GUILD LIGHT MUSIC GLCD5186
Light Music While You Work – Volume 3
1 Fairy On The Clock (Sherman Myers, real name Montague Ewing)
HAROLD COLLINS AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Decca Music While You Work MW 166 1944
2 Samum (Symphonic Foxtrot) (Carl Robrecht)
HARRY FRYER AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Decca Music While You Work MW 131 1944
3 With A Smile And A Song (from "Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs") (Larry Morey; Frank E. Churchill)
REGINALD PURSGLOVE AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Decca Music While You Work MW 316 1945
4 Flapperette (Jesse Greer)
HAROLD COLLINS AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Decca Music While You Work MW 148 1944
5 Step Lightly (Peter Anderson)
LONDON COLISEUM ORCHESTRA Conducted by REGINALD BURSTON
Decca Music While You Work MW 257 1944
6 Twinkle-Toes (Hugh Raeburn, real name Wynford Reynolds)
WYNFORD REYNOLDS AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Decca Music While You Work MW 130 1944
7 Casino Tanz (Ferenc Gungl)
RONNIE MUNRO AND HIS WALTZ ORCHESTRA
Decca Music While You Work MW 400 1946
8 Rag Doll (Nacio Herb Brown)
HAROLD COLLINS AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Decca Music While You Work MW 82 1943
9 Flash Of Steel (Sidney Colin)
LONDON COLISEUM ORCHESTRA Conducted by REGINALD BURSTON
Decca Music While You Work MW 257 1944
10 Gold And Silver Waltz (Franz Lehár)
HAROLD COLLINS AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Decca Music While You Work MW 79 1943
11 Wedding Of The Rose (Leon Jessel)
HAROLD COLLINS AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Decca Music While You Work MW 83 1943
12 The Juggler (G. Groitzsch)
HAROLD COLLINS AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Decca Music While You Work MW 167 1944
13 The Devil Ma Cares (Beechfield Carver)
HARRY FRYER AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Decca Music While You Work MW 333 1945
14 Fairies On The Moon (Montague Ewing)
WYNFORD REYNOLDS AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Decca Music While You Work MW 414 1946
15 Valse Bleue (Alfred Paul Margis)
LONDON COLISEUM ORCHESTRA Conducted by REGINALD BURSTON
Decca Music While You Work MW 301 1945
16 Up Guards And At ‘Em (Gordon Mackenzie)
HARRY FRYER AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Decca Music While You Work MW 333 1945
17 Doll Dance (Nacio Herb Brown)
HAROLD COLLINS AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Decca Music While You Work MW 82 1943
18 Where The Lemon Trees Blossom (Johann Strauss II)
LONDON COLISEUM ORCHESTRA Conducted by REGINALD BURSTON
Decca Music While You Work MW 334 1945
19 Three Jolly Brothers (Robert Vollstedt)
HAROLD COLLINS AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Decca Music While You Work MW 83 1943
20 Marche Tartare (Louis Ganne)
HARRY DAVIDSON AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Decca Music While You Work MW 213 1944
21 Rhythm Of The Clock (Eddie Hunt; Peter Kane)
WYNFORD REYNOLDS AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Decca Music While You Work MW 414 1946
22 The Way To The Heart – Intermezzo (Paul Lincke)
HARRY DAVIDSON AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Decca Music While You Work MW 242 1944
23 Wren’s Serenade (Joseph Engleman)
HAROLD COLLINS AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Decca Music While You Work MW 190 1944
24 Marche Russe (Louis Ganne)
HARRY DAVIDSON AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Decca Music While You Work MW 213 1944
25 Mon Reve Waltz (Emile Charles Waldteufel)
RONNIE MUNRO AND HIS SCOTTISH VARIETY ORCHESTRA
Decca Music While You Work MW 252 1945
26 Grand March from "Carmen" (Georges Bizet)
RICHARD CREAN AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Decca Music While You Work MW 95 1943
All tracks mono
British people ‘of a certain age’ will still remember "Music While You Work", but it is appropriate to offer an explanation to the younger generation and Guild Music’s many friends in countries outside the United Kingdom. If you have already purchased the first two volumes in this series (on GLCD5128 and 5137) the next few paragraphs may be familiar to you, but it is important that the background behind these recordings is revealed.
When the full misery of the Second World War was becoming all too apparent in the early months of 1940, the BBC (the sole British broadcaster at the time) was persuaded that the public needed cheering up, and morale-boosting radio programmes would be an important addition to other forms of popular entertainment such as the cinema and variety theatres. Radio shows were gradually being relayed to factories to relieve the monotony of mass production, especially in the fields of armaments and other essential war supplies, and it was believed that bright and cheerful music might even increase output.
One can imagine the number of meetings and internal soul-searching that must have taken place before the BBC would embark upon such a step. Since its inception in 1922 it had nurtured a reputation as the guardian of the nation’s morals and this certainly extended to the kind of music that it would allow on its airwaves. ‘Popular’ music was viewed with grave suspicion, even though pre-war commercial broadcasts beamed to Britain from the near continent had demonstrated the public’s appetite for lighter musical fare.
But somehow a programme called "Music While You Work" did survive all the planning obstacles, and the first broadcast took place at 10.30am on Sunday 23 June 1940. It became something of an institution in British broadcasting, where it was to remain in the schedules for an unbroken run of 27 years. When the BBC celebrated its 60th anniversary in 1982 "Music While You Work" was one of several popular programmes brought back for a few editions, and the positive public reaction resulted in several more ‘returns’ including yet another revival 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. After some early experiments with light classics the feedback from the factories soon indicated that workers preferred tunes they knew and to which they could sing along. The BBC could not be expected to broadcast to such a restricted formula throughout the entire day - after all, they had a large audience of listeners in their homes. Gramophone records provided the answer as far as the factories were concerned; when the radio programmes were not suitable for the workforce the Tannoy public address system resorted to records played by one of the staff.
This is when someone at Decca realised that a special series of 78s would fit the bill admirably and their own "Music While You Work" label was born; sensibly they sought Wynford Reynolds’ advice from the outset. 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 first twenty records that were released, starting in 1942, were included in Decca’s usual blue and gold label ‘F’ series of popular 78s and given their own ‘MW’ prefix. Thereafter all issues were only on the black and white ‘Music White You Work’ label and by September 1943 some 27 discs were available. Following this rather slow start, the floodgates opened, and nearly 400 more were to be released before the final ones appeared in January 1947. The series was quickly deleted, and throughout the existence of the label Decca publicity had been sketchy, to say the least. The record buying public was often unaware of what was available, so consequently some of the titles must be quite rare. Some of the later 78s were recorded using Decca’s revolutionary ‘ffrr’ (full frequency range recording) process which remained a closely guarded secret for some while since it had originally been developed to assist the war effort, and the improved sound quality of several of the tracks on this CD is evidence of this.
The orchestras chosen for these recordings would have been familiar to the public at the time. 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 Bradshaw Burston (1897-1968) 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 Musical Director 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 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.
Reginald Pursglove (1902-1982) was an accomplished violinist who worked with many of the British dance bands in the 1920s and 1930s. During four decades he was heard regularly on the radio fronting various ensembles, such as small groups, right up to light orchestras which gradually assumed greater prominence as dance bands were heard less frequently on the air. His Albany Players (later renamed the Albany Strings) constantly provided top quality light music, but eventually the BBC’s decision to rely less upon live music meant that the orchestra did not survive the 1960s – a fate that was to befall so many of Pursglove’s contemporaries.
Ronnie Munro (1897-1989) started his career playing piano in various clubs and bands in London before eventually working regularly with EMI – particularly the HMV ‘house’ orchestra The New Mayfair Orchestra. He contributed numerous arrangements for top recording bands such as Jack Hylton, Lew Stone, Percival Mackey, Ambrose and Henry Hall. In 1940 he was appointed conductor of the BBC’s newly-formed Scottish Variety Orchestra.
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. Numerous Commodore Grand Orchestra and two Troxy Broadcasting Orchestra recordings are on other Guild CDs, including GLCD5108, 5116, 5122, 5134, 5163 and 5168. 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 that 109 editions of "Music While You Work" 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. But such was its popularity that the programme continued under Sidney Davey for another twelve years.
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.
In common with so many musicians of his era, Harry Fryer (1896-1946) found work playing for silent films and gradually progressed to conducting at London theatres and leading venues in and around the capital. He was a regular broadcaster, both before the war and later frequently on radio in "Music While You Work". The London publishers Boosey & Hawkes contracted Fryer in 1941 to conduct for their Recorded Music Library. By the end of the war he had become a household name and there seems little doubt that, had it not been for his death in 1946 aged only 50, his talents would have been much in demand during the post-war years.
Richard Crean (1879-1955) became a familiar name in the 1930s through his association with the London Palladium Orchestra. Prior to that he had travelled widely as Chorus Master with the Thomas Quinlan Opera Company, before accepting a similar position at Covent Garden with Adrian Boult. Then a spell at Ilford Hippodrome in variety led to his appointment in 1930 as conductor of the London Palladium Orchestra (featured on several Guild Light Music CDs) which lasted for around five years, until he formed his own orchestra which he conducted, on and off, for the rest of his life. For a short while in 1941-42 he conducted the newly-formed BBC Midland Light Orchestra, and like Harry Fryer he was also a contributor to the Boosey & Hawkes Recorded Music Library.
The BBC radio programme "Music While You Work" endeared itself to millions of British listeners for several decades, and its signature tune Calling All Workers by Eric Coates (on GLCD5128) is still instantly recognisable. It seems a shame that tuneful, uninterrupted music now seems totally absent from broadcasting schedules.
David Ades
GUILD LIGHT MUSIC GLCD5180
Bright And Breezy
1 Bright And Breezy (Peter Dennis, real name Dennis Alfred Berry)
THE GROSVENOR STUDIO ORCHESTRA
Synchro FM 217 1959
2 Theme from 'The Apartment' (original title Jealous Lover) (Charles Williams, real name Isaac Cozerbreit)
BILLY VAUGHN AND HIS ORCHESTRA
DOT DLP 25322 1960
3 Carnival (Harry Warren; Bob Russell)
LES BAXTER AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Capitol T 733 1957
4 They Call The Wind Maria (from 'Paint Your Wagon') (Alan Jay Lerner; Frederick Loewe, arr. Robert Farnon)
ROBERT FARNON AND HIS ORCHESTRA
MGM SE3804 1960
5 Ragazza Romanza (Roberts)
THE MELACHRINO ORCHESTRA Conducted by GEORGE MELACHRINO
RCA SF 5049 1960
6 Painted Carousels (Anthony Mawer)
COSMOPOLITAN ORCHESTRA Conducted by PHILLIPO ANDEZ
De Wolfe DW 2668B 1960
7 Misty (Erroll Garner; Johnny Burke)
THE KNIGHTSBRIDGE STRINGS
Top Rank International 45-JAR 304 1960
8 Toy Town Trumpeters (William Davies)
THE CRAWFORD LIGHT ORCHESTRA
Josef Weinberger JW 247-A 1960
9 'Tiger Bay' - Theme from the Film (Laurie Johnson)
THE PINEWOOD STUDIO ORCHESTRA Conducted by PHILIP GREEN
Top Rank 45-JAR112 1959
10 'La Dolce Vita' (Theme from the film) (Nino Rota; Verde)
MANUEL AND THE MUSIC OF THE MOUNTAINS ('Manuel' is GEOFF LOVE)
Columbia 45-DB 4563 1960
11 Midi-Midinette (Christian Bruhn; Georg Buschor)
SIR CHAUNCEY (real name ERNIE FREEMAN)
Warner Bros 45-WB 35 1960
12 Begin The Beguine (from 'Jubilee') (Cole Porter, arr. Brian Fahey)
THE STARLIGHT SYMPHONY Conducted by CYRIL ORNADEL
MGM SE 3843 1960
13 E Bello (Dante Vignali)
GEORGE MELACHRINO Conducting the Orchestra of the 6th San Remo Festival
HMV SCT 1519 1957
14 Bambalina (Vincent Youmans; Otto Harbach; Herbert Stothart; Oscar Hammerstein II, arr. Reg Owen)
REG OWEN AND HIS ORCHESTRA
RCA LPM 1907 1960
15 Kristina (Maurice Grabmann)
THE BRUSSELS NEW CONCERT ORCHESTRA
Southern MQ 511 1960
16 Sea Shore (Robert Farnon)
RAWICZ AND LANDAUER, at Two Pianos, with ANGELA MORLEY AND HER ORCHESTRA [as 'WALLY STOTT' on disc label] Philips PB 1039 1960
17 Stringendo (Ivor Slaney)
HILVERSUM RADIO ORCHESTRA Conducted by HUGH GRANVILLE
De Wolfe DW 2652A 1960
18 Place Du Tertre (Arthur Dieudonne Charlier)
THE BRUSSELS NEW CONCERT ORCHESTRA
Southern MQ 512 1960
19 Dancing Daffodils (Johnny Steggerda)
GUY LUYPAERTS AND HIS ORCHESTRA (as 'GUY LUPAR' on LP label)
RCA Victor LP 3254 1955
20 Up And Coming (Cyril Watters)
THE WESTWAY STUDIO ORCHESTRA
Southern MQ 501 1960
21 Spanish Gypsy Dance (Mariano Marquina)
JACQUES LEROY AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Embassy WLP 5173 1960
22 San Francisco (Bronislaw Kaper; Walter Jurmann; Gus Kahn, arr. Carmen Dragon)
STANDARD SCHOOL BROADCAST ORCHESTRA Conducted by CARMEN DRAGON
Standard School Broadcast Transcription 2643 recorded in Capitol Studios, Hollywood 16 May 1960
23 Sweet Sue (Victor Young, arr. Melle Weersma)
JACK HYLTON AND HIS ORCHESTRA
HMV C 2856 1936
24 Summerdance (Hugo Emil Alfvén)
Orchestra Conducted by HUGO ALFVÉN
Philips PB 737 1957
'South Of The Alps' (Südlich der Alpen) (Ernst Fischer)
25 In A Harbour Town (In Einer Hafenstadt)
26 Terrace By The Sea (Terasse Am Meer)
27 Street Of Flowers (Blumencorso)
28 Tarantella (Tarantella)
CONCERT ORCHESTRA Conducted by BRUNO SEIDLER-WINKLER
HMV EG 6221/2 1937
Stereo: tracks 2, 4, 5, 12, 13 ; rest in mono
Our opening track, Bright And Breezy, allows the spotlight to be turned on a talented and prolific composer who remains unknown to most music lovers. 'Peter Dennis' hides the true identity of Dennis Alfred Berry (1921-1994), who also composed (sometimes in collaboration with others) under names such as Frank Sterling, Charles Kenbury and Michael Rodney. He was born in London and in 1939 was employed by Francis, Day & Hunter as a copyist before moving on to Boosey & Hawkes as a staff arranger. Then he was taken on by publishers Lawrence Wright followed by Paxton Music as their representative based in Amsterdam. Paxton had a thriving mood music library, but a ban by the Musicians' Union at the end of the 1940s meant that London publishers could no longer record in Britain. Paxton decided that their mood music 78s should be recorded in the Netherlands by Dolf van der Linden and his Metropole Orchestra, and Berry's experience proved very useful in setting this up. He returned to the London office in 1949 and was responsible for producing numerous titles issued by Paxton during the 1950s. This did not prevent him from writing for other libraries such as De Wolfe, Charles Brull and Synchro, for whom he wrote our opening track Bright And Breezy. At the end of the 1950s Berry was head-hunted to start the Southern Library of Recorded Music (now owned by Universal) which issued its first recordings on 78s in 1960. Eventually he emigrated to South Africa, before finally returning to England to do freelance work including some film commissions in Germany. Eight of Den Berry's compositions have already appeared on Guild: his best-known piece is Holiday In Hollywood on GLCD5119.
