remembered by lovers of ragtime, but he also penned many marches, waltzes and other pieces of light music.

Dublin-born Victor August Herbert (1859-1924) was an accomplished cellist, composer, conductor and orchestrator who made a profound impression upon the American popular music scene. Due to his father’s death when he was under four, the Herbert family lived for a while with his paternal grandfather who was a keen artist; musicians and writers were frequent visitors, and young Victor was exposed to music from early childhood. His mother remarried and by 1866 the family had relocated to Stuttgart in Germany, but Victor’s plans for a medical profession were dashed due to lack of funds. He earned money playing the cello in leading German orchestras, and during a period with the Royal Court Orchestra in Stuttgart he studied under Max Seifriz, one of the finest teachers of composition at that time. In October 1886 he arrived in the USA and was employed in the pit orchestra at New York’s Metropolitan Opera Company. Within a short while his career blossomed, and he was fortunate that his own works (notably his Suite for Cello and Orchestra Op. 3) were well received by critics and the public. Soon he was also conducting, and among his numerous writing achievements are two operas, forty-three operettas, incidental music for stage productions (including several Ziegfeld Follies), plus songs and compositions for band, cello, violin, flute and clarinet. He orchestrated the works of many of his contemporaries, but his musical legacy is founded upon his charming operettas such as Babes in Toyland and Naughty Marietta. Absinthe Frappé comes from his operetta It Happened in Nordland (1904). With John Philip Sousa, Irving Berlin and others, Victor Herbert was one of the founders in 1914 of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP).

Albert William Ketèlbey (1875-1959) was a highly successful composer, who earned the equivalent of millions of pounds during the peak of his popularity. Pieces such as In a Monastery Garden, The Phantom Melody, In a Persian Market and Bells Across the Meadows brought him international fame, no doubt assisted by his enthusiastic participation in the rapidly growing business of producing gramophone records. As well as also being an arranger and conductor, he was an accomplished pianist and organist, and was proficient on oboe, cello, clarinet and horn. Once he had achieved his fame, and a style that became closely associated with him, he seemed unwilling to adapt to the new rhythms and influences that were gaining popularity – particularly during the 1930s. His own music gradually went out of vogue, and the previous age of romance, that had its roots in the self-confidence of the Edwardian age, seemed to be in terminal decline. But Ketèlbey was far from forgotten, and the LP era of the 1950s resulted in a renewed interest in his beautifully crafted melodies. He was able to spend his later years in comfortable retirement on the peaceful Isle of Wight.

Mischa Spoliansky (1898-1985) was a Russian-born composer who fled his homeland following the revolution and became a leading figure in Berlin’s thriving cabaret scene during the 1920s and early 1930s. When he arrived in Berlin he was offered the position of conductor at Max Reinhardt's Keller-Kabarett of the Grosses Schauspielhaus, where he embraced the core of Berlin’s cultural life and got to know the most important artists of that time. When the German film industry moved into ‘talkies’ his songs enhanced several popular films, but after the Nazi regime was elected to power in 1933 he was forced to flee for the second time in his life and he left Germany and chose to settle in England. His reputation had preceded him, and he had no problem in finding work in the thriving British film industry, where Alexander Korda offered him several prestigious productions such as Sanders of the River (1935) and The Ghost Goes West (1935). Numerous film commissions followed like King Solomon’s Mines (1937), The Man Who Could Work Miracles (1936), Wanted for Murder (1946), Idol of Paris (1948), Stage Fright (1950), The Happiest Days of Your Life (1950), Happy Go Lovely (1951), Melba (1953), Turn the Key Softly (1953), Trouble in Store (1953), Saint Joan (1957) and North West Frontier (1959). His eldest daughter was the actress Spoli Mills (Irmgard Spoliansky, 1923-2004). One of her favourite anecdotes concerned the day she was returning home and found her eccentric father standing, rather sheepishly, in the subway at London’s Hyde Park Corner. On the ground beside him was a flat cap containing a few coins. When she asked what he thought he was doing, he explained that the harmonica player who usually stood there had gone for a drink and he was keeping an eye on the pitch. "But why you?" his daughter pressed. "He's a fellow musician," her father replied.

Archibald Joyce (1873-1963) learned the piano and violin as a child, and much of his life as a professional musician involved playing in ballrooms, theatres and the concert hall, especially before and after the First World War. Indeed his own orchestra was held in such high esteem that it played for Royalty and at major state occasions, and through his many compositions Joyce became known as ‘The English Waltz King’. He was also adept at writing marches, no doubt partly due to the influence of his father, who was a band sergeant with the Grenadier Guards. Unlike his contemporaries Eric Coates and Haydn Wood, Archibald Joyce did not allow his composing style to move with the times, preferring instead to believe that his music was intended for dancing, rather than listening (unlike Eric Coates!).

