GUILD LIGHT MUSIC GLCD5167
Strings In Rhythm
1 Habanera (from ‘Natoma’) (Victor Herbert, arr. Percy Faith)
PERCY FAITH AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Columbia C2S 801 1958
2 Swinging On A Star (Jimmy Van Heusen; Johnny Burke, arr. Roland Shaw)
FRANK CHACKSFIELD AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Decca SKL 4048 1959
3 You Do Something To Me (Cole Porter)
VICTOR SILVESTER AND HIS SILVER STRINGS
Regal SREG 1015 1959
4 In The Heat Of The Day (Gordon Jenkins)
GORDON JENKINS AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Capitol ST 884 1957
5 Greenwich Village (J. George Johnson)
NEW WORLD THEATRE ORCHESTRA
Stereo Fidelity SF-3000 1957
6 La Colpa Fu (Eros Sciorilli)
GEORGE MELACHRINO Conducting the Orchestra of the 6th Sanremo Festival 1956
HMV SCT 1519 1957
7 In A Sentimental Mood (Irving Mills; Manny Kurtz; Edward Kennedy (Duke) Ellington)
PHILIP GREEN AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Columbia BTD 703 1956
8 Da Capo (Georges Boulanger)
HANS GEORG ARLT AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Ariola 32721 1958
9 In Love In Vain (from "Centennial Summer") (Jerome Kern)
PAUL WESTON AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Columbia CS 8050 1958
10 Poor Little Rich Girl (Noel Coward, arr. Peter Yorke)
PETER YORKE AND HIS CONCERT ORCHESTRA
Delyse Envoy ES 7041 1959
11 Sunset On The Tiber (Dave Dexter)
NORRIE PARAMOR AND HIS CONCERT ORCHESTRA
Capitol ST 10190 1959
12 La Cumparsita (Gerardo H. Matos Rodriguez)
CARMEN DRAGON AND THE CAPITOL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Capitol SP 8487 1959
13 Cancer (Harold (Hal) Mooney)
HAL MOONEY AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Mercury SR 60073 1958
14 Maria La O (Ernesto Lecuona)
HELMUT ZACHARIAS AND HIS MAGIC VIOLINS
Polydor 45151 LPH 1958
15 You Are My Heart’s Delight (from the musical "Land of Smiles") (Franz Lehár)
GEOFF LOVE AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Columbia SX 1060 1957
16 Sweetheart Of All My Dreams (Art Fitch; Kay Fitch; Herbert C. Lowe, arr. Ronald Binge)
RONALD BINGE AND HIS ORCHESTRA
RCA LPM 1458 1957
17 Neapolitan Nites Mambo (Zamecnik; Kerr)
MONTY KELLY AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Essex ESLP 208 1955
18 Rain (Eugene Ford, arr. Nelson Riddle)
NELSON RIDDLE AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Capitol T 893 1958
19 La Cucaracha (Traditional)
PÉPÉ GONZALEZ AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Brunswick LAT 8128 1957
20 Let’s Beguine (Otto Cesana)
OTTO CESANA AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Columbia CL 631 1955
21 Tango Of Regret (Ray Martin)
RAY MARTIN AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Polydor 46076 LPHM 1958
22 La Petite Gavotte (Joseph François Heyne)
DOLF VAN DER LINDEN AND HIS ORCHESTRA (as ‘VAN LYNN’ on LP)
Brunswick LAT 8125 1956
23 Horizonte (Lara)
BERT KAEMPFERT AND HIS ORCHESTRA (as ‘BOB PARKER’ on disc label)
Heliodor 450110 1957
24 I Wished On The Moon (Ralph Rainger)
JACKIE GLEASON AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Capitol W 627 1955
25 I Got Rhythm (George Gershwin)
ANDRE KOSTELANETZ AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Columbia CL 865 1955
26 Glamour – Tango (Jacob Gade)
WERNER MÜLLER AND HIS ORCHESTRA (as ‘RICARDO SANTOS and his Tango Orchestra’)
Polydor 45054 LPH 1954
27 Sugar Loaf (Safranski; Lowe)
DAVID CARROLL AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Mercury MG 20086 1953
28 Fireworks Polka (Johann Strauss, arr. Robert Farnon)
ROBERT FARNON AND HIS ORCHESTRA (LP label credits ‘Jack Saunders Orchestra’)
Everest SDBR 1011 1958
Stereo: tracks 1-13 & 28; all others mono.
In the hands of a talented arranger, a touch of rhythm can transform an ordinary melody into something rather special. Some music couldn’t exist without it: most of the glorious melodies associated with Latin America have rhythm as an essential ingredient, and it is easy to understand how it swept the world in the middle years of the 20th century. Even the more sedate ballrooms of Europe from a much earlier period succumbed to the allure of ‘new’ sensations such as waltzes, which were regarded with suspicion when they first invaded the dance floor. Tastes may change, but it cannot be denied that even a modest touch of rhythm can cause a smile – not to mention a tapping foot. There is plenty on offer in this collection, from the afore-mentioned Latin American to quicksteps, slow foxtrots, polkas and loads of pleasant surprises.