Another composer and conductor who played a leading role in London's production music libraries was Charles Williams (born Isaac Cozerbreit, 1893-1978). 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 he reached the American charts with his theme for the film 'The Apartment', although in reality the producers had resurrected one of his earlier works Jealous Lover which itself originated in a British film 'The Romantic Age' (1949) starring Mai Zetterling and Petula Clark. Among many commercial versions around the world, Billy Vaughan (on this CD) produced one of the best although pianists Ferrante and Teicher made the hit version.
The Harry Warren standard Carnival was a big success as a virtuoso trumpet number for Harry James, but it is nice to hear how a fine orchestral arrangement can give it a new lease of life. Texas born Les Baxter (1922-1996) tended to be asked by his record companies to record pieces with an 'exotic' appeal, but this proves that he could turn his hand to many different styles.
Robert Farnon (1917-2005) conjures up the excitement of the American Wild West with his spirited version of They Call The Wind Maria, then George Melachrino (1909-1965) provides a pleasant contrast with a romantic portrait of an Italian young lady.
A new 'Guild' composer is Anthony Mawer (1930-1999) who makes his debut with Painted Carousels from the De Wolfe library. He was born in Sale, Cheshire and educated at Manchester Grammar School. Musically he was mainly self-taught and started contributing occasional mood music pieces to De Wolfe in 1955 (his first was Palm Beach Interlude), before joining the staff in 1959, where he remained until 1965. During this period he composed almost 500 titles exclusively for them. But his talents had been noticed by other London publishers and after leaving De Wolfe his name appeared on discs issued by almost all of the major production music libraries. For a while he worked part-time with Dennis Berry at Southern Music, and was closely involved in creating the Peer International Library, for whom his LP 'String Scene' was particularly successful. For many years, due to his work commitments, Anthony lived in North London and Elstree. He and his wife moved to North Wales in 1985, where he died on 30 April 1999 aged 68 following a heart attack.
A relaxed mood is restored with a sublime version of Erroll Garner's Misty. Regrettably the actual arranger was not credited on the label. The oboe is featured strongly, and the quality of the playing suggests that we may be hearing Ivor Slaney (1921-1998), who was a leading session musician. Later he appears as composer of Stringendo. For much of the time The Knightsbridge Strings was a 34-piece string ensemble which was started by the new label Top Rank at the end of the 1950s, and was directed by British conductor-arrangers Malcolm Lockyer (1923-1976) and Reg Owen (1921-1978).
William Davies (full name William Arthur Davies, 1921-2006) was a pianist, organist, composer and conductor who became a household name in Britain, thanks to his regular appearances on the BBC Light Programme and later Radio 2, especially in connection with the programme 'Friday Night Is Music Night'. He occasionally introduced his own compositions into programmes such as 'Music Box', 'The Organist Entertains' and 'Just William', and he makes a welcome first appearance on Guild with his catchy Toy Town Trumpeters.
Laurie Johnson (b. 1927) provided an excellent score for the 1959 film 'Tiger Bay' which included some memorable scenes between John Mills and his daughter Hayley in her first major role. Around the same time the Italian cinema regularly employed Nino Rota (real name Giovanni Rota Rinaldi, 1911-1979) to create inspired scores that lifted every scene, and 'La Dolce Vita' remains a landmark movie of that era.
Ernie Freeman (1922-1981) was an American pianist, organist, arranger and conductor. After early work in several swing-era bands, during the 1950s he was busy on many pop sessions, sometimes using pseudonyms. Midi Midinette finds him in the world of lush strings, in which he chose to hide his identity as 'Sir Chauncey'.
From the late 1950s onwards Cyril Ornadel (b. 1924) made many fine orchestral albums with his 'Starlight Symphony', aimed primarily at the American market. His regular arranger was Brian Fahey (1919-2007), well-known in Britain as a musical director, arranger and composer. Fahey's mastery of the orchestra is given full rein in this extended version of the Cole Porter classic Begin The Beguine.
E Bello is the sixth track on Guild from the 1956 San Remo Festival recorded by George Melachrino (1909-1965). The previously mentioned Reg Owen was definitely the arranger of Bambalina which he conducts on a rare RCA LP. Maurice Grabmann's Kristina is one of the early 78s on the newly-launched Southern Production Music Library label in 1960. From the same source, three tracks later we hear Place Du Tertre, dedicated by its composer to that famous part of Montmartre. The very first release by Southern was Up And Coming by Cyril Watters (1907-1984), and this completes the trio from a library new to Guild.
Robert Farnon is back, this time as composer of Sea Shore. He was commissioned by Players Cigarettes to write it for a series of TV commercials, and such was the public's response that Angela Morley (then working as 'Wally Stott') recorded it commercially with the famous piano duettists Rawicz and Landauer.
Guy Luypaerts (b. 1917) was born in Paris to Belgian parents during the First World War and he became well-known in French musical circles through conducting an orchestra called the Nouvelle Association Symphonique de Paris. Guild has previously included his imaginative sounds in the Cole Porter tribute (GLCD 5127) and conducting quirky cameos such as The Sleepwalker of Amsterdam by Johnny Steggerda (GLCD 5131). Conductor and composer are teamed up again in Dancing Daffodils.
The UK Embassy label sold its records through Woolworths stores, and much of their output consisted of cover versions of popular hits at lower prices. But they also made some interesting orchestral albums, and Jacques Leroy's version of the Spanish Gypsy Dance was one of the best available.
Making a welcome return to Guild is Carmen Dragon (1914-1984) who was born in Antioch, California. His first success in Hollywood was collaborating with Morris Stoloff (1898-1980) arranging Jerome Kern's score for the 1944 Rita Hayworth/Gene Kelly film 'Cover Girl' which secured him an Oscar. He worked extensively in radio and television, and was a frequent visitor to recording studios conducting the Hollywood Bowl and Capitol Symphony Orchestras. He also arranged and conducted for the Standard School Broadcast Transcription Service, and his version of San Francisco (which cleverly includes brief snatches acknowledging the Californian city's cosmopolitan population) deserves to be heard by a wider audience.
Although some British Dance Band purists might disagree, possibly the most famous of the pre-war bands was fronted by Jack Hylton, born John Greenhalgh Hilton (1892-1965). The band made numerous records and toured widely in Britain and overseas. At times its repertoire ventured into light music circles, such as Wedding Of The Rose (on Guild GLCD5163) and Dancing Tambourine (GLCD5106). His talented arrangers sometimes produced 'concert' versions of popular songs. Often these were created by Billy Ternent, but it was the Dutch bandleader and composer, Melle Weersma, who was responsible for the inventive treatment of Sweet Sue. After a spell with Hylton in 1935, he moved to the USA later in the year where he worked with Benny Goodman and Andre Kostelanetz.
Hugo Emil Alfvén (1872-1960) is a legend in his native Sweden where he was renowned as a violinist, composer, conductor, artist and author. Alfvén was 84 when he wrote his famous "Roslagsvår" (Swedish Polka) in 1956 (on GLCD5161). It was recorded in Hamburg (at the insistence of Philips), probably so they could maintain strict control over the music, since Alfvén was old and in poor health. The same sessions also produced Summerdance on this CD. The musicians are mainly German and the conductor (although it says Hugo Alfvén on the label) was actually jazz pianist, arranger and conductor Bengt Hallberg.
The celebrated German composer Ernst Fischer (1900-1975) was born in Magdeburg. During his early career he wrote many piano pieces, and he also played the organ using the pseudonym 'Marcel Palotti'. A holiday in Italy in 1935 was to provide the inspiration for his orchestral suite Südlich der Alpen (South of the Alps), which is widely regarded as one of the finest pieces of light music written in Germany during the 1930s. It has been performed by orchestras all over the world, and the first movement In A Harbour Town remains particularly popular. Possibly the composer's love of the organ was responsible for the few discrete passages in each movement; this instrument was absent from later recordings. Bruno Seidler-Winkler (1880-1960) conducted the first complete recording which was released by HMV's German subsidiary in 1937. Surprisingly this does not appear to have reached HMV's British catalogue. Bruno Seidler-Winkler was one of the early 'house orchestras' of the gramophone, having worked with Deutsche Grammophon from 1903 to 1923. He then spent two years in Chicago, before returning to conduct the Berlin Radio Orchestra from 1925 to 1933, finally taking up teaching. He has his place in musical history for making the original recording of Lili Marlene with Lale Anderson in 1939.
David Ades
GUILD LIGHT MUSIC GLCD5181
The Lost Transcriptions - Volume 2
1 Falling In Love With Love (from the 1938 musical play 'The Boys From Syracuse') (Richard Rodgers; Lorenz Hart, arr. Percy Faith)
PERCY FAITH AND HIS ORCHESTRA
VOA PO 31 1947
2 In The Still Of The Night (from the 1937 film 'Rosalie') (Cole Porter, arr. Percy Faith)
PERCY FAITH AND HIS ORCHESTRA
VOA PO 29 1948
3 April Showers (from the 1921 Broadway musical 'Bombo') (Louis Silvers; Buddy De Sylva, arr. Percy Faith)
PERCY FAITH AND HIS ORCHESTRA
VOA PO 98 1948
4 The Very Thought Of You (Ray Noble, arr. Percy Faith)
PERCY FAITH AND HIS ORCHESTRA
VOA PO 28 1947
5 Why Do I Love You (from the 1927 musical 'Show Boat') (Jerome Kern; Oscar Hammerstein II, arr. Percy Faith)
PERCY FAITH AND HIS ORCHESTRA
VOA PO 138 1948
6 Pavanne (Morton Gould, arr. Percy Faith)
PERCY FAITH AND HIS ORCHESTRA
VOA PO 96 1950s
7 Night Creature (Edward 'Duke' Ellington)
PERCY FAITH AND HIS ORCHESTRA featuring DUKE ELLINGTON, piano
VOA PO 80 1950s
8 Deep Blues (from Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra) (Elie Siegmeister)
PERCY FAITH AND HIS ORCHESTRA featuring VINCENT J. ABATO, clarinet
VOA PO 87 1955
9 Hoedown (from 'Rodeo' Suite) (Aaron Copland)
PERCY FAITH AND HIS ORCHESTRA
VOA PO 95 1950s
10 Play Orchestra Play (from the 1935 musical revue 'Tonight at Eight-Thirty') (Noel Coward)
MANTOVANI AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Towers Of London 6 CTP 14802-1 1948
11 Imp On Broadway (Abner C. Rosen, pseudonym for Annunzio Paolo Mantovani and Ronald Binge)
MANTOVANI AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Lang-Worth Feature Programmes PC-136B 1952
12 Coronation Scot (Vivian Ellis, arr. Ronald Binge)
MANTOVANI AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Lang-Worth Feature Programmes PC-123B 1952
13 March Of The Robots (Annunzio Paolo Mantovani)
MANTOVANI AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Lang-Worth Feature Programmes PC-136B 1952
14 Danse Du Diable (Devil's Dance) (Wal-Berg, real name Voldemar Rosenberg)
MANTOVANI AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Lang-Worth Feature Programmes PC-141B 1952
15 Jamaican Juggler (William Davies)
MANTOVANI AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Lang-Worth Feature Programmes PC-141B 1952
16 Invitation To The Waltz (from 'Pacific 1860') (Noel Coward)
MANTOVANI AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Towers Of London 6 CTP 14802-1 1948
17 Snakes And Ladders (Ronald Binge)
MANTOVANI AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Lang-Worth Feature Programmes PC-142A 1952
18 Rhapsody In Rhythm (Henry Croudson, arr. Ronald Binge)
MANTOVANI AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Lang-Worth Feature Programmes PC-147B 1952
19 Strike Up The Music (Sidney Torch)
SIDNEY TORCH AND HIS ORCHESTRA
BBC Transcription c.1949
20 Barbecue (Sidney Torch)
THE CAVALCADE ORCHESTRA Conducted by SIDNEY TORCH
Towers of London Transcription Recording: 'Cavalcade of Music' programme 41 c.1952
21 Amore Mio (Sidney Torch)
THE CAVALCADE ORCHESTRA Conducted by SIDNEY TORCH
Towers of London Transcription Recording: 'Cavalcade of Music' programme 47 c.1952
22 Wood Nymphs (Eric Coates)
RAF CONCERT ORCHESTRA Conducted by SIDNEY TORCH
ORBS Cut 2447 (2EN 9358) Issue MK 4943 1944
23 As Long As There's Music (from the 1944 film 'Step Lively') (Jule Styne, arr. Sidney Torch)
THE CAVALCADE ORCHESTRA Conducted by SIDNEY TORCH
Towers of London Transcription Recording: 'Cavalcade of Music' programme 43 c.1952
24 Fandango (Sidney Torch)
THE CAVALCADE ORCHESTRA Conducted by SIDNEY TORCH
Towers of London Transcription Recording: 'Cavalcade of Music' programme 41 c.1952
25 Dearly Beloved (from the 1942 film 'You Were Never Lovelier') (Jerome Kern, arr. Sidney Torch)
THE CAVALCADE ORCHESTRA Conducted by SIDNEY TORCH
Towers of London Transcription Recording: 'Cavalcade of Music' programme 45 c.1952
All tracks mono
The booklet accompanying the first volume of 'Lost Transcriptions' (GLCD5174) explained in some detail exactly what these intriguing recordings actually are. For this second volume it is sufficient to say that the term usually refers to recordings made for use by broadcasting organisations before the advent of audio tape. Sometimes these were simply broadcasts that were recorded so that they could either be repeated, or sent on to other radio stations, frequently overseas. A few companies started making their own programmes to sell to national broadcasting organisations: in Britain the BBC does not seem to have been very receptive to such sources, but elsewhere they were often welcomed.
During World War 2 transcriptions became commonplace in the USA and they were distributed to American forces via the AFRS (Armed Forces Radio Service) and broadcast by many other services including AFN (American Forces Network) and AEFP (Allied Expeditionary Forces Programme). Britain established The British Forces Network (BFN), and The Army Welfare Department created The Overseas Recorded Broadcasting Service (ORBS) to record and distribute recordings for use by BFN, other broadcasters and ENSA (Entertainments National Service Association). As well as providing live entertainment the latter was able to reach small groups of servicemen in remote areas by playing the recordings over PA systems installed in vans.
None of these wartime transcription discs were for sale, the intention being that they would be destroyed when the war ended. Fortunately some servicemen decided to keep them as souvenirs, preserving for posterity a unique record of the kind of music that played an important part in the morale of fighting troops. The sound quality of these discs is generally good, and modern digital restoration makes them very enjoyable. Only occasionally are there slight traces of distortion, which cannot be removed completely, but their historical importance dictates that they should not be rejected for such minor imperfections.
Transcription discs became an important part of the broadcasting scene for many countries, and they lasted long after the war ended. Only one track in this collection actually dates from the war years, unlike the first volume in this series which contained many from that troubled period in history.
Three major conductors are featured in depth this time - Percy Faith, Mantovani and Sidney Torch. All were leading figures in post-war orchestral popular music, and it is particularly interesting to listen to them in performances that were not meant to be heard again and again, unlike the case with all commercial gramophone records. Therefore they could allow themselves a certain freedom to experiment with new ideas, and the results can sometimes provide tantalising glimpses of the way in which their careers would develop and mature.