Ronald Hanmer (1917-1994) was a prolific composer and arranger whose proud boast was that he had worked in the music business since the day he left school. Like his contemporary Sidney Torch, he served his ‘apprenticeship’ as a cinema organist, and soon developed his talent for composing and arranging. Many of his comic creations enlivened the BBC’s wartime ITMA broadcasts (his arrangement of Ten Green Bottles is on Guild GLCD 5102), and eventually over 700 of his compositions were published in various background music libraries. His film scores include Made in Heaven (1952), Penny Princess (1952) and Top of the Form (1953). He was also in demand as an orchestrator of well-known works for Amateur Societies, and the brass band world was very familiar with his scores – sometimes used as test pieces. In 1975 he emigrated to Australia, where he was delighted to discover that his melody Pastorale was famous throughout the land as the theme for the long-running radio serial Blue Hills. In Britain his best-known theme was the signature tune for BBC radio’s The Adventures of P.C. 49; the music came from a Francis, Day & Hunter Mood Music 78 simply called Changing Moods.

Students of the Viennese school of music regard Carl Michael Ziehrer (1843-1922) as one of the main rivals to the dominance of the Strauss family. His career was similar, with no less than twenty-three operettas to his name. In total he composed around 600 works, of which many were waltzes and marches. His waltzes in the selection on this CD are Vienna Citizens, Vienna Beauty and In a Beautiful Night. Ziehrer made his debut as a conductor in 1863 leading a dance orchestra, and later served several terms as bandmaster with the famous Hoch und Deutschmeister Regiment, which gained him wide public recognition and invitations to perform overseas. In 1909 he was honoured by the Emperor Franz Joseph with the appointment as Imperial Ball Director, the last person to hold the title.

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Light Music While You Work – Volume 2

1 Calling All Workers – excerpt (Eric Coates)
ERIC COATES and SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
2 Marche Lorraine (Louis Ganne)
LONDON COLISEUM ORCHESTRA Conducted by REGINALD BURSTON
3 "The Dancing Years" – Selection from show (1939) (Ivor Novello)
HARRY FRYER AND HIS ORCHESTRA
4 The Floral Dance (Katy Moss)
HARRY DAVIDSON AND HIS ORCHESTRA
5 Sleeping Beauty Waltz (Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky)
RICHARD CREAN AND HIS ORCHESTRA
6 Pierrot Comes To Town (Sherman Myers, real name Montague Ewing)
HAROLD COLLINS AND HIS ORCHESTRA
7 Lehar In The Ballroom (Franz Lehar)
WYNFORD REYNOLDS AND HIS ORCHESTRA
8 Toy Trumpet (Raymond Scott)
REGINALD PURSGLOVE AND HIS ORCHESTRA
9 Girl Crazy – Selection (George Gershwin)
STUDIO ORCHESTRA Conducted by PHIL GREEN
10 Die Fledermaus – Waltz (Johann Strauss, arr. Ronnie Munro)
RONNIE MUNRO AND HIS SCOTTISH VARIETY ORCHESTRA
11 Theatreland (Jack Strachey)
HARRY FRYER AND HIS ORCHESTRA
12 Sizilietta (Franz Von Blon)
DAVID JAVA AND HIS ORCHESTRA
13 Castles In Spain (Charles W. Ancliffe)
LONDON COLISEUM ORCHESTRA Conducted by REGINALD BURSTON
14 One Exciting Night – Selection from film (1944) (Georges Boulanger and others)
PHIL GREEN AND HIS THEATRELAND ORCHESTRA
15 Fashionette (Jack Glogan, Robert A. King)
HAROLD COLLINS AND HIS ORCHESTRA
16 Moment Musical (Franz Peter Schubert)
RICHARD CREAN AND HIS ORCHESTRA
17 Scarlet And Gold (Lloyd Thomas)
LONDON COLISEUM ORCHESTRA Conducted by REGINALD BURSTON
18 Softly Unawares (Paul Lincke)
HARRY DAVIDSON AND HIS ORCHESTRA
19 Journey To A Star; No Love No Nothing (both by Harry Warren, Leo Robin)
STUDIO ORCHESTRA Conducted by PHIL GREEN
20 Emperor Waltz (Johann Strauss, arr. Ronnie Munro)
RONNIE MUNRO AND HIS WALTZ ORCHESTRA
21 Butterflies In The Rain (Sherman Myers, real name Montague Ewing)
HAROLD COLLINS AND HIS ORCHESTRA
22 Bal Masque (from Two Parisian Sketches) (Percy Fletcher)
RICHARD CREAN AND HIS ORCHESTRA
23 With Sword And Lance (Lance Starke)
LONDON COLISEUM ORCHESTRA Conducted by REGINALD BURSTON
24 Turkey In The Straw (Trad. arr. Harry Davidson)
HARRY DAVIDSON AND HIS ORCHESTRA
25 Lady In The Dark – Selection from show (1941) also film (1944) (Kurt Weill, Ira Gershwin))
PHIL GREEN AND HIS THEATRELAND ORCHESTRA
26 Calling All Workers – excerpt (Eric Coates)
ERIC COATES AND SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA


GUILD GLCD5137

The enthusiastic response to Guild’s first dip into the catalogue of music recorded in the 1940s for Decca’s Music While You Work label (on Guild GLCD 5128) has meant that a second volume simply had to follow. This time there are some new names, but the general concept follows the pattern that was fully explained in the booklet notes for the earlier collection.