Percy Faith (1908-1976) excelled at arranging Latin American music, and his strings provide a splendid opening track. He 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 hit Canadian radio programme "Music By Faith" was also 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 and choral arranger) to conduct his CBC 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. Faith was always busy, whether working in the recording studios, radio, television or films.
Frank (Francis Charles) Chacksfield (1914-1995) conducted one of the finest light orchestras in the world, and during his long recording career with Decca alone it is estimated that his albums sold more than 20 million copies. In total he made more than 150 long-playing albums which were released in many countries, especially in Europe, Japan and Australia as well as Britain and America. Frank’s professional musical career began shortly before World War 2, playing at various local venues, before Army service found him working at the Royal Army Service Corp’s Southern Command Entertainment’s Section at Salisbury, Wiltshire. Later he became staff arranger for "Stars In Battledress" at the War Office in London and back in civilian life he soon became involved with various BBC Radio shows as arranger, composer and conductor; for a while he also worked as musical director of the Henry Hall and Geraldo orchestras. In 1953 he formed a 40-piece orchestra with a large string section. His very first 78 recorded for his new label Decca in April - Charlie Chaplin’s themes for his film "Limelight" - won him a Gold Disc through its big success in the USA. In Britain it earned him the New Musical Express Record of the Year award. His second 78 "Ebb Tide" became the first-ever British non-vocal disc to reach No. 1 in the American charts, providing a second Gold Disc. American juke-box operators, in a nation-wide poll, voted Chacksfield the most promising new orchestra of the year. A steady flow of long-playing records, plus regular broadcasts in many countries, ensured his continuing popularity and high public profile well into the 1970s. Although he was also an accomplished composer - his Candid Snap (GLCD 5156), Catalan Sunshine (GLCD 5161) and Prelude To A Memory (GLCD 5104) are on previous Guild CDs - he usually relied on some of the best arrangers such as Leon Young (1916-1991) and Roland Shaw (b.1920) to work on his albums.
Victor Marlborough Silvester OBE (1900-1978) sold over 75 million records from the 1930s to the 1980s. His style of music for ballroom dancing relied upon a solo violin (usually Oscar Grasso), two pianos and a strong rhythm section. In the 1950s he became a television personality, and his record company realised that his music ought to appeal to listeners, as well as dancers. So strings were added and his recording career entered a new phase. Cole Porter’s You Do Something To Me is a fine illustration of the ‘new’ Victor Silvester.
Gordon Jenkins(1910-1984) arranged for many of the top bands in America before carving out an impressive career for himself in radio and films. He signed with US Decca in 1945, and eventually became their managing director. Under his guidance the label had several big hits, and his large workload with singers possibly prevented him from making as many instrumental records as his fans would have liked. When he moved to Capitol he created some fine arrangements for Nat ‘King’ Cole (especially Stardust) and Frank Sinatra (the albums ‘Where Are You’ and ‘No One Cares’). Happily his new label did recognise his talent for orchestral arranging, and In The Heat Of The Day comes from an early stereo collection called ‘Stolen Hours’.
The special tribute to George Melachrino (1909-1965) in "The Hall of Fame – Volume 3" (GLCD5162) included Aprite le Finestre, a rare track which was one of the two Italian entries in the first Eurovision Song Contest back in 1956. It also won the 6th Sanremo Music Festival in the same year. Melachrino recorded all the Festival entries with the Sanremo Festival Orchestra and HMV released them on a ‘stereosonic’ tape and, later, as an LP on its International label. Another from those sessions was La Colpa Fu which, despite being a catchy number, did not manage to gain any of the first three places at Sanremo that year.
Philip Green (1910-1982) 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, and countless mood music compositions.
Making his second appearance on a Guild CD with Da Capo is Hans-Georg Arlt (b. 1927) who 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. In the following years he became a familiar name on German radio and television with his String Orchestra.
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, and his scores were accepted by top bands such as Joe Haymes, Rudy Vallee and Phil Harris. Tommy Dorsey hired Weston as his chief arranger, an association which was to last for five years. In 1940 he started working on Hollywood films, and joined the staff at Capitol Records upon its formation providing backings for singers such as Jo Stafford, whom he later married. In due course he began making orchestral 78s, and collections such as ‘Music For Dreaming’ and ‘Music For Memories’ were to provide the springboard for many future albums. In Love In Vain is a typical example of the hundreds of tasteful arrangements he created during his long career. In 1971 the Trustees of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences gave its Trustees Award to Paul Weston.
Peter Yorke (1902-1966) is a regular contributor to this series of CDs, as composer, arranger and conductor. After learning his craft 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.
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.
Carmen Dragon (1914-1984) achieved his first success in Hollywood 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.
Hal (born Harold) Mooney (1911-1995) is making his fourth Guild appearance with his composition Cancer, which comes from a collection spotlighting each sign of the Zodiac – another was Gemini on Guild GLCD 5153. Upon the completion of his music studies in his native New York he was invited to join the arrangers' roster for the popular Hal Kemp Orchestra, alongside John Scott Trotter (who was about to leave the band) and Lou Busch. After war service in the US Army he moved to Hollywood where he worked with many of the top stars such as Bing Crosby, Judy Garland and Frank Sinatra. In 1956 Mooney finally swapped freelancing for an exclusive contract and 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.