Percy Faith (1908-1976) was born in Toronto, Canada, and originally he expected that his musical career would be as a concert pianist. But he injured his hands in a fire, which forced him to turn to composing, arranging and conducting. During the 1930s his programme 'Music By Faith' was carried by the Mutual network in the USA, which prompted offers of work south of the border. He eventually succumbed in 1940, leaving Robert Farnon (previously his lead trumpeter) to conduct his Canadian orchestra. Initially Faith concentrated on broadcasting, and his occasional recording sessions during the 1940s were for several different companies. Things were to change when he signed a Columbia (CBS) contract in 1950, and he soon discovered that his singles sold well and the new long playing records needed the kind of popular instrumental sounds that had formed the basis of his broadcasts for so many years.
Unlike most of his contemporaries, Faith arranged all his own material, and his exciting and vibrant scores made his work stand out among the rest. He accompanied many of Columbia's contract singers, and even contributed the odd popular song, such as My Heart Cries For You for Guy Mitchell. But today it is his numerous albums that have created a resurgence of interest in his work, thanks to their reissue on CD. Faith was always busy, whether working in the recording studios, radio, television or films. He died at Encino, California, on 9 February 1976, aged 67.
Details of Percy Faith's 'Voice Of America' recordings are as scarce as those for the RAF Concert Orchestra. VOA issued hundreds of 16' discs to the armed forces featuring Faith and other popular orchestras of the day such as Richard Maltby, Andre Kostelanetz and David Rose. They contained straight re-issues of their commercial recordings, alternate and out-takes of these recordings and different arrangements of pieces they had recorded commercially. In Faith's case, of most interest are the recordings he made which were unique to VOA, three of which were featured on Guild GLCD 5174 with a further nine here. It has not been possible to date all of them accurately as surviving VOA programme logs only go up to 1950 but, using the dates of the commercial recordings which are on some of the discs as a guide, they are probably from between 1951 and 1955.
What makes some of these VOA recordings of particular interest is that they gave Faith the opportunity to perform with artists he wouldn't normally work with as they were under contract to other record companies. One such piece is Night Creature where he collaborates with Edward Kennedy 'Duke' Ellington (1899-1974) in a fascinating arrangement. Vincent 'Jimmy' Abato (1919-2008) was a regular member of Faith's recording orchestra and also performed with most of the top symphony and popular orchestras in the USA. His clarinet is featured in Deep Blues from Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra by Elie Siegmeister (1909-1991).
Our second featured conductor is Annunzio Paolo Mantovani (1905-1980), who was the conductor of one of the most famous light orchestras in the world from the 1950s onwards. Born in Venice, his family came to England when he was aged four and he was something of a prodigy on the violin by the time he reached sixteen. But he leaned more towards popular music, and fronted many different kinds of ensembles before long-playing records (especially when stereo arrived) brought him universal acclaim.
Noel Coward (1899-1973) composed Play Orchestra Play for his revue 'Tonight At Eight-Thirty', first staged in Manchester in 1935, and revived in London's West End in 1948. Around that time Mantovani was working closely with Coward in the theatre, and on recordings and radio productions. He conducted the theatre orchestra for Coward's 'Pacific 1860' (premiered in 1946) from which comes Invitation To The Waltz.
Imp on Broadway by the mysterious Abner C. Rosen seems to be a pseudonym for Mantovani and one of his main arrangers Ronald Binge (1910-1979). This 'Imp' has a humorous nod towards Richard Rodgers' Slaughter on 10th Avenue. Like several of the other pieces in this collection, it was written as a concert showpiece and was not considered for a commercial recording, thus making this the first time it has been available on record. It was first performed publicly in a Mantovani concert at Bournemouth on 27 September 1953.
Coronation Scot was the brainchild of Ronald Binge, who took the original arrangement by Cecil Milner of this famous Vivian Ellis melody and gave it a bright new livery. Described to Colin MacKenzie by Mantovani's recording manager, Tony D'Amato, as being 'masterfully scored with all the low instruments: probably two basses, cellos, trombones, euphonium, bottom piano keyboard, bassoon, bass drum (not tuned timps), tam-tam, wind machine (?), an "all aboard!" whistle, triangle, and so cleverly a horn and high woodwind (maybe flute, piccolo, oboe, clarinet) recreating in dissonance a doppler effect, like the wailing of an ambulance siren going out-of-tune as it moves farther into the distance.'
March Of The Robots finds composer/conductor Mantovani in typical tongue-in-cheek, stylish and fun mood. He was clearly a gifted composer (usually hiding behind nom-de-plumes such as Tulio Trapani and Pedro Manilla), but rarely pushed his own works in preference to others, unlike some of his peers.
Danse du Diable (Devil's Dance) is a widely admired piece of light music by Wal-Berg (born in Istanbul as Voldemar Rosenberg 1910-1994) who was a leading figure in the French popular music scene. It was first conducted live by Mantovani in November 1952 at the Municipal Hall, Tottenham and was regularly included in concerts throughout the 1950s, being performed in Canada, USA, South Africa and Holland as well as the UK. A great favourite with audiences, it was a showcase for percussionist Charles Botterill.
Jamaican Juggler (with more than a nod towards Arthur Benjamin's famous Jamaican Rumba) was written by William Arthur Davies (1921-2006). He was a pianist, organist, composer and conductor who became a household name in Britain, thanks to his regular appearances on the BBC Light Programme and later Radio 2, especially in connection with the programme 'Friday Night Is Music Night'. He occasionally introduced his own compositions into programmes such as 'Music Box', 'The Organist Entertains' and 'Just William', and he made his first appearance on Guild with his catchy Toy Town Trumpeters (GLCD5180).
Ronald Binge returns as composer of Snakes and Ladders, and he was also responsible for the inspired arrangement of Henry Croudson's (1898-1971) Rhapsody In Rhythm which brings Mantovani's segment of this CD to a rousing finale. It is interesting to compare this concert arrangement with the composer's own shorter version for the Bosworth mood music library (on GLCD5104).
Now the spotlight falls on Sidney Torch (born Sidney Torchinsky 1908-1990). When he was called up for war service in 1941 he was posted to Blackpool where there was a large Royal Air Force Unit that provided entertainment for the tens of thousands of service personnel in the area. Regular shows by and for the forces were produced at several Blackpool theatres, and contemporary theatre programmes show that many well known names from the world of light music were involved with these orchestras.
Sidney Torch conducted an RAF radio series for ORBS called 'March Of The Movies', devised by Harry Alan Towers, who later worked with Torch on various projects after the war, including the 'Cavalcade of Music' programmes which a young David Jacobs introduced. From being one of Britain's finest theatre organists during the 1930s, after his discharge from the RAF he emerged as a leading light music composer and conductor. He became a frequent conductor and composer of mood music recordings for the Chappell Recorded Music Library, and many of his pieces have already appeared on previous Guild CDs.
Among the rare tracks included here are four Torch compositions: Strike Up The Music (his theme for 'London Studio Melodies' programmes on the BBC Transcription Service); Barbecue (which only originally appeared in the Chappell Recorded Music Library); Amore Mio (in a longer version than the recording for Chappells - Torch never made a commercial recording); and Fandango which was one of his popular orchestral cameos.
Eric Coates (1886-1957) needs no introduction to Guild 'regulars', but anyone in the fortunate position of discovering his music for the first time can be assured that he composed some of the finest light music of the last century. Wood Nymphs was one of his shorter works, especially under the baton of Sidney Torch who was noted for his brisk tempi.
The other two works conducted by Sidney Torch are his own concert arrangements of two popular melodies from 1940s films - As Long As There's Music by Jule Styne, and Jerome Kern's Dearly Beloved. Neither of these brilliant performances has previously been available on a commercial recording.
In 1953 the BBC decided that it needed a new programme whose brief was: "to help people relax after the week's hard work and put them in the right mood for a happy weekend". With Sidney Torch's full participation, the formula for "Friday Night Is Music Night" was devised - with such foresight that the programme survives to this very day. The BBC Concert Orchestra had been formed the previous year, and Torch conducted it for almost twenty years in this series, until his retirement in 1972. It is still regarded by many as 'his' programme, and his own compositions and arrangements are still regularly performed by 'his' BBC Concert Orchestra. Few musicians could have a better memorial to their talents.
David Ades
GUILD LIGHT MUSIC GLCD5175
Confetti
1 Confetti (Bronislau Kaper)
MGM STUDIO ORCHESTRA Conducted by JOHNNY GREEN
MGM E 3694 1958
2 Champs Elysees Café (Joseph Kuhn)
PARIS THEATRE ORCHESTRA
Somerset SF 2500 1957
3 Manhattan Playboy (Robert Farnon)
LESLIE JONES and his ORCHESTRA OF LONDON
Pye-Nixa NSPL 83009 1959
4 Hora Staccato (Grigori Dinicu; Jascha Heifetz, arr. Morton Gould)
MORTON GOULD AND HIS ORCHESTRA
RCA Victor LSP 1656 1958
5 Musik Klingt Durch Die Nacht (Hartel; Woltmann)
HANS GEORG ARLT AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Ariola 71231 1959
6 In My Memoirs (Jimmy McHugh; Al Dubin, arr. Robert Farnon)
ROBERT FARNON AND HIS ORCHESTRA (LP label credits "Jack Saunders Orchestra")
Everest SDBR 1011 1958
7 Lina (Francis Lopez, arr. Percy Faith)
PERCY FAITH AND HIS ORCHESTRA with MITCH MILLER, oboe and cor anglais
Columbia CL 551 1954
8 I Concentrate On You (from "Broadway Melody of 1940") (Cole Porter, arr. Conrad Salinger)
CONRAD SALINGER ORCHESTRA Conducted by BUDDY BREGMAN
Verve MG VS-6012 1958
9 Pizzicato Rhumba (Salvatore "Tutti" Camarata)
MUSIC BY CAMARATA
Decca DL 5461 1952
10 Nota Per Nota (Guido Viezzoli)
GEORGE MELACHRINO Conducting the Orchestra of the 6th San Remo Festival
HMV SCT 1519 1957
11 Via Amalfi (Joseph Kuhn)
ROBERTO ROSSANI AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Stereo Fidelity SF-4700 1959
12 Getting To Know You (from "The King And I") (Richard Rodgers; Oscar ammerstein, arr. William Hill Bowen)
WILLIAM HILL BOWEN AND HIS ORCHESTRA
RCA Camden CAS 461 1958
13 Montevideo Bolero (Joseph Kuhn)
DOLORES VENTURA, Piano and the CARNIVAL ORCHESTRA
Valiant V-4926 1959
14 Bluebell Polka (F. Stanley, arr. Ron Goodwin)
RON GOODWIN AND HIS CONCERT ORCHESTRA
Parlophone R 4094 1955
15 Joey"s Song (Joe Reisman)
JOE REISMAN AND HIS ORCHESTRA
RCA LPS 1519 1957
16 Twice Around The Island (Joseph J. Leahy; Abe Olman)
DAVID CARROLL AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Mercury Wing SRW 12508 1957
17 Bees-A-Buzzin" (Edrich Siebert, real name Stanley Smith-Masters)
DOLF VAN DER LINDEN AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Paxton PR 563 1953
18 Mischief (Frederic Curzon)
NEW CENTURY ORCHESTRA Conducted by SIDNEY TORCH
Francis, Day & Hunter FDH 010 1946
19 Gadabout (Cyril Watters)
DOLF VAN DER LINDEN AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Paxton PR 639 1954
20 Utopia Road (Dolf Van Der Linden)
DOLF VAN DER LINDEN AND HIS ORCHESTRA ("Paul Franklin" on disc label)
Paxton PR 612 1954
21 Violins In Velvet (Leslie Begueley)
BOSWORTH STRING ORCHESTRA Conducted by LOUIS VOSS
Bosworth BC 1232 1949
22 Market Day (Wilfred Josephs)
NEW CONCERT ORCHESTRA Conducted by CEDRIC DUMONT
Boosey & Hawkes O 2305 1958
23 Treble Chance (Peter Dennis, real name Dennis Alfred Berry)
DOLF VAN DER LINDEN AND HIS ORCHESTRA ("Paul Franklin" on disc label)
Paxton PR 629 1954
24 Parade Of The Champions (George French)
DOLF VAN DER LINDEN AND HIS METROPOLE ORCHESTRA
Paxton PR 585 1954
25 Florella (L.E. DeFrancesco)
GROSVENOR STUDIO ORCHESTRA
Synchro FM 242 1959
26 Who Killed Cock Robin? (Trad, arr. Paul Fenoulhet)
STUTTGART RADIO ORCHESTRA Conducted by KURT REHFELD ("Crawford Light Orchestra" on disc label)
Josef Weinberger Theme Music JW 152 1958
27 "Dear Miss Phoebe" - Selection (Harry Parr-Davies) Whisper While You Waltz, Spring Will Sing A Song For You, Living A Dream, March Of The Red Coats, I Can"t Resist The Music, All"s Well Tonight, When Will You Marry Me, I Leave My Heart In An English Garden
TOM JENKINS AND HIS PALM COURT ORCHESTRA
HMV B 10047 1951
Stereo: tracks 2-6, 8, 10-13, 15 & 16 : rest in mono
The word "confetti" describes small pieces of paper, of various shapes and colours, often thrown by guests at weddings. In musical terms it can equally apply to an assortment of pieces in different styles, conveying a variety of moods and emotions. In other words, almost a haphazard collection of tunes with no particular theme, except perhaps that they are all a little different. During the compilation of Guild Light Music CDs we sometimes come across enjoyable pieces of music which simply don"t fit in with particular projects. It seems a shame that they should suffer permanent neglect, which is why some previous compilations such as the earlier "Kaleidoscope" trio crop up every so often. Once more it is time to dust off some precious discs patiently awaiting rediscovery. Actually "rediscovery" may not be entirely accurate as many have never previously been available commercially and, for most of the others, this is their first appearance on CD, so it is unlikely that the majority of music-lovers will have heard them before.
New Yorker John Waldo Green, better known in the music business as Johnny Green (1908-1989), enjoys a lasting reputation for his work on MGM Musicals in the 1940s and 1950s, often in collaboration with his friend Conrad Salinger who gave Green the nickname "Beulah". To chronicle all his achievements would take several booklets such as this, since he combined songwriting (his biggest early hit was Body And Soul) with arranging, conducting and piano playing. Green"s contribution to this collection is the opening track Confetti, composed by Bronislau Kaper for the 1956 film "Forever Darling", in which he conducts the legendary MGM Studio Orchestra. Salinger (1901-1961) is featured as arranger of the Cole Porter classic I Concentrate On You.
When stereo discs were launched in the second half of the 1950s, record producers did not hesitate to tempt the public with exotic sounding titles that disguised the fact that they were probably not quite what they may have seemed. It is highly likely that The Cinema Sound Stage Orchestra, The Gaslight Orchestra, The (Rio) Carnival Orchestra, The Paris Theatre Orchestra, Roberto Rossani and his Orchestra and The New World Theatre Orchestra (all featured on various Guild CDs) are basically one and the same. Together with 101 Strings, they were names used by the American Miller International Company on their bargain basement priced Essex, Somerset and Stereo Fidelity labels. The recordings usually employed various European symphony and radio orchestras and were linked by the name of Joseph Francis Kuhn (1924-1962), Miller"s musical director, who composed, arranged, scored or conducted most of the early ones and was well known for his recording work in Hollywood, the US east coast and Germany. Unfortunately his untimely death at the Philadelphia Naval Hospital on 10 March 1962 at the age of 37 from a spinal cord injury meant he never attained the fame he was surely due. Kuhn has already been represented with five compositions on previous Guild Light Music CDs, but such was his prolific output during the early days of stereo that it is felt he deserves to have three more of his works made available once more. Champs Elysees Café and Via Amalfi are tuneful examples of the many pieces he wrote with a European flavour.
The pianist Dolores Ventura was married to British composer and oboe player Ivor Slaney (1921-1998), and it is possible that he was conducting the anonymous "Carnival Orchestra" in Kuhn"s Montevideo Bolero.