In summary, the title ‘Music While You Work’ was the name of a BBC radio programme that was first broadcast at 10.30am on Sunday 23 June 1940. It soon became something of an institution in British broadcasting, where it was to remain in the schedules for an unbroken run of 27 years. It was resurrected for short runs in the 1980s and 1990s before the very last broadcast was heard in 1995.

The man credited with the original idea – and its successful implementation – was Wynford Reynolds (1899-1958). ‘Live’ musicians were usually engaged for the programme, ranging from solo performers such as organists, to small groups, dance bands, light orchestras and military bands. The shows were aimed at factory workers during the Second World War, and it was hoped that the choice of music would relieve the boredom of many repetitive tasks and thus assist productivity.

However the factories soon realised that they needed to provide such music throughout the day, and gramophone records were the obvious answer to fill those periods when suitable music was not being broadcast by the BBC.

Someone at Decca proposed that a special series of 78s would suit this purpose admirably and their own "Music While You Work" label was born; sensibly they sought Wynford Reynolds’ advice from the outset, and he even made some of the 78s with his own orchestra. These were not intended to be an accurate carbon copy of the BBC broadcasts, and the orchestras on the Decca records (mostly their contract artists) did not necessarily also perform on the radio. But they did succeed in conveying the ‘feel’ of the programme and have provided a fascinating subject for collectors to study over the years.

The signature tune chosen by the BBC was Calling All Workers composed by Eric Coates (1886-1957). By this time he was recognised as possibly England’s greatest living composer of light music, and he acquired the knack of writing catchy, memorable tunes that were ideal as introductions to regular programmes on radio and later television. His Knightsbridge March introduced "In Town Tonight" from 1933 to 1960, and towards the end of his life Coates composed the famous march for the film "The Dam Busters" (1954). Calling All Workers was written in 1940 at the request of his wife, Phyllis, who was working in the Red Cross making wartime medical supplies. She wanted a march to which she and her companions could work, which his biographer says inspired Eric to incorporate sewing machine patterns in his music. After the programme had been running for three months without a signature tune, in October 1940 it was adopted by the BBC for "Music While You Work" and achieved universal popularity. In the first Guild volume devoted to this music we included this work in full by an excellent Danish orchestra; on this occasion it is abridged and, although it is readily available in its complete original version elsewhere, in tribute to the composer we have used his own recording from 1940.

This time several contributors to Decca’s MWYW series – missing from volume 1 – have been included, notably Reginald Burston with the London Coliseum Orchestra, Harold Collins, David Java and the man credited with coming up with the idea in the first place, Wynford Reynolds.

Considering his musical background, it is likely that Wynford Hubert Reynolds (1899-1958) had little problem in persuading the BBC that he had the necessary knowledge to launch "Music While You Work". He was already on the staff of the BBC as a producer, although he was also an experienced performer. He was born in Ebbw Vale, Wales, and his early musical training at the Royal Academy of Music concentrated on the violin, viola and composition. Like many of his fellow musicians, he provided music for silent films, and eventually joined the Queen’s Hall Orchestra under its illustrious conductor (and founder of London’s Promenade Concerts) Sir Henry Wood.

Reynolds became involved with the early days of radio in the 1920s, and it wasn’t long before he formed his own orchestra for concerts (including engagements at seaside venues) and broadcasts. In 1941 the BBC gave him the important-sounding title ‘Music While You Work Organiser’ but, due to the strict rules imposed by the Corporation on its own employees, this prevented him from appearing with his orchestra in the programmes. He left this position in 1944, and went back to performing on radio, not only in "Music While You Work" but also, later, in popular shows such as "Bright and Early" and "Morning Music". Happily the recordings he made for Decca’s MWYW series are evidence of the high quality of his music, although his influence extended far beyond those 78s bearing his own orchestra’s name: he produced the majority of around 420 discs that were issued before the series ended with the final releases in January 1947.