Helmut Zacharias (1920-2002) was a German child prodigy who rose to prominence in the 1950s when the American Forces Network in Frankfurt described him as ‘the best jazz violinist in the world’. During his long career he composed over 400 works and his album sales exceeded 13 million. The Cuban composer of Mario La O, Ernesto Lecuona (1895-1963), – his full name was Ernesto Lecuona y Casado – wrote over 600 pieces and could claim to be one of the reasons why Latin American music was so popular during the last century.
Yorkshireman Geoff Love (1917-1991) succeeded in so many musical fields during his busy career. Internationally he also achieved success as ‘Manuel and his Music of the Mountains’ although his identity was a secret for many years.
Ronald Binge (1910-1979) is destined to remain forever remembered as the gifted arranger who designed the ‘cascading strings’ effect for Mantovani, but his true achievements deserve far greater recognition. He was a prolific composer in his own right - Elizabethan Serenade (on GLCD5162), The Watermill, Miss Melanie and BBC Radio-4’s closing music Sailing By are just four favourites. He also ventured into more serious territory with his Saxophone Concerto in 1956, and his Saturday Symphony a decade later. As LP sales mushroomed in the late 1950s he became in demand from international labels such as RCA.
Monty Kelly(1910-1971) was a trumpeter, arranger and bandleader who was a regular in the recording studios, and managed to secure some success with singles such as Tropicana and Three O’Clock In The Morning (both on Guild GLCD 5105). This persuaded Cash Box magazine to name him ‘most promising orchestra’ in 1953, but by then the era of popular instrumental singles was starting to wane in the USA although his albums continued to do well.
Nelson Riddle (1921-1985) was a trombonist who turned to arranging and conducting – with spectacular results. His work with the likes of Frank Sinatra, Nat ‘King’ Cole, Dean Martin, Judy Garland and Peggy Lee possibly prevented him from fully realising what could have been a highly successful career making many instrumental albums on his own.
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 Jazz through his acclaimed composition Symphony In Jazz. He has already become a Guild favourite through five of his compositions being rediscovered on recent releases.
Once again lack of space is the enemy, and the remaining orchestras in this collection (already familiar through previous Guild appearances) will have to wait for their due credit another time. The booklet notes for all Guild Light Music CDs are available via the internet on the Guild Music website.
David Ades
GUILD LIGHT MUSIC GLCD5168
British Cinema And Theatre Orchestras – Volume Three
1 Palladium Memories – Selection
LONDON PALLADIUM ORCHESTRA Conducted by CLIFFORD GREENWOOD
HMV C 3067 1939
2 Wedding Of The Rose (Leon Jessel)
COMMODORE GRAND ORCHESTRA Conducted by JOSEPH MUSCANT
Edison Bell Winner 5513 1932
3 The Grenadiers – Valse Militaire (Emile Charles Waldteufel)
ANTON AND THE PARAMOUNT THEATRE ORCHESTRA, LONDON featuring AL BOLLINGTON, Organ
HMV BD 729 1939
4 "Hit The Deck" – Selection (Vincent Youmans)
LONDON HIPPODROME ORCHESTRA Conducted by JOE TUNBRIDGE
Columbia 9284 1927
5 Moontime (Walter R. Collins)
LONDON PALLADIUM ORCHESTRA Conducted by RICHARD CREAN
HMV B 4283 1932
6 Perfection (J.H. White)
COMMODORE GRAND ORCHESTRA Conducted by JOSEPH MUSCANT featuring ALBERT COUPE, Trumpet
Edison Bell Winner 5582 1933
7 "Home And Beauty" – Selection (Nicholas Brodszky)
ADELPHI THEATRE ORCHESTRA Conducted by FRANCIS COLLINSON
Columbia DX 774 1937
8 The Busy Bee – Morceau Characteristique (Theo Bendix)
PLAZA THEATRE ORCHESTRA Conducted by FRANK TOURS
Columbia 5195 1929
9 Indian Love Lyrics (Amy Woodforde-Finden)
COMMODORE GRAND ORCHESTRA Conducted by JOSEPH MUSCANT
Edison Bell Winner 5534 1933
10 Les Sylphides (Oliver Cussans real name Alfred Pratt, arr. Adolf Lotter)
LONDON PALLADIUM ORCHESTRA Conducted by RICHARD CREAN
HMV B 4283 1932
11 "The Song Of The Sea" – Selection (Eduard Künneke)
HIS MAJESTY’S THEATRE ORCHESTRA Conducted by EDUARD KÜNNEKE
Columbia 9543 1928
12 A La Gavotte (Herman Finck)
PLAZA THEATRE ORCHESTRA Conducted by FRANK TOURS
Columbia 5193 1929
13 What The Forest Whispers – Waltz (C. Zimmer)
COMMODORE GRAND ORCHESTRA Conducted by JOSEPH MUSCANT
Regal Zonophone MR 1307 1934
14 The Valley Of The Poppies (Charles Ancliffe)
LONDON PALLADIUM ORCHESTRA Conducted by RICHARD CREAN
HMV B 3566 1930
15 Serenade (Frantisek Drdla)
ANTON AND THE PARAMOUNT THEATRE ORCHESTRA, LONDON with AL BOLLINGTON, Organ
HMV BD 660 1939
16 Chanson (In Love) (Rudolf Friml)
PLAZA THEATRE ORCHESTRA Conducted by FRANK TOURS
Columbia 9157 1927
17 Beautiful Spring - Waltz (Paul Lincke)REGAL VIRTUOSI (Regal Cinema Orchestra) Conducted by EMANUEL STARKEY featuring SIDNEY TORCH, Organ
Columbia DB 1007 1933
18 "Countess Maritza" – Selection (Emmerich Kálmán)
COVENTRY NEW HIPPODROME ORCHESTRA Conducted by WILLIAM PETHERS
Regal Zonophone MR 2790 1938
All tracks: mono
Details of selections
Palladium Memories – Selection (composers and arranger unidentified on original disc)
There’s A New World, Free, Waltz Of The Gipsies, Round About Regent Street, The Fleet’s In Port Again, Hometown, O-Kay For Sound, Along The River With You, Life Begins At Oxford Circus.