Manhattan Playboy was composed as the male counterpart to Portrait Of A Flirt (onGuild GLCD5120), one of the most successful pieces of light music ever, written by the Canadian Robert Farnon (1917-2005). He also excelled as an arranger, and In My Memoirs comes from his album of show tunes associated with Mike Todd.
On the subject of Light Music successes, one of the most played pieces in the last century was Hora Staccato, and the version by Morton Gould (1913-1996) ranks among the very best.
Hans Georg Arlt (b. 1927) started learning the violin at the age of six, and later studied under Professor Max Strub in Berlin. In 1946 he began his distinguished radio career, and when the RIAS Dance Orchestra was formed in 1948 he led the string section for a while. He was the Concert Master of choice for many leading German conductors, such as Werner Müller, Werner Eisbrenner, Heinz Kiessling and Hans Carste. In addition he recorded a vast amount of music for German radio stations with his own large string orchestra, employing the finest arrangers including Willy Hoffmann, Paul Kuhn, Jerry van Rooyen, Gustav Trost, Arno Flor, Günther Gürsch and Helmut Gardens.
For a while Mitch Miller (1911-2010) was Percy Faith"s recording manager at US Columbia. He was also regarded as a world class player on oboe and cor anglais, and Faith (1908-1976) recorded two albums which featured Miller as soloist. The bright melody Lina allows Miller to show off his expertise in a dazzling Faith arrangement.
Salvatore ("Tutti") Camarata(1913-2005) was an accomplished trumpet player, but he found his true musical niche during the 1930s as arranger for top bands such as Charlie Barnet, Jimmy Dorsey, Benny Goodman and Paul Whiteman. For a number of years he was musical director of ABC and Decca Records, and was a co-founder of London Records (the US arm of Britain"s Decca).
The special tribute to George Melachrino (1909-1965) in the Guild CD "The Hall of Fame - Volume 3" (GLCD5162) included a rare track, Aprite le Finestre, which was one of the two Italian entries for the first Eurovision Song Contest back in 1956; it was also the 6th San Remo winner the same year. Melachrino recorded all the entries with the San Remo Festival Orchestra for an HMV "stereosonic" tape which was later released as an LP on their International label. Nota Per Nota is another track from those sessions and is reminiscent of much atmospheric Italian film music of the period.
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. In later years he fronted his own orchestra on many recordings for RCA and Reader"s Digest.
There was a time, back in the 1950s, where it was almost impossible to escape hearing Bluebell Polka. Happily the passage of time has dulled the memory of some of the many trite versions, leaving the bright Ron Goodwin (1925-2003) arrangement as something far more enjoyable.
Joe Reisman (1924-1987) earned a good living from playing saxophone and arranging for top bands, until he became Patti Page"s conductor on many of her 1950s hits. Thereafter he was in constant demand for recording and television work.
David Carroll (1913-2008) - real name Rodell Walter "Nook" Schreier - was well-known in his native USA as a conductor and arranger. In the mid-1940s he joined the newly formed Mercury Records where he spent the next 15 years. Initially employed as an arranger and conductor, he progressed to being a producer and was later promoted as head of artists and repertoire. He was particularly successful writing TV jingles for advertising, and became familiar to the public through his work with The Smothers Brothers, eventually becoming their General Manager.
It is unusual to find a composition by Frederic Curzon (1899-1973) being published by a company other than Boosey & Hawkes, where he was their Head of Light Music for many years. No doubt rivals Francis, Day & Hunter were happy to accept his jaunty Mischief, which receives a suitably polished performance from Sidney Torch (1908-1990) conducting an orchestra of the top session players on the London scene in the 1940s.
Another musician well represented in this collection is Dolf Van Der Linden (1915-1999), who conducts on five tracks, one of them his own piece Utopia Road. He wrote several works in this style which might be called "industrial" because they lend themselves for so many uses in films, especially documentaries. His real name was David Gysbert van der Linden and he was the leading figure on the light music scene in the Netherlands from the 1940s until the 1980s. It could be said that the famous Metropole Orchestra was his "baby". Shortly after the end of the Second World War, he was approached by the local broadcasting authorities Herrijzend Nederland (Rising Netherlands) and asked to form an orchestra of 40 musicians specialising in light music. The Metropole Orchestra performed their first broadcast on 25 November 1945, and under Dolf's leadership it soon became one of the finest ensembles of its kind in Europe. This was due in no small measure to the fact that Dolf succeeded in happily combining his own enthusiasm and aspirations with the outstanding technical qualities of the Metropole Orchestra and its talented musicians. As well as broadcasting frequently, the Metropole Orchestra made numerous recordings for the background music libraries of major music publishers, notably (but not exclusively) Paxton (from which the tracks on this CD originate), Boosey and Hawkes (under the pseudonym "Nat Nyll") and Charles Brull (as "David Johnson"). Dolf"s commercial recordings (especially for the American market) were often labelled as "Van Lynn" or "Daniel De Carlo".
The other recordings by Dolf van der Linden"s fine orchestra feature works by Edrich Siebert, Cyril Watters, Peter Dennis and George French. Siebert"s real name was Stanley Smith Masters (1903-1984) and his early musical career was as a boy musician in the Cheshire Regiment. When he left the Army in 1946 he concentrated on composing, often for military and brass bands, although his works seemed to adapt well for concert orchestras - Bees-A-Buzzin" being a good example. Peter Dennis hides the true identity of Londoner Dennis Alfred Berry (1921-1994), who also composed (sometimes in collaboration with others) under names such as Frank Sterling, Charles Kenbury and Michael Rodney. For part of the 1950s he ran the Paxton Recorded Music Library, but also contributed titles to other publishers. His Treble Chance has been used extensively in British TV soap commercials in recent times. George French was a British violinist who broadcast frequently on the BBC, often as leader for many well-known conductors in programmes such as "Music While You Work". He clearly had a gift for composing, but his recorded output was not substantial. Parade Of The Champions is his third appearance on a Guild CD.
The other composer heard under Dolf van der Linden"s baton is Henry Cyril Watters (1907-1984). Originally a dance band pianist, Cyril realised that he had a talent to compose when he won a Melody Maker Song Contest in 1929, but throughout the 1930s he had to concentrate on performing because it was a continual struggle trying to get his music published. After serving in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War, he became an arranger with several leading publishers, and his own works were soon being accepted by production music companies. One of them, The Willow Waltz, won an Ivor Novello Award in 1960. Although he was accomplished at writing in a variety of different moods, it is perhaps his bright and breezy pieces (such as Gadabout) that were so successful in the mood music libraries. Not content with just creating a strong main melody - always instantly appealing - his works are characterised by attractive middle themes which lift the composition to a higher level.
Leslie Begueley composed Canyon Canter which received much praise when it was included on GLCD5131. Violins In Velvet reveals another side to his composing talents.
The British composer Wilfred Josephs (1927-1997) probably first came to the attention of most music lovers through his work on top television series such as "The Great War" (1964) and "I Claudius" (1976). Newspapers frequently told their readers that he was really a dentist, who also happened to write music, but this trivialised his considerable achievements which included 12 symphonies, 22 concertos and numerous other works from overtures to film scores. His modest contributions to production music include Market Day which brilliantly captures the bustle and diversity of such happenings.
Every now and then one discovers an unusual piece of production music which fails to fit in with the usual recordings on offer. Florella is certainly a case in point: it was published in 1959 and, despite its 1920s style it sounds like it was a contemporary performance with musicians simply having fun.
If you lived in Britain during the middle years of the last century you will have been familiar with the name of Paul Fenoulhet (1906-1979) - even if you were unsure how to spell it! At one time he was conductor of the famous Skyrockets then moved on to work with several of the BBC"s light orchestras. No doubt his appealing arrangement of Who Killed Cock Robin was originally created for one of his numerous broadcasts.
For a while Tom William Jenkins (1910-1957) became a household name in Britain, when in 1948 the BBC asked him to succeed Albert Sandler (1906-1948) as conductor of the Palm Court Orchestra for the popular weekly Sunday evening radio programme "Grand Hotel". He was a brilliant violinist who was already highly regarded from his work in theatre and seaside orchestras. Sadly ill health cut short his career at the early age of 46. The music for the show "Dear Miss Phoebe" was composed by Harry Parr-Davies (1914-1955), who had been responsible for several of Gracie Fields" hits, such as Sing As We Go (played by the BBC Wireless Military Band on Guild GLCD5147). David Ades
GUILD LIGHT MUSIC GLCD5176
From The Vintage Vaults
1 "The Arcadians" Overture (Lionel Monckton; Howard Talbot, arr. Arthur Wood)
ARTHUR WOOD AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Columbia DX 573 1934
2 Buffoon (Zez Confrey)
NEW LIGHT SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
HMV B 4244 1932
3 Rondel (Sir Edward Elgar, arr. Haydn Wood); Mina (Sir Edward Elgar)
LIGHT SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Conducted by HAYDN WOOD
HMV B8282 1935
4 Arpanetta (Ernst Fischer)
ROBERT GADEN AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Electrola EG 6286 1938
5 A Fantasy In Blue
The Birth Of The Blues, Blue Again, Blue Room, So Blue, There"s A Blue Ridge Round My Heart Virginia, Blue Is The Night, Beyond The Blue Horizon, Blue Hills Of Pasadena, Blue Skies, Where The Blue Of The Night, My Blue Heaven, Good-bye Blues.
FRED HARTLEY AND HIS QUINTET
Decca F 5168 1934
6 Lullaby Land (Reginald King)
LONDON CONCERT ORCHESTRA
Bosworth BC 1180 1944
7 The Dwarf"s Patrol - Fantasy (Otto Rathke)
THE LITTLE SALON ORCHESTRA
Columbia DB 459 1930
8 Suite Orientale (Francis Popy) Les Bayadères, Au Bord du Gange, Les Almées, Les Patrouilles.
MAREK WEBER AND HIS ORCHESTRA
HMV C 1845 1930
9 March Past Of The Kitchen Utensils (Ralph Vaughan Williams)
BBC THEATRE ORCHESTRA Conducted by CLARENCE RAYBOULD
BBC Transcription Service 27692 1945
10 Gipsy Wine (Helmut Ritter)
BARNABAS VON GECZY AND HIS ORCHESTRA
HMV B 8434 1936
11 Springtime Serenade (Jonny Heykens)
MAREK WEBER AND HIS ORCHESTRA
HMV B 8199 1934
12 In Playful Mood (Montague Ewing)
INTERNATIONAL RADIO ORCHESTRA
Bosworth BC 1032 1937
13 "Gasparone" Potpourri (Carl Millöcker)
EDITH LORAND AND HER VIENNESE ORCHESTRA
Parlophone R 2035 1935
14 Püppchen - Two Step Intermezzo (Little Doll) (Jean Gilbert, real name Max Winterfeld)
CONTINENTAL NOVELTY ORCHESTRA
Regal Zonophone MR 565 1932
15 A Day In Naples - Tarantella (George W. Byng)
NEW CONCERT ORCHESTRA Conducted by JAY WILBUR
Boosey & Hawkes O 2040 1945
16 Mon Bijou (Robert Stolz)
ALFREDO CAMPOLI AND HIS SALON ORCHESTRA
Decca F 5904 1936
17 Songs Of The Fair (Easthope Martin)
SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Conducted by WALTER GOEHR (as "George Walter" on record label)
Parlophone E 11268 1935
18 Summer Evening In Santa Cruz (Jose F. Payan; Fred Hartley)
ALBERT SANDLER AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Columbia FB 2367 1940
19 Niagara (Carl Robrecht)
PALL MALL REVELLERS
Bosworth BC 1071 1938
20 Sousa Marches - Medley (John Philip Sousa, arr Major Williams) Washington Post, King Cotton, Stars and Stripes, Liberty Bell, El Capitan, High School Cadets, The Diplomat, Stars and Stripes.
JACK HYLTON AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Decca F 5216 1934
Famous composers of symphonies, marches, jazz and just about everything in-between can be found in this varied selection, mainly from the inter-war years, which surely qualifies for the adjective "eclectic". If anyone still needs convincing that the general term "Light Music" covers a wide variety of styles and performances, then surely the proof is here on this CD.
The reign of Edward VII lasted just nine years, following the death of his mother Queen Victoria in 1901, yet the Edwardian Era (as it has become known) witnessed considerable achievements in many fields, especially popular music. Lionel Monckton (1861-1924) was one of the main players, and most of his musicals reached the London stage during this period. Perhaps his most memorable was "The Arcadians" written in collaboration with Howard Talbot (1865-1928) which premiered at London"s Shaftesbury Theatre on 28 April 1909. The arranging and orchestrations of the music were usually entrusted to musicians well-known for these special skills, and the familiar Overture to "The Arcadians" is the work of Arthur Wood (1875-1953) whose lasting fame rests with his composition Barwick Green (on Guild GLCD5164), the signature tune of the long-running BBC radio serial "The Archers". Wood himself conducts his own orchestra in the 1934 recording which opens this collection.
Edward Elzear "Zez" Confrey (1895-1971) from Peru, Illinois, devoted most of his composing talents to jazz, but fame visited him while still in his twenties when his piano novelty Kitten On The Keys became a big hit in 1921. This prompted many other similar works such as Dizzy Fingers (on Guild GLCD5124) and Stumbling (GLCD5166). Equally popular in the 1930s was Buffoon which receives a charmingly measured performance from the New Light Symphony Orchestra with an unnamed conductor, although it is known that Clifford Greenwood sometimes conducted this kind of repertoire. This was HMV"s "house orchestra" for light music, novelty pieces and popular light classical works, and their previous appearances on Guild include Eric Coates" London Bridge March (GLCD5101) and Westward (GLCD5106).
Most of his major choral and symphonic works were written by Sir Edward Elgar (1857-1934) during a relatively short period from 1898 to 1914, but he composed what can be accurately described as "light music" throughout his life. Notable works in this genre include his Bavarian Dances, Chanson de Matin and Salut d"Amour (on Guild GLCD5122). Less familiar is Elgar"s Rondel, originally a song, which was arranged for the 1935 recording in this collection by its conductor, Haydn Wood (1882-1959). It is followed by what is probably Elgar"s last completed work, a musical portrait of his pet dog Mina.
Arpanetta is a charming piece of light salon music by the celebrated German composer Ernst Fischer (1900-1975), whose most famous work is his orchestral suite Südlich der Alpen (South of the Alps). It is performed by Robert Gaden (1893-1985), a sophisticated violinist born in Bordeaux, France, who led dance orchestras in Germany that were noted for their elegant style. It seems that Arpanetta was unpublished, and the manuscript has been lost, so it is fortunate that Robert Gaden took his orchestra (known as his Tanzsinfonie Orchester) into the Elektrola studios on 18 March 1938 and committed this lovely melody to wax.
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.
Reginald Claude McMahon King (1904-1991) was an accomplished pianist, who performed under the baton of Sir Henry Wood at the Proms soon after he completed his studies at London"s Royal Academy of Music. In 1927 he took an orchestra into Swan & Edgar"s restaurant at their Piccadilly Circus store, where they remained until 1939. He also started broadcasting regularly (during his career his number of broadcasts exceeded 1,400), and he made numerous recordings, often featuring his own attractive compositions. He made his last broadcast in 1964, but throughout a long retirement he continued composing until shortly before his death. One of his major works, the concert overture The Immortals, was featured on Guild GLCD5106 spotlighting music of the 1930s, and in a lighter vein his tuneful orchestra can be heard playing popular melodies on several Guild CDs such as Lullaby Of The Leaves (GLCD 5134) and Roses At Dawning (GLCD 5139). Once again we feature him as a contributor to one of London"s production music libraries with his wistful Lullaby Land.