The London Coliseum (also known as the Coliseum Theatre) was built in St. Martin’s Lane by the famous theatre impresario and architect, Oswald Stoll, and it opened for its first performance on 24 December 1904. Since then it has undergone changes of name, various refurbishments and different kinds of productions, ranging from variety and operetta to ballet and opera – it is now the home of English National Opera. Reginald Burston (d. 1968) was an experienced musical director who was regularly employed in various London theatres ranging from D’Oyly Carte Opera to prestigious Noel Coward productions and lavish post-war American musicals. In the mid-1930s he conducted the BBC Midland Orchestra, then in 1936 he took over the baton of the BBC Revue Orchestra for several years.

Like Reginald Burston, Harold Collins (c.1900 - c.1971) arold Collins, David Java

at one time was MD at the London Coliseum, although he also held positions at various provincial theatres. Originally a pianist, it seems he gave his first broadcast from Plymouth in 1936 where he was resident conductor at the Palace Theatre, and was hired by the BBC for "Music While You Work" soon after the programme was launched. In total he appeared in 227 programmes with his Orchestra, and he also made a good number of records for Decca’s MWYW series, usually with a smaller ensemble in a style that suited the light repertoire that was his speciality – his three tracks in this collection are ideal examples. In later years he was heard in BBC shows "Morning Music" and "Melody On The Move", and through his work with Norman Wisdom he appeared on ITV’s top Sunday evening shows from the London Palladium and the Prince of Wales Theatre.

David Java only made one record for Decca’s MWYW series, and his career is poorly documented. In 1938 he played violin alongside Sidney Sax on several Victor Silvester recordings for Parlophone, and again on some Columbia recordings in 1941 when Oscar Grasso, Alfredo Campoli, Reginald Kilbey and Eugene Pini were among the distinguished violin players whom Silvester employed. After the war David Java supplied orchestras for Lyons’ Corner House restaurant and presumably other similar venues.

Harry Davidson (1892-1967) enjoyed two successful, and different, careers before and following the Second World War. After various engagements around London and the north-east of England spanning the years 1914 to 1929, he finally secured the highly prestigious appointment as organist at the newly built Commodore Theatre at Hammersmith in London. The Commodore had a fine 18-piece orchestra conducted by Joseph Muscant (1899-1983) and by the early 1930s it had acquired a loyal national following for its regular broadcasts. After five years Muscant left to take over the Troxy Broadcasting Orchestra and, in July 1934, Harry Davidson stepped into his shoes. (Recordings by both the Commodore and Troxy orchestras may be found on previous Guild Light Music CDs). Although the Commodore orchestra was disbanded during the war, Davidson managed to keep many of his superb musicians together and soon he was broadcasting regularly, notching up no less than 109 editions of "Music While You Work". To correct an error which crept into the notes to the previous volume in this series, it should be pointed out that Harry Davidson achieved this impressive total between 1940 and 1946, not during the programme’s first year. In November 1943 his series "Those Were The Days" appeared for the first time, providing listeners at home with a regular helping of melodious old-time dance music. It became a permanent fixture in the schedules with Harry in charge until ill-health forced him to retire in November 1965. It is also appropriate to mention that he was an extremely prolific recording artist; during the 1950s 78s by his orchestra often occupied almost four pages in EMI Columbia’s annual catalogues.

The other orchestras included on this CD were also featured in the previous Guild MWYW collection, and they were each profiled in the booklet notes. On this occasion, they have had to take a back seat in favour of the ‘new boys’.

 

Partly through lack of space, 78 record labels sometimes omitted details of the contents of selections, and even composers occasionally became anonymous. If you were lucky, missing information like this might have been gleaned from contemporary record catalogues, but today it is often left to admirers of the last century’s popular music to attempt to supply the names of those elusive song titles. The following list reveals some of the music to be heard in this collection.

"The Dancing Years" Lorelei, My Life Belongs To You, Leap Year Waltz, I Can Give You The Starlight, Waltz Of My Heart.

"Lehar In The Ballroom" Gold And Silver, Count Of Luxembourg, Merry Widow Waltz.

"Girl Crazy" But Not For Me, Embraceable You, Bidin’ My Time.

"One Exciting Night" One Love, There’s A New World Over The Sky Line, My Prayer, It’s Like Old Times.

"Lady In The Dark" Girl Of The Moment, This Is New, Suddenly It’s Spring, Saga Of Jenny, My Ship.

LIGHT MUSIC CDs – JUNE

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About Geoff 123
Geoff Leonard was born in Bristol. He spent much of his working career in banking but became an independent record producer in the early nineties, specialising in the works of John Barry and British TV theme compilations.
He also wrote liner notes for many soundtrack albums, including those by John Barry, Roy Budd, Ron Grainer, Maurice Jarre and Johnny Harris. He co-wrote two biographies of John Barry in 1998 and 2008, and is currently working on a biography of singer, actor, producer Adam Faith.
He joined the Internet Movie Data-base (www.imdb.com) as a data-manager in 2001 and looked after biographies, composers and the music-department, amongst other tasks. He retired after nine years loyal service in order to continue writing.