Special note: this selection occupies two sides of an HMV 78 rpm record, with each identified as either ‘side one’ or ‘side two’. Listening carefully to the music there is reasonable doubt that the sides may have been labelled incorrectly at some stage between the original arrangement and the final pressing of the disc. The opening of ‘side two’ on the 78 is more impressive than the beginning of ‘side one’, and the final tune on ‘side one’ reaches a far more dramatic finale than its counterpart on ‘side two’. Therefore it has been decided to reverse the playing order of the sides on this CD which it is hoped will make the entire selection musically more enjoyable.
"Hit The Deck" – Selection (Vincent Youmans)
Join The Navy; Harbour Of My Heart; Nothing Could Be Sweeter; Sometimes I’m Happy; Shore Leave; Lucky Bird; Opening Act 2; Sometimes I’m Happy.
"Home And Beauty" – Selection (Nicholas Brodszky)
Sing Something In The Morning, Storm In My Heart, I’ve Done With Men, No More, Mulberry Men, A Nice Cup Of Tea, Love Me A Little Today, Everybody Must Keep Fit, Twilight Sonata, England Awake, Czardas.
Indian Love Lyrics (Amy Woodforde-Finden)
Temple Bells, Less Than Dust, Kashmiri Song, Till I Wake.
"The Song Of The Sea" – Selection (Eduard Künneke)
Introduction; True Eyes; The Tavern Maid; Finale Act 1; Someone; Song Of The Sea.
"Countess Maritza" – Selection (Emmerich Kálmán)
Titles not given on disc or in original record catalogue.
All titles mono
The two previous collections focussing upon this area of the music scene have prompted a steady flow of requests asking for more. It seems that a considerable number of music lovers retain a special affection for music mainly from the inter-war years of the 20th century, and this was a time when theatres and cinemas employed many musicians in their ‘house’ orchestras.
It should be emphasised that there was no intention that these compilations should focus exclusively upon British orchestras, but considerable research has revealed that, although such orchestras undoubtedly existed in various countries around the world, it was mainly in Britain that record companies seemed to consider them worthy of inclusion in their catalogues. These ensembles offered record buyers a wide choice of light music from leading composers in Europe and America, as well as nearer home.
In the early years of the last century, silent films were often shown to the accompaniment of music provided by a pianist or a small group of musicians. The larger cinemas gradually engaged bigger musical ensembles, until by the 1920s a decent-sized orchestra would often perform music specially composed to accompany the film being screened. However the arrival of talking pictures towards the end of the 1920s heralded the gradual demise of the orchestras, but the general public had become accustomed to an element of live musical entertainment on their frequent visits to the cinema. Partly as a cost-cutting exercise, most orchestras were replaced by theatre organs, but in some cases the change-over was gradual, and for a few years both organs and orchestras co-existed. Some of the tracks on this CD reflect this temporary transformation.
It is slightly surprising (given the technical problems that must have been involved) that many recordings from this period proudly state that the orchestra was actually recorded in the theatre or cinema where it usually performed. Of course, this was necessary if the organ was to be featured, but in other cases it would have been a simple matter to get the orchestra into a studio, and in fact there are instances where a studio-based orchestra and a cinema organ were recorded together via what used to be known as a land line.
Things were different in theatres (not to be confused with movie theatres, where films were screened): technology was not the enemy of musicians – the culprit was changing tastes in entertainment. The once ubiquitous variety theatres in provincial towns and cities have become just a memory, and today it is noteworthy when more than a handful of instrumentalists support a musical stage performance.
It may be of interest to mention a few of the cinemas and theatres where some of the orchestras featured in this collection were based. The stories of some are unfortunately typical of most: from being wonderful escapist venues for the masses in the 1930s, they eventually became too large to sustain financially, with very few exceptions. Many names are now just memories, although others are still very familiar.