The Dwarfs' Patrol was composed by Otto Rathke, who wrote a number of similar novelty pieces which were popular in central Europe in pre-war years. Unfortunately the name 'The Little Salon Orchestra' offers no clues as to the real identity of the talented musicians on this recording.
But no doubts can exist regarding the two 78s on this CD by Marek Weber (1888-1964), who was a major recording artist in the 1930s. He was born in the Ukraine, developed his career mainly in Germany, then moved to London to escape the Nazis, before living briefly in Switzerland then emigrating in 1937 to the USA. His orchestra tended to specialise in show selections and novelty pieces. The clarity on his 1930 German recording of Francis Popy"s Suite Orientale is quite amazing, demonstrating the high standards being achieved by sound engineers in Berlin during the early years of electrical recording. Popy (1874-1928) was a French composer whose work epitomised the "Belle Époque" and there is a park named after him in his home city of Lyon. Jonny Heykens (1884-1945) was a Dutch composer who was particularly popular in Germany. His most performed work became known as Heyken"s Serenade (Ständchen)(the Marek Weber version is on Guild GLCD5120), and Springtime Serenade is one of several similar pieces - no doubt written in response to public demand.
The English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) has secured his musical legacy with some memorable symphonies, but this prolific composer also excelled in film scores, opera, choral music and in the adaptation of folk songs. March Past Of The Kitchen Utensils originated as incidental music for a Cambridge production of Aristophane"s comedy "The Wasps" (1909). Clarence Raybould (1886-1972) conducts the BBC Theatre Orchestra in this 1945 BBC Transcription recording. He joined the BBC in 1936 as Assistant Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, a post he held until 1945.
Barnabas Von Géczy [1897-1971] was born in Hungary although his family originally came from Venice. After the First World War his father was appointed concert master at Budapest Opera but Barnabas decided to try his luck in Berlin where in 1924 he obtained his first resident engagement at the Weinhaus Traube. From 1925 to 1937 he led the Hotel Esplanade house orchestra, and during this period he made numerous broadcasts and recordings and undertook frequent tours. He became one of the best-known hotel ensembles in Germany and gained an international reputation. After the Second World War he decided to relocate to the Munich area, and in 1952 he formed a new orchestra.
In Playful Mood is one of many works by Montague Ewing (1890-1957), who also composed under the name "Sherman Myers". He had a most successful career as a composer and arranger of light music and popular songs.
Edith Lorand [1898-1960] was born in Hungary, but spent most of her early career in Germany where she became world-famous as a violinist. She made numerous recordings, mostly light classical and "salon" works, but the changing political situation forced her to return to Hungary in the mid-1930s. Even in her homeland she felt unsafe, so in 1937 she went to the USA where she spent the rest of her life. "Gasparone" is an operetta in three acts by Carl Joseph Millöcker (1842-1899) with a German libretto by Friedrich Zell and Richard Genée.
We are back in unknown territory with "The Continental Novelty Orchestra" but this is likely to be a German ensemble. The catchy number Püppchen is by a composer who adopted the name "Jean Gilbert", but he was actually Hamburg-born Max Winterfeld (1879-1942). He was responsible for over 50 operettas before and after the First World War, but left Germany in 1933 and settled in Argentina where he died in Buenos Aires.
Born in Dublin, George W. Byng (1862-1932) was a busy conductor and composer, especially in London theatres. He was a regular visitor to the recording studios, and accompanied many leading artists such as Peter Dawson and Harry Lauder. At one time he conducted the famous Queen"s Hall Light Orchestra, and was also involved with scoring around 30 ballets. His orchestral suite A Day In Naples was among his most popular works.
The Italian violinist Alfredo Campoli (1906-1991) has occupied a warm place in the affections of British music lovers, since his debut at London"s Wigmore Hall in 1923. He played in many light orchestras, and was also a prolific broadcaster and recording artist in his own name. Mon Bijou is typical of the many light pieces that demonstrated the virtuosity of the maestro and the musicians who played with him. It was composed by Robert Stolz (1880-1975), an acclaimed Austrian composer, highly regarded in his homeland who went to Hollywood to escape the Nazis. In America he enjoyed success writing music for films such as "Spring Parade" and "It Happened Tomorrow".
Frederick John Easthope Martin (1882-1925) was known mainly for his popular songs, which proved popular at ballad concerts. There were three sets of Songs Of The Fair of which the most popular was the familiar Come To The Fair which features at the beginning and end of our recording. The noted English arranger Henry Ernest Geehl (1881-1961) arranged several of Martin"s songs into suites, and it is possible that he was responsible for this familiar score. Walter Goehr (1903-1960) was one of the many talented musicians who left Germany due to the developing political situation in the 1930s. Born in Berlin, he studied conducting with Arnold Schoenberg but was forced to leave his position with German radio in 1932. The Gramophone Company (later to become EMI) invited him to London as a music director, and he made many recordings for their labels, often using the pseudonym "George Walter". His varied career included teaching composition and conducting, and one of his pupils was Wally Stott (1924-2009), later to be known as Angela Morley who was widely praised for her work in Hollywood. In 1945 Goehr was appointed conductor of the BBC Theatre Orchestra, and he also composed several film scores, notably David Lean"s "Great Expectations" in 1946.
Albert Sandler (1906-1948) is remembered by many of the older generation in Britain through his BBC broadcasts "Grand Hotel" from 1943 to 1948. The music featured was known as "Palm Court" and Sandler"s own 1940 Columbia recording of Summer Evening In Santa Cruz is typical of a style that surprisingly still survived for quite a while after the war, although it had its roots decades earlier - Sandler himself had been musical director of the Grand Hotel, Eastbourne from 1924 to 1928.
Carl Robrecht (1888-1961) is remembered for his pseudo-oriental novelty Samum, still much loved by brass bands. The Henry Hall version was included on Guild GLCD5106 and another of his pieces in similar vein, Fata Morgana, was featured on GLCD5163. That came from the Bosworth Mood Music Library, which also recorded our version of Niagara by a group of anonymous session musicians. Robrecht appears to have been prominent in hotel band circles in Berlin between the wars, and there is reference to him using the pseudonym "Robby Reight".
Although some British Dance Band purists might disagree, possibly the most famous of the pre-war bands was fronted by Jack Hylton, born John Greenhalgh Hilton (1892-1965). The band made numerous records and toured widely in Britain and overseas. At times its repertoire ventured into light music circles, such as Wedding Of The Rose (on Guild GLCD5163) and Dancing Tambourine (GLCD5106). Hylton provides a rousing finale to this collection with a selection of Sousa marches arranged by a "Major Williams". John Philip Sousa (1854-1932) was universally regarded as the American "March King" and his music is still regularly performed today. David Ades
GUILD LIGHT MUSIC GLCD5177
The Composer Conducts - Volume 1
1 Jet Journey (Ron Goodwin)
RON GOODWIN AND HIS CONCERT ORCHESTRA
Parlophone R 3649 1953
2 Courses de Toros (Bull Fights) (Gérard Calvi, real name Grégoire Elie Krettly)
GÉRARD CALVI AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Pye NPL 28003 1958
3 Fun In The Sun (Angela Morley, as Wally Stott)
TELECAST ORCHESTRA Conducted by ANGELA MORLEY (as WALLY STOTT)
Chappell C 688 1960
4 Les Parfums De Paris (Cedric Dumont)
NEW CONCERT ORCHESTRA Conducted by CEDRIC DUMONT
Boosey & Hawkes O 2325 1958
5 Parisian Mode (Woolf Phillips)
WOOLF PHILLIPS AND HIS CONCERT ORCHESTRA
Columbia DB 2873 1951
6 Sagittarius (Hal Mooney)
HAL MOONEY AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Mercury SR 60073 1958
7 The Phantom Regiment (Leroy Anderson)
LEROY ANDERSON AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Brunswick STA 3030 1960
8 City Of Veils (Les Baxter)
LES BAXTER AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Capitol ST 868 1958
9 Puppets On Parade (Rudolf Friml)
101 STRINGS Conducted by RUDOLF FRIML
Stereo Fidelity SF-6900 1959
10 Subway Polka (Harold Geller)
HARRY GELLER AND HIS ORCHESTRA
RCA LPM 1032 1955
11 Bad Timing (from "Billion Dollar Baby") (Morton Gould)
MORTON GOULD, HIS PIANO AND ORCHESTRA
Columbia ML 4451 1951
12 Along The Avenue (Roger Roger)
ROGER ROGER AND HIS CHAMPS ELYSEES ORCHESTRA
Chappell C 644A 1959
13 Montana Round-Up (Kermit Leslie & Walter Leslie real surnames Levinsky)
KERMIT LESLIE AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Epic LN 3452 1958
14 Huckleberry Duck (Raymond Scott, real name Harry Warnow)
RAYMOND SCOTT AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Coral CRL 57174 1957
15 Neiani (Axel Stordahl; Oliver)
AXEL STORDAHL AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Dot DLP 25282 1960
16 Pam Pam (David Rose)
DAVID ROSE AND HIS ORCHESTRA
MGM D 149 1957
17 La Bardinetta (André Popp)
ANDRÉ POPP AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Columbia WL 130 1958
18 Fiddle Derby (Percy Faith)
PERCY FAITH AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Columbia 4-39491 1951
19 Without Your Love (Guy Luypaerts)
GUY LUYPAERTS AND HIS ORCHESTRA (as "GUY LUPAR"on LP label)
RCA Victor LP 3254 1955
20 Fandango (Frank Perkins)
FRANK PERKINS AND HIS "POPS" ORCHESTRA
Brunswick LA 8708 1955
21 Sports Arena (Wilfred Burns, real name Bernard Wilfred Harris)
HARMONIC ORCHESTRA Conducted by WILFRED BURNS
Harmonic HMP269A 1948
22 Trolley Bus (Charles Williams, real name Isaac Cozerbreit)
QUEEN"S HALL LIGHT ORCHESTRA Conducted by CHARLES WILLIAMS
Chappell C 283 1946
23 Boulevardier (Frederic Curzon)
NEW CONCERT ORCHESTRA Conducted by FREDERIC CURZON
Boosey & Hawkes OT 2089 1946
24 Jack The Dancer (Dolf van der Linden)
DOLF VAN DER LINDEN AND HIS METROPOLE ORCHESTRA
Paxton PR 582 1953
25 Blende Auf (Werner Müller)
RIAS DANCE ORCHESTRA Conducted by WERNER MüLLER
Polydor H 49 262 1954
26 Symphony In Jazz (First Movement) (Otto Cesana)
OTTO CESANA AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Columbia CL 631 1955
Stereo: tracks 6-9 & 15 - rest in mono.
When composers conduct their own music one assumes that it is being performed exactly as they intended. Therefore such recordings are particularly valuable, and Ron Goodwin (1925-2003) certainly needed no encouragement to pick up the baton. From the 1950s onwards the recording scene in Britain was treated to a succession of his inventive and charming instrumentals which still sound fresh and appealing today. Internationally Ron"s fame would depend largely on his successful film scores such as "633 Squadron" (1964), "Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines" (1965) and Alfred Hitchcock"s "Frenzy" (1972). After several recordings for smaller labels, Ron was signed to EMI"s Parlophone in 1953 and his first recording for them was his own Jet Journey. Although he recorded it later in stereo, it is the first version which opens this CD that many regard as the best.
Gérard Calvi (real name Grégoire Elie Krettly, born 1922) first came to the attention of the public in his native France when he contributed the music in 1948 to a show called "Les Branquignols". The following year he composed the score for "La Patronne", launching a career in mainly European films that would continue for the rest of the 20th Century. By far his best known cinematic work was for the "Asterix" films, but Calvi was equally at home in the theatre and recording studio, and writing popular songs - over 300 in total. Probably his most successful composition internationally was One Of Those Songs - thanks to Will Holt adding the English lyric to a catchy orchestral piece called Le Bal de Madame de Mortemouille (on Guild GLCD5160). This time we feature his description of bull fights - Courses de Toros.
During the 1950s Angela Morley (1924-2009, at the time working as "Wally Stott") composed many light pieces for Chappell & Co., the leading London publishers of background music. Fun In The Sun is typical of the bright, tuneful pieces that became her trademark. Angela Morley went on to enjoy a long and successful career in recordings and films, eventually being much in demand in Hollywood to assist leading composers on major projects - working with John Williams on "Star Wars" being a prime example. Her TV credits included "Dallas" and "Dynasty".
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 when they were unable to record in Britain due to a Musicians" Union ban, particularly during the 1950s, and his own Les Parfums de Paris is one such example.
Woolf Phillips (1919-2003) did not have the same high public profile as many of his fellow British bandleaders in the middle years of the last century, yet his talent and accomplishments were greater than many of them. However he did get noticed when conducting the orchestra at the London Palladium between 1947 and 1953, and most big band fans knew him through his association with the Skyrockets and later the Geraldo and Ted Heath bands. Before the war he learned orchestration from his famous brother Sid, who played clarinet with Ambrose and contributed some of the most notable arrangements for that band. While at the Palladium Woolf conducted for visiting American stars such as Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland and Tony Martin, and in 1966 his friend Donald O"Connor (of "Singin" In The Rain" fame) persuaded him to relocate to the United States, where he spent the rest of his life. His Parisian Mode was a rare orchestral recording, which was used for a while by BBC Television as the signature tune for the panel game "What"s My Line".
Hal (born Harold) Mooney (1911-1995) is making another Guild appearance with his composition Sagittarius, which comes from a collection spotlighting each sign of the zodiac. In 1956 Mooney became A&R Director and chief arranger at Mercury Records, where he remained until Philips phased out the label towards the end of the 1960s. Mooney then moved to Universal Studios, working as MD on many of the top TV shows of the period, before retiring in 1977.
Leroy Anderson(1908-1975) is probably the best-loved American light music composer of his generation. For many years he was the chief arranger for the Boston Pops, and its famous conductor, Arthur Fiedler, introduced many Anderson novelties to an appreciative public. He was so prolific that some of his numbers have tended to become unfairly overlooked, such as The Phantom Regiment.
Texas born Les Baxter (1922-1996) decided to abandon a career as a concert pianist, and chose to concentrate on popular music. He played the tenor sax and is reported to have been influenced by Coleman Hawkins and the Duke Ellington Band. At the age of 23 he joined Mel Tormé"s Meltones and recorded with Artie Shaw, but his heart was set on arranging. As his career progressed he worked for Capitol and RCA, and tended to be asked to record pieces with an "exotic" appeal, like his City Of Veils.
Once again we are pleased to welcome Rudolf Friml (1879-1972) to conduct one of his own compositions. Puppets On Parade seems a far cry from his famous operettas such as "Rose-Marie" and "The Vagabond King", but it surely serves to confirm his versatility.
Violinist Harold (Harry) Geller (1916-2005) was born in Sydney, Australia, but for most of his career he was based in London. He was a frequent broadcaster with his orchestra in BBC programmes such as "Morning Music" and "Music While You Work", but his commercial recordings were comparatively rare. Subway Polka comes from an album of tunes he composed about New York for the American market. Towards the end of the 1970s work in Britain had dried up, so he moved to the USA where he continued to compose and teach the violin and conducting.
Morton Gould (1913-1996) became one of the most highly respected American composers, and his distinguished career was crowned with a Pulitzer Prize (for his Stringmusic, commissioned by Mstislav Rostropovich for the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington) just a year before his death at the age of 82. His Bad Timing comes from a Broadway show that has been overshadowed by his other greater achievements as a composer.
Roger Roger (1911-1995) was a leading figure on the French music scene for many years, and his fine compositions and arrangements also won him admirers internationally. Along The Avenue is one of many works he wrote for the Chappell Recorded Music Library.