In its heyday the London Palladium Orchestra was one of the major British light orchestras of the pre-war years, at least on gramophone records. HMV recorded over 140 sides during the 1930s and early 1940s and many of these are of a high technical standard, aided by the Palladium’s fine acoustics. The famous theatre stands on a site which was once the residence of the Duke of Argyll, in Argyll Street, London. It was opened on 26th December 1910, having taken two years to build. By 1930 it was firmly established as one of London’s premier entertainment venues, and the orchestra was in the capable hands of Richard Crean. He remained at the helm until 1937 when Clifford Greenwood took over. Crean’s assistant was William Pethers who conducted a few recordings (he later went on to the Coventry Hippodrome); Jack Frere provided a similar service for Greenwood.
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 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 he was also a contributor to the Boosey & Hawkes Recorded Music Library.
‘Paramount’ still crops up at the start of films, and the original Paramount Pictures opened their third London movie theatre (after the Plaza, Lower Regent Street, and the Carlton in the Haymarket) in Tottenham Court Road in 1936, with a capacity of 2,568 seats. The organ installed was a Compton with ten units of pipes, together with one of the recently developed Melotone units, which produced a variety of voices together with carillon, chimes and other effects produced by electrostatic tone generation. The first resident organist, Reginald Foort (heard on Guild’s 1930s CD with the BBC Variety Orchestra – GLCD5106) was keen to exploit this new feature, and it was used to even greater effect by his successor, Al Bollington (1904-1991). The cinema was taken over by Odeon in 1942, and eventually closed by the Rank Organisation in 1960 and largely demolished. Four years later the site was used as a ‘temporary’ car park, and the lower sections of the auditorium’s walls could be seen, still showing traces of the original peeling and crumbling plasterwork. Sadly the final remains of the Paramount were obliterated in 2004.
Many of the orchestra leaders and soloists in this collection were ‘household names’ in their day - notably the Paramount Orchestra’s Arthur Anton (who died in 1980). He conducted for many light music broadcasts over the years, and like Richard Crean he later made some recordings of library music for London publishers Boosey & Hawkes.
Paramount’s Plaza Theatre opened in March 1926, with a fine orchestra and a Wurlitzer organ to entertain the patrons and accompany the then silent films. The conductor was Frank E. Tours (1877-1963), who studied at the Royal College of Music and soon became involved in the musical theatre, although his most successful work was not a show number but his setting of Rudyard Kipling’s Mother o’ Mine. After co-writing several shows, in 1909 he wrote the entire music for "The Dashing Little Duke," conducting the orchestra and the selections recorded acoustically by HMV. In 1926 Tours was invited by Columbia to make a series of recordings with the recently formed Plaza Theatre Orchestra. His musical choice was in the light and light classical categories, rather than the novelties often favoured by some of his contemporaries, but the results were always very tasteful.
Russian-born Joseph Muscant (1899-1983) is credited with making the Commodore Grand Orchestra (also known as the Commodore Gold Medal Orchestra) into one of the finest ensembles playing light music at that time. It was formed when the Hammersmith cinema opened on 14 September 1929, and soon became popular throughout Britain thanks to its regular BBC radio broadcasts. The resident pianist was Louis Mordish (1908-1996), and long after World War 2 he was still broadcasting regularly on the BBC with his own ensemble in programmes such as ‘Music While You Work’.
The Regal Cinema Orchestra, under its conductor Emanuel Starkey, gained a fine reputation and is remembered today partly through its early recordings of Eric Coates’ music. That great light music composer Sidney Torch (1908-1990) was at one time a pianist in Starkey’s orchestra at this famous Marble Arch movie theatre, and for a while he served as assistant to the first resident organist, Quentin Maclean (1896-1962). The Regal Cinema opened in November 1928, and it was subsequently leased to a company which was to become Associated British Cinemas. Despite a stipulation that the orchestra must be retained, in June 1931 notice of termination was issued, leaving Reginald Foort (and later Sidney Torch) to provide the only live music on the cinema’s Christie organ, which was the largest in Britain, with 4 manuals and an amazing 37 ranks of pipes. But something must have been happening behind the scenes as, early in 1932, a new orchestra about half the size of the original and called "The Regal Virtuosi" arrived, again under the baton of Emanuel Starkey, with Torch as its pianist and arranger. It does not seem to have existed for long, but long enough to record five items for Columbia, one of which can be heard here.
The London Hippodrome was originally designed as a circus when it opened on 15 January 1900. In 1909 it was redeveloped as a theatre which could also screen films, and its location in Leicester Square, at the heart of London’s theatreland, meant that it would stage many top shows over the next fifty years. In 1958 it became a theatre restaurant as "The Talk Of The Town" which thrived for 25 years. In 1983 it was transformed into a nightclub, which brought its share of problems, eventually leading to its closure. There are plans to reopen it as a Casino in 2010.
The show "Hit The Deck" by Vincent Youmans and Clifford Grey opened at the London Hippodrome on 3 November 1927 and ran for 277 performances. It had previously opened at the Belasco Theater on Broadway on 25 April where it notched up 532 performances. RKO filmed the show in 1930, and in 1955 MGM used most of the original songs for its film version in stereo sound and CinemaScope starring many of its contract artists including Jane Powell, Tony Martin, Debbie Reynolds, Ann Miller, Russ Tamblyn and Vic Damone.