Kermit Leslie (born Kermit Levinsky in New York City) often composed with his brother Walter, and it seems a pity that he appears to have made relatively few recordings. Montana Round Up is the ninth work by the Levinsky brothers to appear on Guild.
Raymond Scott was an American bandleader and pianist who composed a melody that is instantly recognisable to the older generation - Toy Trumpet (the version by Reginald Pursglove and his Orchestra is on GLCD5137). This was just one of a number of quirky novelties with similarly quirky titles, such as Twilight In Turkey, Reckless Night On Board An Ocean Liner and Huckleberry Duck, the choice for this collection. Scott"s real name was Harry Warnow (1908-1994) but he used a pseudonym to avoid being accused of nepotism, since his older brother Mark conducted a CBS house orchestra which used to play his tunes.
The name Axel Stordahl (1913-1963) will be familiar to many collectors of American popular music, mainly through his backing for Frank Sinatra during a period known as the singer"s "Columbia years". In 1936 he joined Tommy Dorsey as a trumpet player, and was encouraged to develop his arranging talents. He realised that his style was more suited to slow, sentimental ballads, which became his trademark, and this is evident in his composition Neiani.
London-born David Rose (1910-1990) became one of the truly great light orchestra leaders in the USA, and his compositions such as Holiday For Strings (on Guild GLCD5120) and The Stripper sold millions. The choice of Pam Pam for this collection has been dictated by the fact that it is one of his lesser known works, yet his mastery of the light orchestra shines through in every bar.
André Charles Jean Popp (b. 1924) is a Frenchcomposer, arranger and screenwriter whose main claim to fame rests with his composition Love Is Blue which was a big hit for Paul Mauriat in 1968, reaching number one in the US charts. But Popp"s long career has embraced many styles, often leading to eccentric arrangements, much of it for his broadcasts on French radio. In contrast with some of his works, La Bardinetta is relatively sedate!
Percy Faith (1908-1976) hardly needs any introduction to Guild "regulars". Born in Toronto, Canada, in 1940 he moved permanently to the USA where he quickly established himself through radio and recordings. From the 1950s onwards his fame spread internationally, due to the great success of his numerous long playing albums. Unlike most of his contemporaries, Faith arranged all his own material, and his compositions such as Fiddle Derby confirm his mastery of the light orchestra.
Guy Luypaerts (b. 1917) was born in Paris to Belgian parents during the First World War and he became well-known in French musical circles through conducting an orchestra called the Nouvelle Association Symphonique de Paris. Guild has previously included his imaginative sounds in the Cole Porter tribute (GLCD5127) and conducting inventive cameos such as The Sleepwalker of Amsterdam (GLCD5131), Masquerade In Madrid (GLCD5132), Jose Fontaine"s catchy Whimsy, and his own composition Chatter Box (both on GLCD5160). This time it is the turn of his more conventional Without Your Love.
Bernard Wilfred Harris, better known as "Wilfred Burns" (1917-1990) was a prolific composer of mood music who has over 200 titles to his credit. After service during the Second World War he 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 BBC television series "Dad"s Army" in 1971. Sports Arena is one of his many pieces accepted by various London publishers.
Charles Williams(real name Isaac Cozerbreit, 1893-1978) is yet another composer/conductor whose work is now familiar once again through his many Guild recordings. Trolley Bus is one of numerous pieces published by Chappells at a time when he was the main contributor to their Recorded Music Library.
Frederic Curzon (1899-1973) spent most of his early career working in the theatre and like so many of his contemporaries he gradually became involved in providing music for silent films. Later he was appointed Head of Light Music at London publishers Boosey and Hawkes, for whom he composed many highly praised pieces. Several appear in a special concert selection in the second volume of this series, but on this CD we hear his famous Boulevardier in the original full-length version.
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 the 1980s. As well as broadcasting frequently with his Metropole Orchestra, he made numerous recordings for the background music libraries of major music publishers and his own Jack The Dancer remains one of his most popular works.
Werner Müller (1920-1998) was a bassoonist who became the conductor of the RIAS (Radio In American Sector) Dance Band based in Berlin, which gave its first concert on 24 April 1949. The band soon built up a strong following through its Polydor recordings, with exciting performances such as his own Blende Auf.
Italian born Otto Cesana (1899-1980) spent much of his early career in California where he lived from 1908 to 1930. His piano studies commenced at the age of ten, and he became an accomplished organist; he also learned about orchestration and harmony which he put to good use working in radio and Hollywood film studios. Most critics regarded Cesana"s work as being "easy listening", although the distinguished jazz critic Leonard Feather considered him worthy of an entry in the 1960 Encyclopaedia of Jazz through his acclaimed composition Symphony In Jazz. The first impressive movement makes a fitting finale to this collection. David Ades
GUILD LIGHT MUSIC GLCD5178
The Composer Conducts - Volume 2
1 March from "Things To Come" (Music from the film) (Arthur Bliss)
LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Conducted by SIR ARTHUR BLISS
Decca SDD 255 1959
2 "Pinky" Music from the film (Alfred Newman)
ALFRED NEWMAN AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Mercury MPL 6500 1956
3 Scherzofrenia (from Symphony No. 5 ½ - "A Symphony For Fun") (Don Gillis)
NEW SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA OF LONDON Conducted by DON GILLIS
Decca LM 4510 1950
4 State Occasion (Robert Farnon)
QUEEN"S HALL LIGHT ORCHESTRA Conducted by ROBERT FARNON
Chappell C294 1947
5 Dawn Fantasy (Peter Yorke)
PETER YORKE AND HIS CONCERT ORCHESTRA with ARTHUR SANDFORD, piano
Columbia DB 2639 1950
"The League Of Gentlemen" Music from the film (Philip Green)
6 Golden Fleece Theme
7 League Of Gentlemen March
PINEWOOD STUDIO ORCHESTRA Conducted by PHILIP GREEN
Top Rank International JAR-355 1960
8 Salute The Soldier (Eric Coates)
LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Conducted by ERIC COATES
EMI JG 214 1944
9 Les Jeux (Playing) (George Melachrino)
THE MELACHRINO STRINGS Conducted by GEORGE MELACHRINO
HMV C4250 1954
10 Amethyst March (soundtrack recording from the film "Yangtse Incident") (Leighton Lucas)
LEIGHTON LUCAS AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Parlophone 45-R 4342 1957
11 Strings In The Mood (Walter Collins)
LONDON PROMENADE ORCHESTRA Conducted by WALTER COLLINS
Paxton PR454 1948
12 Naval Occasion (Hubert Clifford)
MELODI LIGHT ORCHESTRA Conducted by HUBERT CLIFFORD
13 Chappell C428 1953
13 "The Dancing Years" - Three Ballet Tunes (Ivor Novello)
THE DRURY LANE THEATRE ORCHESTRA Conducted by IVOR NOVELLO
HMV B 8897 1939
14 International Sports March (Sidney Torch)
QUEEN"S HALL LIGHT ORCHESTRA Conducted by SIDNEY TORCH
Chappell C299 1947
15 Rendezvous With Curzon (Frederic Curzon) Cachucha from "In Malaga" Suite; Maid Marian from "Robin Hood" Suite; Bravada; Serenade Of A Clown; March Of The Bowmen from "Robin Hood" Suite
NEW CONCERT ORCHESTRA Conducted by FREDERIC CURZON
Boosey & Hawkes OT 2090 1946
16 Selection of Radio Novelty Tunes (Montague Ewing) Fairy On The Clock; Soldier On The Shelf; The Queen Was In The Parlour; Butterflies In The Rain; Little Dutch Clock
MONTAGUE EWING, Piano, with NOVELTY BAND
Rex 8364-A 1935
Three Dale Dances (Suite founded on Yorkshire Folk Tunes) (Arthur Wood)
17 First Movement
18 Second Movement
19 Third Movement
ARTHUR WOOD AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Columbia DX 971 1940
20 Wedgewood Blue (Albert William Ketèlbey)
ALBERT W. KETÈLBEY, Piano, and his CONCERT ORCHESTRA
Columbia DX 27 1930
21 Thrills (Charles Ancliffe)
CHARLES ANCLIFFE AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Columbia DB 339 1932
22 Cornish Rhapsody (featured in the film "Love Story") (Hubert Bath)
LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Conducted by HUBERT BATH, with HARRIET COHEN, piano
Columbia DX 1171 1944
Stereo: track 1 - remainder in mono.
The second collection of composers conducting their own works opens with a significant work for British cinema of the 1930s. When Arthur Bliss (later to be "Sir" Arthur Edward Drummond Bliss, 1891-1975) composed the music for the film of H.G. Wells" 1933 novel "The Shape Of Things To Come" it proved to be the most important score provided up to that time for a British film. It also influenced film music internationally, with many composers embracing more symphonic aspects in their work. While the film was in production during 1935 Bliss was apparently only partly satisfied with the way in which his music was used, although it seems that he was prepared not to apply any kind of veto. When the film appeared, the music was widely acclaimed and Bliss recorded part of the score for commercial release on Decca. For some reason it was left to the film"s musical director, Muir Mathieson (1911-1975), to conduct the famous March, which soon achieved fame through many other uses especially in newsreels. As stereo arrived towards the end of the 1950s Bliss was commissioned to record his Concert Suite of music from the film with the London Symphony Orchestra, and on this occasion the March was finally conducted by the composer.
Alfred Newman (1901-1970 - some references give his birth date as 1900) is occasionally overlooked as an important film composer, yet for much of his career he was probably the most influential and respected among his peers. His Hollywood career began in 1930 and one of his early scores was "Street Scene" in 1931 (the music is included on Guild GLCD5153), and until John Williams finally overtook him in January 2006 he was the most Oscar-nominated composer/conductor, with a tally of 44 nominations resulting in 9 Academy Awards. From 1939 until 1959 he was the musical director at 20th Century Fox, reputed to have worked on around 225 films. "Pinky" from 1949 supposedly dealt with racial problems in southern USA; as one respected critic observed "it has about as much daring as a cheese-mite".
During his lifetime it seems that the American composer Donald Eugene Gillis (1912-1978) did not get the full attention from the American record industry which his talents deserved. It was the British Decca label that brought him to London in 1950 for several sessions at the Kingsway Hall which have preserved for posterity some of his best - and most quirky - creations. Anyone who can compose a piece of music called "Symphony No. 5½" is almost demanding not to be taken too seriously, and to make sure that nobody missed the joke Gillis subtitled his work "A Symphony For Fun". The first movement Perpetual Emotion is on Guild GLCD5156; now we have the third movement Scherzofrenia, which is so typical of the carefree, almost whimsical, work that he offered to music lovers in the middle years of the last century.
Canadian-born Robert Farnon (1917-2005) is widely regarded as one of the greatest light music composers and arrangers of his generation. His melodies such as Portrait Of A Flirt (on Guild GLCD5120) and Jumping Bean (GLCD5162) are familiar to millions around the world. He composed a vast amount of background music for the Chappell Recorded Music Library, and one of his most used pieces was State Occasion. Strangely he was never asked to make a commercial recording, but we can hear him conducting the original version for Chappell in 1947.
Peter Yorke (1902-1966) was a leading arranger, composer and conductor in Britain for many years, with many recordings and broadcasts to his credit. Among his compositions the mini-concerto Dawn Fantasy ranks as one of the best. It comes from the era when the Warsaw Concerto (composed by Richard Addinsell for the 1941 film "Dangerous Moonlight") spawned a glut of similar works, which broadcaster Steve Race astutely dubbed "the Denham Concertos", after the film studio which often featured such works on their soundtracks.
Philip Green (born Harry Philip Green 1911-1982) began his professional career at the age of eighteen playing in various orchestras. Within a year he became London"s youngest West End conductor at the Prince of Wales Theatre. His long recording career began with EMI in 1933, and he is credited with at least 150 film scores, including "The League Of Gentlemen". The music has been sequenced on this CD as it was used in the film.
Eric Coates (1886-1957) was asked to write a piece of music to assist the National Savings Movement during the Second World War. The result was Salute The Soldier which was the name given to the campaign to raise as much money as possible during those difficult times. Although he conducted the work in Trafalgar Square to gain maximum publicity, the special recording issued was made in No. 1 Studio, Abbey Road on 1 February 1944 with Coates and the London Symphony Orchestra.
George Miltiades Melachrino (1909-1965) was one of the big names in British light music from the 1940s to the 1960s. Born in London, he became a professional musician, competent on clarinet, alto and tenor saxophone, violin and viola, and he worked with many British dance bands in the 1930s. After war service he built an orchestra which became one of the finest in the world; when long playing records arrived, Melachrino"s sold in vast quantities, especially in the USA. He was also a very good composer, and his strings are shown in their full splendour in his Les Jeux.
Leighton Lucas (1903-1982) seems to have been at home in the fields 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 GLCD5118) and "Yangtse Incident" (1957) from which comes the Amethyst March, named after the ship involved in the action.
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. Several of his own compositions have already appeared on Guild CDs (Laughing Marionette on GLCD5134; Linden Grove GLCD5112; possibly his best loved piece Moontime GLCD5168; Paper Hats And Wooden Swords GLCD5144; and Springtime GLCD5138). Strings In The Mood can now be added to this list.
Born in Tasmania, Hubert Clifford (1904-1959) composed several mood music pieces for Chappell"s Recorded Music Library, one of them being Naval Occasion. He provided scores for three British Transport Films in the 1950s, and "Round The Island", which featured the Isle of Wight, impressed him so much that he made his home there.
Ivor Novello (born David Ivor Davies 1893-1951) was a Welsh composer, singer and actor who created some of the most popular shows in London"s West End during the first half of the last century. He was not particularly known for orchestral recordings, so it is nice to be able to include some less familiar music from one of his best shows, "The Dancing Years", in this collection. Apart from many of his songs which have become standards, he continues to be remembered for the annual music awards which bear his name, held in London each Spring.
Sidney Torch, MBE (born Sidney Torchinsky 1908-1990) is well-known in Britain for his numerous Parlophone recordings, as well as his long tenure as conductor of the BBC Concert Orchestra in the "Friday Night Is Music Night" BBC radio programme. He was also a frequent conductor and composer of mood music recordings for the Chappell Recorded Music Library, which is the source of his International Sports March.
For some years Frederic Curzon (1899-1973) was the Head of Light Music at London publishers Boosey and Hawkes. His famous Boulevardier was included in the first volume of "The Composer Conducts" (GLCD5177) but this was just one of many well crafted piece of light music that flowed from his pen. In 1946 he recorded a Concert Suite which he called "Rendezvous With Curzon" featuring five contrasting pieces. Alongside the better known numbers is the middle section of a charming rarity, Serenade Of A Clown, which he does not appear to have recorded in full for the Boosey & Hawkes Recorded Music Library.
Next to its tunefulness, perhaps the greatest appeal of Light Music is its variety of styles. This aspect is surely displayed in his Selection of Radio Novelty Tunes by London-born Montague Ewing (1890-1957), who sometimes used the American-sounding pseudonym Sherman Myers to make his music more acceptable in the USA. The composer himself plays and conducts a selection of his catchy melodies which audiences of the 1930s certainly appreciated and would have instantly recognised.
Arthur Wood (1875-1953) was a busy theatrical conductor (like many of his fellow composers at that time), and at the age of 28 had the distinction of being the youngest musical director in London"s West End. For a while he was a staff composer with Boosey and Hawkes, creating dozens of short suites, and he was a frequent visitor to the recording studios pre-1914. He made at least two early acoustic recordings of his Three Dale Dances, but fortunately EMI invited him back in 1940 for electrical re-makes.