The Adelphi Theatre in The Strand was first known as The Sans Pareil when it opened on 27 November 1806 before changing its name to Adelphi in 1819. It was rebuilt in 1858, and further reconstructions took place in 1930. The original London production of Charles B. Cochran’s "Home And Beauty" opened at the Adelphi on 2 February 1937 and was billed as a ‘Coronation Revue’ in anticipation of the event planned for 12 May 1937, although the King eventually crowned was George VI, rather than his brother Edward VIII who had abdicated the previous December. Its star Binnie Hale had a hit with A Nice Cup Of Tea but it is the only song from the show that has endured. The music was composed by Nicholas Brodszky (lyrics by A.P. Herbert) and it is an attractive – if largely unfamiliar – score. Born in Odessa, Russia, Nicholas Brodszky (1905-1958) – spellings of his names differ - had a thriving career in German films until the developing political situation brought him to Britain in the mid-1930s. He contributed scores to several memorable films, notably "The Way To The Stars" (1945) where he collaborated with Charles Williams, who later claimed that he was responsible for the lion’s share of the work (Williams’ own recording is on GLCD 5102). Brodszky ended his career in Hollywood, receiving five Oscar nominations for movie songs (four of them with lyrics by Sammy Cahn) such as Be My Love and Because You’re Mine.
His (now ‘Her’) Majesty’s Theatre has undergone several changes of name since the first of four theatres constructed on the same site in Haymarket opened in April 1705. "The Song Of The Sea" is regarded by some musicologists as Eduard Künneke’s masterpiece. The 1928 British production at His Majesty’s Theatre was developed from his operetta called "Lady Hamilton" which premiered in Breslau on 25 September 1926. Künneke (1885-1953) was complimented for his use of saxophones (evident in this recording), then regarded as something of an innovation, and which he would develop further in his "Dance Suite" from the same period – three movements are already available on Guild GLCD5106, 5134 and 5163.
The operetta "Countess Maritza" was premiered as "Gräfin Mariza" in Vienna in 1924, before moving on to New York’s Schubert Theater in 1926 and eventually reaching London’s West End (as simply "Maritza") in 1938. The attractive music by the Hungarian Emmerich Kálmán (1882-1953 – known originally in his own country as Kálmán Imre) has been recorded many times, and in this collection it is the once famous Coventry New Hippodrome Orchestra that provides the finale. The ‘New’ in the orchestra’s name refers to the fact that the ‘old’ Coventry Hippodrome staged its final show on 31 October 1937, and the next day the New Hippodrome opened next door. It had the honour of being the first theatre to have a BBC radio studio specially built inside it, and this was used regularly for broadcasts by the orchestra on the BBC World Service. The original Hippodrome Orchestra had already performed over 450 broadcasts for home listeners even before it moved to the new theatre. As already mentioned in these notes, the conductor William E. Pethers had previously worked with Richard Crean at the London Palladium. He was still at Coventry in 1957 when the orchestra (by then known as The Coventry Theatre Orchestra) was engaged for a "Music While You Work" programme on 30 May.
David Ades
GUILD LIGHT MUSIC GLCD5169
A First A-Z Of Light Music
1 Alpine Pastures (Vivian Ellis, arranged by Sidney Torch)
QUEEN’S HALL LIGHT ORCHESTRA Conducted by SIDNEY TORCH
Chappell C 377 1950
2 Baubles, Bangles And Beads (Robert Wright; George Forrest)
WARREN BARKER AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Warner Bros. WB 1218 1958
3 The Christmas Tree (David Rose)
DAVID ROSE AND HIS ORCHESTRA
MGM SE 3748 1959
4 Durch Dich Wird Diese Welt Erst Schön (Through You This World Is Beautiful) (Jary; von Pinelli)
HANS GEORG ARLT AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Ariola 32721 1958
5 Escape To Monaco (John Scott Trotter)
JOHN SCOTT TROTTER AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Warner Brothers WS 1266 1959
6 Flowing Stream (Joyce Cochrane)
NEW CENTURY ORCHESTRA Conducted by ERICH BÖRSCHEL
Francis Day & Hunter FDH 202 1958
7 Going Concern (King Palmer)
THE GROSVENOR STUDIO ORCHESTRA Conducted by DOLF VAN DER LINDEN
Synchro FM 168 1958
8 High Flight (Eric Coates)
MICHAEL FREEDMAN AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Oriole EP-7008 1958
9 It Wouldn’t Be Love (Allan Roberts; Buddy Bernier; Jerome Brainin, arr. Robert Farnon)
ROBERT FARNON AND HIS ORCHESTRA (LP label credits ‘Jack Saunders Orchestra’)
Everest SDBR 1011 1958
10 Jump For Joy (Henry Croudson)
THE CONNAUGHT LIGHT ORCHESTRA
Conroy BM 121-B 1958
11 The Kiss (Jose Belmonte, real name Philip Green)
ANGELA MORLEY AND HER ORCHESTRA (as ‘Wally Stott’ on 78 label)
Philips PB138 1953
12 Leo (Hal Mooney)
HAL MOONEY AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Mercury SR 60073 1958
13 Moonlight On The Ganges (Sherman Myers, real name Montague Ewing; Chester Wallace)
GORDON JENKINS AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Capitol ST 884 1957
14 Noche Amour (Joseph F. Kuhn)
THE RIO CARNIVAL ORCHESTRA
Stereo Fidelity SF-5900 1958