When Gustav Holst sat an entrance examination for the Trinity College of Music, he was just beaten for a place by Albert William Ketèlbey (1875-1959) who later went on to become one of the most distinctive Light Music voices of his era. Fortunately for posterity, Ketèlbey was a regular visitor to the recording studios as well as a prolific composer. Wedgewood Blue has the bonus of the composer conducting his orchestra from the piano.
Irishman Charles W. Ancliffe (1880-1952) will forever be associated with Nights Of Gladness, (the Mantovani version on Guild GLCD5113 does the famous waltz full justice) but he was a military bandmaster as well as a successful composer. This was illustrated in his march The Liberators (GLCD5163) but he is back in familiar waltz territory with Thrills - his seventh composition to be featured on a Guild CD.
Hubert Charles Bath (1883-1945) composed another of those "Denham Concertos" (mentioned above) for the 1944 British film "Love Story". It told the story of a concert pianist who learned that she had an incurable illness, so she moved to Cornwall. Cornish Rhapsody was the appropriate title of her major concert piece in the film, performed on screen in London"s Royal Albert Hall by Margaret Lockwood; the actual pianist on the soundtrack was Harriet Cohen (1895-1967). Although he worked on around twelve feature films (one was "Rhodes of Africa" which included his Empire Builders March - on GLCD5136), Hubert Bath is almost forgotten today. His composition Out Of The Blue was used for many years to introduce BBC Radio"s "Sports Report", but he had died before it was chosen in 1948. His son John Bath (1915-2004) was also a composer (he wrote Sportsman"s Luck on GLCD5115).Although Rawicz and Landauer, with Mantovani and his Orchestra, gave a splendid rendition in stereo of Cornish Rhapsody around fifteen years later (on GLCD5153), it is perhaps the distinctive sound of the original 1944 recording that suits the atmosphere of the work so perfectly. It provides the climax to two collections featuring some possibly historic occasions when composers allowed us to hear their music, presumably just as they intended. David Ades
GUILD LIGHT MUSIC GLCD5179
Portrait Of My Love
1 Portrait Of My Love (Cyril Ornadel)
CYRIL ORNADEL AND THE STARLIGHT SYMPHONY
MGM 45-MGM 1090 1960
2 Impression Of A Princess (Eric Coates)
DANISH STATE RADIO ORCHESTRA Conducted by ROBERT FARNON ("Melodi Light Orchestra Conducted by Ole Jensen" on disc label)
Chappell C 542 1956
3 I Love You Samantha (Cole Porter)
VICTOR SILVESTER AND HIS SILVER STRINGS
Regal SREG 1015 1959
4 April Love (from the film "April Love") (Sammy Fain: Paul Francis Webster)
MANTOVANI AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Decca SKL 4067 1959
5 The Prince and Princess Waltz (Dimitri Tiomkin; Ned Washington)
DAVID CARROLL AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Mercury MG 20301 1957
6 Wedding Day (Douglas Brownsmith)
NEW CONCERT ORCHESTRA Conducted by R. de PORTEN
Boosey & Hawkes OT 2223 1953
7 One Night Of Love (Victor Schertzinger, arr. Robert Farnon)
ROBERT FARNON AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Decca LK 4055 1953
8 You Are Too Beautiful (Richard Rodgers; Lorenz Hart, arr. Glenn Osser)
GLENN OSSER AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Kapp KL 1022 1955
9 Two Hearts In Three-Quarter Time (Robert Stolz)
ANDRE KOSTELANETZ AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Columbia CL 863 1956
10 Like Someone In Love (Johnny Burke; Jimmy Van Heusen, arr. Paul Weston)
PAUL WESTON AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Columbia CS 8042 1958
11 Beguine For Lovers (Joseph Kuhn)
DOLORES VENTURA, piano and the CARNIVAL ORCHESTRA
Valiant V-4926 1959
12 Can"t Help Loving That Man (from "Show Boat") (Jerome Kern)
MANTOVANI AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Decca LK 4215 1957
13 Take Me In Your Arms (Alfred Markus; Fritz Rotter; Mitchell Parish)
LEROY HOLMES AND HIS ORCHESTRA
MGM E 3378 1956
14 If I Should Fall In Love Again (Jack Popplewell, arr. Peter Yorke)
PETER YORKE AND HIS CONCERT ORCHESTRA
Delyse Envoy ES 7041 1959
15 Tenderly (Walter Gross; Jack Lawrence)
DAVID ROSE AND HIS ORCHESTRA
MGM E 3067 1953
16 Dancing in The Starlight (Trevor Duncan, real name Leonard Trebilco)
THE SYMPHONIA ORCHESTRA Conducted by CURT ANDERSEN
Harmonic/Charles Brull CBL 461 1960
17 Deep In My Heart, Dear (Sigmund Romberg, arr. William Hill Bowen)
THE MELACHRINO ORCHESTRA Conducted by GEORGE MELACHRINO
RCA Victor LSP 2106 1960
18 You"re My Thrill (Jay Gorney; Sidney Clare)
JACKIE GLEASON AND HIS ORCHESTRA featuring BOBBY HACKETT, trumpet
Capitol W 1147 1959
19 Star Eyes (Don Raye; Gene De Paul)
CYRIL STAPLETON AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Decca LK 4177 1957
20 If She Should Come To You (La Montana) (Augusto Alguero; G. Moreu; Alec Wilder)
FRANK DE VOL AND HIS RAINBOW STRINGS
Philips PB 1038 1960
21 For Those Who Love (Frank Cordell)
FRANK CORDELL AND HIS ORCHESTRA
HMV 45-POP 755 1960
22 "Sons And Lovers" - Theme From The Film (Mario Nascimbene)
THE CASCADING STRINGS Conducted by JOHNNY GREGORY
Fontana H 251 1960
23 To A Young Lady (Robert Farnon)
LESLIE JONES and his ORCHESTRA OF LONDON
Pye-Nixa NSPL 83008 1959
24 You Are Beautiful; Love Look Away (from "Flower Drum Song") (Richard Rodgers, arr. Brian Fahey)
CYRIL ORNADEL AND THE STARLIGHT SYMPHONY
MGM SE 3817 1960
25 Amor (from film "Broadway Rhythm") (Gabriel Ruiz, arr. Percy Faith)
PERCY FAITH AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Decca 23344 1944
26 The Wedding Dance (Paul Lincke)
LONDON PROMENADE ORCHESTRA Conducted by ERIC ROGERS
Decca LF 1166 1954
27 The Wedding Song (Horan, real name Geoff Love)
MANUEL AND THE MUSIC OF THE MOUNTAINS ("Manuel" is GEOFF LOVE)
Columbia SCX 3297 1960
Stereo: tracks 3, 4, 10, 11, 14, 17, 23, 24 & 27; rest in mono.
"Love like youth is wasted on the young" - thus sang Frank Sinatra to Sammy Cahn"s perceptive words in 1960, although many believe the sentiments originated with playwright George Bernard Shaw. If writers and composers are to be believed, love knows no age boundaries and most of us on the planet will be lucky enough to experience it at least once during our lifetimes. It provides such strong inspiration for all kinds of creative people that few can resist expressing it in words and music, as witnessed in this collection that should mist up the bifocals of those whom Sinatra was originally serenading. Hopefully it will also appeal to a younger generation, where wedding bells may be in the offing.
The honour of providing the title, and the opening track, of this CD goes to Cyril Ornadel (b. 1924) who 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 when lyrics were added by "David West", a pseudonym for Norman Newell. Cyril returns later with two love songs from "Flower Drum Song".
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 signature tunes, which helped to establish his high profile with the public, especially in Britain where he became known as "the uncrowned king of light music". Impression Of A Princess was composed as a tribute to Queen Elizabeth"s sister, Princess Margaret, who was the subject of much speculation regarding her romantic private life during the 1950s. Sadly history tells us that she did not always enjoy the carefree, happy lifestyle vividly portrayed in Coates" charming composition.
I Love You Samantha was one of several hit songs in the 1956 film "High Society". The critics thought it dull, but it still appeals to new generations - possibly due to the music from that master who also provided his own witty lyrics, Cole Porter (1891-1964). The British ballroom dancing legend Victor Silvester (1900-1978) makes a welcome return to Guild with his Silver Strings.
From the earliest flickering moments of silent movies on a silver screen, love and romance have been guaranteed to fill cinema seats. Several of the songs featured in this collection were written for films, beginning with April Love from the 1957 movie starring Pat Boone. Mantovani (1905-1980) makes his first of two appearances in this collection with a wistful performance that perfectly captures the sentiments in the lyrics.
David Carroll (1913-2008) - real name Rodell Walter "Nook" Schreier - was well-known in his native USA as a conductor and arranger. In the mid-1940s he joined the newly formed Mercury Records where he spent the next 15 years. Initially employed as an arranger and conductor, he progressed to being a producer and was later promoted as head of artists and repertoire. The Prince and Princess Waltz was composed in honour of Prince Rainier and Princess Grace of Monaco.
Douglas Brownsmith (1902-1965 - he preferred not to use his first name which was Reginald) was a pupil at St Paul"s Choir School. His first big success as a composer came in 1927 when Down the Mall - written in collaboration with Tony Lowry - was published. In the following years it was heard frequently in radio broadcasts by organists and light orchestras, and commercial recordings were made by Philip Green (on Guild GLCD5116) and Charles Shadwell (GLCD5171) - also Fodens Motor Works Band (GLCD5147). After the Second World War, production music publishers needed a vast amount of original orchestral compositions to service the requirements of radio, films and the emerging television stations around the world: Bosworth (See-Saw GLCD5144, Time For Fun And Games GLCD5125), Boosey & Hawkes (for whom he composed Wedding Day), Charles Brull (Continental Holiday GLCD5132) and Francis Day & Hunter all published a number of his works. During the 1930s Douglas purchased and ran the only bakery in the village of Ticehurst, Sussex, which he eventually sold and exchanged for a small restaurant in Bexhill-on-Sea. Apart from his music (and his love of cricket) this kept him fully occupied until his death from a sudden heart attack in 1965 at the age of 63.
It"s back to the cinema for the next four melodies, starting with the title song from One Night Of Love starring Grace Moore in 1934. Robert Farnon (1917-2005) conducts his orchestra in one of the polished arrangements that made his 1950s Decca LPs set new standards among fellow musicians. Farnon is heard later as the composer of To A Young Lady, dedicated to his daughter Judith in 1954.
You Are Too Beautiful escaped from Al Jolson"s 1933 movie "Hallelujah, I"m A Bum", giving Glenn Osser (b. 1914) the chance to shine as a conductor as well as an arranger, which had been his forté for many years with the likes of Les Brown, Jan Savitt, Bob Crosby, Bunny Berigan and Charlie Barnet.
Robert Stolz (1880-1975) originally wrote Two Hearts In Three Quarter Time for a 1930 German film, and a quarter of a century later the great maestro Andre Kostelanetz (1901-1980) gave it a welcome new lease of life.
Dinah Shore introduced Like Someone In Love in her 1945 film "Belle Of The Yukon". Paul Weston (born Paul Wetstein 1912-1996) was one of America"s top arrangers and conductors, whose orchestral collections such as "Music For Dreaming" and "Music For Memories" were to provide the springboard for many future albums. In 1971 the Trustees of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences gave him its Trustees Award.
The pianist Dolores Ventura was married to British composer and oboe player Ivor Slaney (1921-1998), and it is possible that he was conducting the anonymous "Carnival Orchestra" in Beguine For Lovers by Joseph Francis Kuhn (1924-1962).
Jerome Kern"s "Show Boat" premiered in New York in 1927, but it will have been more familiar to most people through the several film versions that followed. Can"t Help Loving That Man is one of the enduring songs from the show, performed for us here by Mantovani conducting his orchestra for his last Decca mono sessions in 1957.
Ruth Etting introduced Take Me In Your Arms back in 1932. Leroy Holmes (born Alvin Holmes, 1913-1986) scored Hollywood films and radio programmes during his early career, before becoming one of the mainstays of MGM"s conducting "team", also arranging many of their recordings. Eventually he moved on to United Artists where he conducted many of their contract singers and also recorded albums under his own name. His screen credits include the films "The Bridge In The Jungle" (1970) and "Smile" (1975).
If I Should Fall In Love Again won Jack Popplewell the first prize in a 1940 newspaper competition, launching his successful songwriting career. Peter Yorke (1902-1966) is a regular contributor to this series of CDs, as composer, arranger and conductor. After an apprenticeship in British Dance Bands of the 1920s and 1930s, he graduated to arranging for Louis Levy before eventually forming his own concert orchestra for recording and broadcasting.
Tenderly became a standard soon after it was published in 1946. London-born David Rose (1910-1990) was one of the truly great light orchestra leaders in the USA, and his compositions such as Holiday For Strings (on Guild GLCD 5120) and The Stripper sold millions. Over forty of his recordings have already been featured on previous Guild CDs.
Trevor Duncan (real name Leonard Charles Trebilco, 1924-2005) was working as a BBC sound engineer when one of his first compositions, High Heels (on Guild GLCD 5124) made the light music world sit up and take notice. Eventually his successful and prolific output mushroomed to such an extent that he had to give up his "day job" at the BBC, and also find several different publishers simply because he was writing too much for just one to handle - Dancing In The Starlight was published by Charles Brull.
Sigmund Romberg"s operetta "The Student Prince", first produced in 1924, gained a new lease of life when MGM filmed it for the second time in 1954. Cinemagoers witnessed Mario Lanza"s strident tenor voice coming from Edmund Purdom"s lips, after the producers dropped Lanza in the starring role because he had put on too much weight. Deep In My Heart, Dear was one of many fine songs in the score, and William Hill-Bowen (1918-1964) arranged it beautifully for the George Melachrino (1909-1965) Orchestra.
Jackie Gleason (1916-1987) was an American comedian, actor and would-be musician, although apparently he could not read or write music. His name appeared on many top-selling Capitol LPs, but legend has it that he did not conduct the music and his input was restricted to merely suggesting ideas that he conceived in his head and persuaded others to write down for him. It seems that it was Gleason"s concepts for each album that were the main selling points, and a shroud of secrecy descended upon the actual arrangers, soloists and conductors. An exception was the trumpeter Robert Leo "Bobby" Hackett (1915-1976), an Americanjazzmusician who had played with the bands of Glenn Miller and Benny Goodman, and solos on You"re My Thrill.
Star Eyes was composed for an unmemorable 1943 MGM "potboiler" "By Hook Or By Crook" (original US title "I Dood It"). The song managed to outlive the movie, and it is given a creditable performance by Cyril Stapleton (1914-1974), who was a well-known orchestra leader in Britain and overseas during the 1950s and 1960s, thanks to his regular BBC broadcasts and his many recordings.
In the USA Frank De Vol (1911-1999) is known primarily as the composer for the radio and TV series "The Brady Bunch", 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 had an executive position at Columbia Records, for whom he made a number of successful mood music albums. The continental melody If She Should Come To You enjoyed modest success - partly due to Alec Wilder"s English lyrics.
Frank Cordell (1918-1980) was a fine English 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 distinctive LPs which quickly became collectors" items. The cinema beckoned with some prestigious projects and he was nominated for an Oscar for his work on "Cromwell" (1970). For Those Who Love was originally composed as the music behind a famous soap powder TV commercial in the UK.
Mario Nascimbene (1913-2002) scored numerous international films from the 1940s until his last in 1982, with the most notable including "The Vikings", "Alexander the Great" and "Room at the Top". Sons And Lovers (1960) was based on a novel by D.H. Lawrence about a young Nottinghamshire miner"s growing pains, and the version of the theme by Johnny Gregory (born Giovanni Gregori, 1924) fully exploits the lovely melody.
Percy Faith (1908-1976) hardly needs any introduction to Guild "regulars". Born in Toronto, Canada, in 1940 he moved permanently to the USA where he quickly established himself through radio and recordings. Amor is one of his earliest commercial recordings, which he conducted in Chicago for US Decca on 20 April 1944.
The German composer Paul Lincke (1866-1946) became known around the world for his Glow Worm (there are different versions on GLCD5106 and 5143), but this was just one number in a large body of musical works. His waltz The Wedding Dance is conducted by Eric Rogers (1921-1981) who is best remembered for scoring several "Carry On" films, although he was involved with numerous other projects in Britain and the USA.
Yorkshireman Geoff Love (1917-1991) succeeded in so many musical fields during his busy career. Internationally he achieved success as "Manuel and his Music of the Mountains" although his identity was a closely-kept secret for many years. His 1960 recording of The Wedding Song (which Geoff himself composed under the pseudonym "Horan") provides a fitting finale for this collection of music for romantics and lovers of all ages. David Ades
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 2010
For 2010:
LIGHT MUSIC CDs DECEMBER 2010
GUILD LIGHT MUSIC GLCD5173
The Pianist In The Spotlight
1 Love Letters (Victor Young, arr. George Greeley)
GEORGE GREELEY, Piano and Orchestra
Warner Bros WS 1319 1959
2 Near You (Francis Craig)
ROGER WILLIAMS, HIS PIANO AND ORCHESTRA
London HA-R 2155 1958
3 Because You’re Mine (Sammy Cahn; Nicholas Brodszky, arr. Paul Weston)
PAUL WESTON AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Columbia CS 8042 1958
4 Nothing Ever Changes My Love For You (Marvin Fisher; Jack Segal, arr. George Shearing and Billy May)
GEORGE SHEARING, Piano with BILLY MAY AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Capitol T 858 1957
5 Concerto (David Rose)
DAVID ROSE AND HIS ORCHESTRA with DON FERRIS, Piano
MGM SE 3748 1959
6 The Way You Look Tonight (from film "Swing Time") (Jerome Kern)
JOE "Mr Piano" HENDERSON, Piano with BILL SHEPHERD AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Pye NSPL 83006 1959
7 Soft Sands (Lou Stein)
LOU STEIN, PIANO - with BILL FONTAINE’S ORCHESTRA
London HLZ 8419 1957
8 Silly Billy (Norman [Norrie] William Paramor)
NORRIE PARAMOR AND HIS ORCHESTRA featuring NORRIE PARAMOR, Piano
Columbia DB 4004 1957
9 Invitation Waltz (from "Ring Round The Moon") (Richard Addinsell)
SEMPRINI, Piano and Orchestra
HMV POP 384 1957
10 Carnavalito (Edmundo Porteno Zaldivar)
PIERRE DORSEY, HIS PIANO AND ORCHESTRA
Polygon P 1083 1953
11 Vendetta (Ken Jones; Chris Armstrong, better known as Ray Martin)
WINIFRED ATWELL, Piano with CYRIL ORNADEL AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Philips PB 332 1954
12 Georgian Rumba (Ivor Slaney)
DOLORES VENTURA, Piano – with Accompaniment Directed by IVOR SLANEY
Parlophone R 4160 1956
13 Can I Forget You (Jerome Kern, arr. Robert Farnon)
ROBERT FARNON AND HIS ORCHESTRA featuring BILLMcGUFFIE, Piano
Decca LK 4083 1954
14 My Ship (from "Lady In The Dark") (Kurt Weill, arr. Morton Gould)
MORTON GOULD, Piano, AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Columbia ML 4657 1953
15 Legend (Robert Docker)
THE MELACHRINO ORCHESTRA Conducted by GEORGE MELACHRINO featuring WILLIAM HILL-BOWEN, Piano
HMV C 4038 1950
16 Heart And Soul (Hoagy Carmichael)
ROBERTO INGLEZ AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Parlophone R 3640 1953
17 Starlight (Otto Cesana)
OTTO CESANA AND HIS ORCHESTRA featuring BERNIE LEIGHTON, Piano
Columbia CL 631 1955
18 Punch And Judy Polka (Ronald George Munro)
BILLY MAYERL RHYTHM ENSEMBLE
Parlophone F 2449 1951
19 Mediterranean Concerto (Alberto Fernando Riccardo Semprini)
SIDNEY TORCH AND HIS ORCHESTRA(pianist uncredited on disc label)
R 3313 1950
20 Jungle Bird (Maurice Burman, arr. Stanley Black)
STANLEY BLACK, HIS PIANO AND ORCHESTRA
Decca LF 1055 1951
21 While A Cigarette Was Burning (Charles F. Kenny; Nick A. Kenny)
ART WANER Conducting THE LATIN QUARTER ORCHESTRA
MGM D 124 1954
22 City Centre (Robert Keys)
PALL MALL REVELLERS
Bosworth BC 1080 1939
23 "Mr. Dodd Takes The Air" – Film Selection Am I In Love, Remember Me (Al Dubin; Harry Warren)
CARROLL GIBBONS, piano - AND HIS BOY FRIENDS
Columbia FB 1870 1938
24 At The Court Of Old King Cole (Raie Da Costa)
RAIE DA COSTA, Piano, with RAY NOBLE AND HIS ORCHESTRA
HMV B 6496 1934
Stereo: tracks 1, 3, 4, 5 & 6 ; other tracks mono.
In this collection it is the turn of pianists to take centre stage. Some of them will be familiar as famous solo artists, while others fronted their own groups or small ensembles which bear their name. Occasionally there are the unsung heroes whose work in orchestras often goes unnoticed, although they would surely be missed if they suddenly disappeared.
George Greeley (born Georgio Guariglia, 1917-2007) was an American pianist, conductor and composer who worked extensively in films and television, and made numerous recordings – often accompanying leading artists such as Gordon MacRae, Jane Powell and Jane Froman. During his early career he arranged for popular bandleaders such as Tommy Dorsey. In the 1950s he was a staff pianist at Columbia Pictures, and received particular praise for his work on "On The Waterfront" (1954) and "The Eddy Duchin Story" (1956). In later years he performed as piano soloist and guest conductor with leading orchestras in many countries.
Roger Williams (born Louis Weertz, 1924) is known in his native USA as "The Pianist To The Presidents", because he has been invited so many times to perform at the White House. Undoubtedly he is one of the most popular pianists of his generation, having achieved many hit records, including Near You - the choice for his first appearance on a Guild CD.
Paul Weston (born Paul Wetstein 1912-1996) was originally a pianist, although his particular favourites were saxes and clarinets. When recovering from an accident he was unable to perform so he tried arranging, which proved to be the spur for his future career fronting a world famous orchestra. Because You’re Mine allows us to hear his mastery of the keyboard. In 1971 the Trustees of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences gave its Trustees Award to Paul Weston.
If anyone deserves to be called a ‘Living Legend’ it is surely George Shearing (b. 1919), who became ‘Sir George’ in 2007 when he received his knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace. His unique style of playing has won him countless friends and admirers for over half a century, and he has worked with just about everyone who matters in show business. Choosing a suitable title for his first appearance on Guild was made relatively easy when he teamed up with Billy May (1916-2004) – who showed that he could write just as well for strings as for the big band style that made him famous.
David Rose (1910-1990) needs no introduction to regular Guild Light Music friends. Born in London, his family moved to Chicago in the USA when he was four, and during his prolific career he became one of the biggest names in radio, films, television and – of course – records. Holiday For Strings (on Guild GLCD5120) gave his career a sudden boost in the early 1940s, and it proved to be one of the first of a string of memorable compositions that kept flowing from his fertile inspiration. Concerto is perhaps more laid back than many of them, but its glorious harmonies provide the perfect backdrop to the piano of Don Ferris. Composer and pianist Ferris (born Dominic Anthony Frissore, 1919-2006) served in the US Army during World War II, and was a staff organist in the Armed Forces Radio Service where he would have come into contact with Sgt. David Rose. After working for two years as a staff pianist in film studios, Ferris became pianist for the David Rose Orchestra in 1946.
Joe "Mr Piano" Henderson (born in Glasgow, 1920-1980) was a professional dance band pianist at the age of fifteen. During the 1950s he became well-known in Britain, partly due to his friendship with singer Petula Clark, whom he had first met in 1947 at the Peter Maurice music publishers. His biggest hit was his own composition Trudie in 1957, which won him an Ivor Novello Award.
Lou Stein (1922-2002) was an American jazz pianist whose credentials included working with the likes of Glenn Miller, Percy Faith, Jackie Gleason and Benny Goodman – among many other famous names in jazz and popular music. His own melody Soft Sands (on this CD) also received the honour of a recording by Oscar Peterson.
Londoner Norman William (Norrie) Paramor (1914-1979) tended to be better known by the public for his work with pop stars on EMI’s Columbia label, but he also made numerous instrumental recordings and wrote several catchy numbers that greatly appealed, such as his own Silly Billy.
Although his numerous British fans considered him to be Italian, the pianist and composer Semprini was actually born in Bath, Somerset, where his Italian parents named him Alberto Fernando Riccardo Semprini (1908-1990). No doubt his attractive accent was partly due to the time he spent studying music at the Verdi Conservatory in Milan, from which he graduated in 1928. He was a frequent broadcaster, and he used his own composition Mediterranean Concerto as his theme. Surprisingly the Sidney Torch (1908-1990) recording heard on this CD did not mention the name of the pianist on the disc label. At that time Torch’s pianist was often Edward Rubach, and one would have expected him to be credited. This leads to speculation that the composer may have been at the keyboard, or maybe even Sidney Torch himself who was a piano virtuoso as well as a famous organist..
Pierre Dorsey joins our roster of pianists in the catchy novelty Carnavalito. He made a few recordings in the 1950s, but his career does not seem to have lasted.
Among the most successful in terms of hit records was Winifred Atwell (born Una Winifred Atwell,1914-1983) who hailed from the West Indies. During her variety appearances she performed first on a traditional grand piano, then her ‘other’ piano (discovered in a London junk shop) was wheeled on stage allowing her to play the boogie woogie and ragtime tunes that became her trademark. But she was also an accomplished concert pianist, and had studied at London’s Royal Academy of Music where she became the first female pianist to be awarded the Academy’s top grades. In Vendetta she is backed by Cyril Ornadel (b. 1924) and his Orchestra reprising their previous contribution to a Guild CD (Moonlight Fiesta on GLCD5111). Ornadel 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".
Dolores Ventura enjoyed a busy performing and recording career in Britain during the 1950s, sometimes with an orchestra conducted by her husband Ivor Slaney (1921-1998). He was also a successful composer and a fine oboe player, regularly doing session work under top conductors such as Robert Farnon. Four of Slaney’s accomplishments come together in Georgian Rumba: firstly the pianist is his wife; secondly he composed the melody; thirdly he can be heard on oboe – and on top of all that he conducts his orchestra. His previous compositions featured in Guild are Country Canter (GLCD5164), Donkey Doodle (GLCD5131) and The Show Goes On (GLGD5149). His more serious works include a Brazilian Suite and an Oboe Concerto.
William [Bill] McGuffie (1927-1987) is remembered by most music lovers as a fine pianist, often leaning towards jazz, although his occasional work in films proved that he was also a talented composer. His success is all the more impressive, when you consider that the third finger of his right hand was amputated in childhood following an accident. He never let this become a handicap, and in later life he founded his own charity The Niner Club (named after his number of fingers) which raised money for autistic children. During his long career he was the pianist of choice for many leading conductors, and Robert Farnon (1917-2005) was no exception – creating a special arrangement of Can I Forget You to showcase his talents.
Morton Gould (1913-1996) became one of the most highly respected American composers, and his distinguished career was crowned with a Pulitzer Prize (for his Stringmusic, commissioned by Mstislav Rostropovich for the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington) just a year before his death at the age of 82. He generally arranged the works he conducted in the concert hall and on records, and his brilliance as a sensitive pianist shines through every bar of the Kurt Weill classic My Ship. From 1986 to 1994 Gould was President of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP).
Robert Docker (1918-1992) became known to the British public through his many broadcasts as a pianist, but he was also a prolific arranger and composer. His Legend entered the repertoire of many light orchestras, and the George Melachrino (1909-1965) version for HMV was regarded by many as the definitive version.
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.
Italian born Otto Cesana (1899-1980) spent much of his early career in California where he lived from 1908 to 1930. His piano studies commenced at the age of ten, and he became an accomplished organist; he also learned about orchestration and harmony which he put to good use working in radio and Hollywood film studios. Although his recorded output was not large compared with some of his contemporaries, he usually conducted his own compositions which were of a consistently high standard – as already illustrated on several previous Guild Light Music CDs. The pianist in Starlight is Bernie Leighton (1921-1994), mainly recognised as a jazz player who worked with Percy Faith and numerous singers, bands and orchestras from the late 1930s into the 1980s.
Billy Joseph Mayerl (1902-1959) was a Londoner whose expertise on the piano gained him international recognition. Although perhaps best-known for his own cameos (often syncopated), during his regular broadcasts he played numbers by many fellow composers - such as Punch And Judy Polka by Ronald George Munro (better known as Ronnie, 1807-1989). In an extremely varied career, Munro had led a dance band during the twenties and thirties, becoming the first conductor of the Scottish Variety Orchestra when it was established by the BBC in 1940. Later he formed his own light orchestra for radio in the fifties, concluding his BBC career with a sextet which he led between 1962 and 1967. When radio broadcasts of live music in Britain dried up, he moved to South Africa, where he reformed his orchestra, subsequently becoming Head of Light Music for S.A.B.C.
Stanley Black (born Solomon Schwartz 1913-2002) was successful in many areas of music during his long career which began in his teens. From playing piano in Harry Roy’s dance band he became keen on Latin-American music, and later recorded many fine light orchestral albums.
Pianist Art Waner conducted the orchestra at the famous Latin Quarter nightclub, located at 159 Palm Island Drive, Miami Beach. From the 1940s into the 1960s this was a Mecca for top entertainers such as Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Tony Bennett performing for winter crowds of tourists wishing to escape to the Florida sunshine.
City Centre is an early composition by Robert Keys (1914-1999), who went on to become a repetiteur then assistant head of the music staff at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, which he joined in 1953. He was widely respected in the profession and a key back-room figure in helping turn Covent Garden into a house of international standing. Previously he had worked with Benjamin Britten at his English Opera Group in Aldeburgh. Such was his reputation that he received many invitations to work on special projects overseas. In retirement he continued to coach young singers, and was secretary of the Robert Stolz Society.
Although he was born in Clinton, Massachusetts, the pianist and composer Carroll Gibbons (1903-1954) made his career mainly in England, which apparently impressed him while studying at the Royal Academy of Music in his late teens. He became associated with the Savoy Hotel Orpheans, but briefly returned to the USA in 1931 where he spent two years with MGM in Hollywood. One of his most popular compositions was Garden In The Rain (Ray Martin’s version is on Guild GLCD5135) which received the accolade of a recording by Frank Sinatra with the Robert Farnon Orchestra in 1962.
The daughter of Portuguese parents, Raie Da Costa (1905-1934) was born in Cape Town, where she studied dancing and music. She wanted to become a ballerina, but an accident forced her to forget this childhood ambition so she concentrated on the piano. In 1924 her mother brought her from South Africa to London, but initially it was hard to get classical engagements. A wise change of career found her concentrating on rhythmic popular numbers, and a recording contract was secured in 1928. From then on she was always busy with broadcasting, stage shows and, of course, records. She was considered by many to be one of the most talented pianists of the time, with an incredible left-hand technique. Sadly she died at the young age of 29 from a cruel illness in 1934, not long after she had recorded her own composition At The Court Of Old King Cole which is the final track in this collection.
David Ades