15 Over The Rainbow (Harold Arlen; E. ‘Yip’ Harburg)
FRANK CHACKSFIELD AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Decca SKL 4048 1959
16 Parole E Musica (Words And Music) (Silvestri)
GEORGE MELACHRINO Conducting the Orchestra of the 6th San Remo Festival
HMV SCT 1519 1957
17 Quiet Night (Richard Rodgers)
ANDRE KOSTELANETZ AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Columbia C2L-3 1958
18 Rose-Beetle Goes A-Wooing (José Armandola)
REGENT CLASSIC ORCHESTRA
Bosworth BC 1053 1938
19 Sunshine Express (Jack Coles)
GROUP-FORTY ORCHESTRA Conducted by ERIC COOK
KPM Music KP 004A 1959
20 Tip-Toe Through The Tulips (Al Dubin; Joe Burke, arr. Ronald Binge)
RONALD BINGE AND HIS ORCHESTRA
RCA LSP 1890 1959
21 Unless (Tolchard Evans, arr. Peter Yorke)
PETER YORKE AND HIS CONCERT ORCHESTRA
Delyse Envoy ES 7041 1959
22 Vanity Fair (Overture) (Percy Fletcher)
THE NEW CONCERT ORCHESTRA Conducted by JAY WILBUR
Boosey & Hawkes O 2082 1946
23 What Is There To Say (from "Ziegfeld Follies of 1933) (Vernon Duke)
MORTON GOULD AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Columbia ML 4451 1951
24 Xarafes (Guy Brain, arr. Dolf van der Linden)
DOLF VAN DER LINDEN AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Decca DL 8062 1955
25 Yellow (Jeff Alexander)
SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Conducted by FRANK SINATRA
Capitol LCT 6111 1956
26 Zingara (Chaminade, arr. Arthur Wilkinson)
THE MELACHRINO ORCHESTRA Conducted by GEORGE MELACHRINO
HMV B 9610 1948
Stereo: tracks 2-5, 9, 12 & 13, 15 & 16, 20 & 21; all others mono.
If anyone ever thought that the term ‘Light Music’ described a small corner of the music scene appealing only to minority interests, then maybe the wide variety of styles on offer in this collection will raise some serious doubts. No two people would probably ever agree on the exact boundaries of the genre, which is in itself an indication of how far it stretches across other musical styles. So within the 79 minutes of music on this CD you will find works originally created for light orchestras in the concert hall rubbing shoulders with popular melodies from other fields, given a fresh appeal in the hands of talented arrangers and conductors. But do labels really matter? Surely it all comes down to whether or not music is enjoyable, and only the individual listener can be the judge of that.
When ‘A to Z’ was chosen as the idea behind this collection, there were initial doubts that suitable titles could be discovered for all the letters of the English alphabet. It was a close run thing (‘X’ was obviously going to be a problem!) but hopefully listeners will enjoy the result of our endeavours.
Our opening track will be familiar to people in Britain (and BBC World Service listeners) who remember the radio panel game "My Word!" which used Alpine Pastures as its theme during its entire run from 1956 to 1990. The composer, Vivian Ellis (1903-1996), was only 24 when he had his first big success in London’s West End with his show ‘Mr. Cinders’, and he devoted the major part of his illustrious career to the musical stage. However he also wrote several pieces of light music which have become ‘classics’ in their own right, the most famous being Coronation Scot (on GLCD5120) which was initially well-known in Britain through its use as one of the signature tunes for BBC Radio’s "Paul Temple" series in the 1940s. Like some of his contemporaries, Vivian Ellis possessed the precious skill of being able to conjure up a strong melody, although he preferred to leave it to others to orchestrate his tunes. In the case of Alpine Pastures it was Sidney Torch (1908-1990) who created the perfect arrangement, and it is appropriate that he conducts the Queen’s Hall Light Orchestra in this 1950 recording.
As a schoolboy Warren Barker (1923-2006) learned to play the piano and trumpet, then studied under composer Mario Castelnuevo-Tedesco at the University of California in Los Angeles. His career was firmly rooted in the film, radio and television studios around Hollywood, and in the 1950s he was a musical director at Warner Bros Records. He also worked on many popular TV series such as "Hawaiian Eye", "Bewitched" and "Daktari" although (like so many indispensable ‘backroom boys’ in the music business) his name didn’t always appear on the credits. Barker has also been associated with the 20th Century Fox, Columbia and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios as composer/conductor for motion pictures and television and in 1969 was on the arranging staff for the Oscar-winning film "Hello Dolly". The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences honoured him in 1970 for his original music in the award-winning series "My World And Welcome To It", based on the life of James Thurber.
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 GLKCD 5120) and The Stripper sold millions. His composition The Christmas Tree was familiar to generations of Americans through its use each Yuletide season on the Red Skelton TV show.
German violinist Hans-Georg Arlt (b. 1927) began his distinguished radio career in 1946, and when the RIAS Dance Orchestra was formed in 1948 he led the string section for a while. In the following years he became a familiar name on German radio and television with his String Orchestra.
In his native USA John Scott Trotter (1908-1975) will have been a familiar name through his work on radio in the 1930s, and on many TV shows from the late 1940s onwards. Although he worked as MD with several top singers, he was especially linked with Bing Crosby, and it is from seeing him credited as the orchestra on numerous Crosby 78s that music lovers elsewhere in the world would have picked up on his name. Happily Warner Bros. Records used his talents more widely on several LPs performing a mixture of standards and instrumental favourites including a few of his own compositions.
Flowing Stream was used in 1958 as the theme for a Southern Television series (screened in Britain on the ITV network) called "Mary Britten, MD", starring Brenda Bruce, who just happened to be the wife of the station’s controller, Roy Rich! The show’s theme was a piece of production music from Francis, Day & Hunter, composed by Joyce Reynolds Cochrane (1908-1988). Five of her works (notably Honey Child in a beautiful Robert Farnon arrangement on GLCD 5104) have already been featured on Guild Light Music CDs, but it has since been discovered that she was not the ‘Cochrane’ responsible for Call Of The Casbah on GLCD5151: credit for this belongs to pianist Peggy Cochrane (c.1902-1988), at one time wife of bandleader Jack Payne (1899-1969). Joyce’s father Frank Cochrane played the violin, but she was the only one of his five children with a talent for music. She left her home in the Manchester area to settle in Kensington, London, and wrote several attractive songs for shows and films, such as You’re Only Dreaming for the 1950 film "Dance Hall" featuring the Ted Heath and Geraldo orchestras. She contributed mood music compositions to several publishers’ libraries, and was also a fine pianist. The artists she accompanied at various times included household names like Benny Hill, Cliff Richard, Gracie Fields, Vera Lynn, Charlie Chester and Richard Hearne (Mr. Pastry). Joyce Cochrane never married.
Cedric King Palmer (1913-1999), responsible for Going Concern, was a prolific composer of mood music who, during a period of 30 years, contributed over 600 works to the recorded music libraries of several London publishers.
As a young man Michael Freedman (b. 1911) studied the violin, and at the age of 16 he was offered his first engagements in West End theatre orchestras. Thereafter he tended to concentrate more on studying the art of conducting, and at various times worked with Toscanini, Furtwängler, von Karajan and Cantelli. However, like all musicians needing to pay the bills he used his talents widely, and in the early 1950s he was a violinist in the Philharmonia Orchestra. Gradually he became known as a conductor through his BBC broadcasts, and made a few recordings for Oriole. Like so many musicians in the post-war years, Michael Freedman eventually had to seek other work, and he became a London taxi driver.
After a short spell as a bank clerk, Henry Croudson(1898-1971) began his musical career in 1925 as an organist playing for silent films at the Majestic Cinema in his home town of Leeds. He became one of England’s foremost players, eventually working at the top cinemas including the famous Gaumont State, Kilburn, and the Dominion, Tottenham Court Road, London. Henry also wrote many tuneful and well constructed pieces of light music, including Jump For Joy on this CD.
Philip Green (1910-1982), who used the pseudonym Jose Belmonte when composing The Kiss, 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, and countless mood music compositions.
Harold (Hal) Mooney (1911-1995) was an American composer, arranger and conductor who worked with most of the top bands and singers during a long career.
Another track gives us the opportunity to correct a likely error in an earlier booklet. The music for Moonlight On The Ganges is credited to ‘Sherman Myers’, which was a pseudonym for the English composer Montague Ewing (1890-1957). In the notes for GLCD5106 – "The 1930s" – misleading information in a reference book suggested that Herbert Carrington was the real name, but it was subsequently confirmed that ‘Carrington’ was yet another pseudonym for Ewing. No doubt it was his prolific output (or maybe his publishers) that persuaded Montague Ewing to adopt different names; such practices are common in the music business, much to the frustration of researchers. Ewing’s successes also included Policeman’s Holiday (on Guild GLCD5139), Fairy On The Clock and Butterflies In The Rain (GLCD5106 and GLCD 5137). Tolchard Evans was a contemporary of Montague Ewing, and in later years he told a reporter that the name ‘Sherman Myers’ was adopted because Ewing felt that the work of an American Jew would be more acceptable on the other side of the Atlantic – and he was right! Gordon Jenkins(1910-1984) arranged for many of the top bands in America before carving out an impressive career for himself in radio and films. He signed with US Decca in 1945, and eventually became their managing director. When he later moved to Capitol he created some fine arrangements for Nat ‘King’ Cole and Frank Sinatra. Happily his new label commissioned him to arrange and conduct his own albums.
Frank Chacksfield (1914-1995), George Melachrino (1909-1965), Andre Kostelanetz (1901-1980) and Ronald Binge (1910-1979) are Guild ‘regulars’ who are already familiar to light music lovers.
The afore-mentioned Tolchard Evans (1901-1978) has a string of song successes to his name, but it is for Lady of Spain (on Guild GLCD 5165) that he is best-known and remembered. Unless enjoyed some popularity in the 1950s, no doubt helped by Peter Yorke’s (1902-1966) charming arrangement.
Derby born Percy Eastman Fletcher (1879-1932) spent much of his career as a musical director in London’s theatreland. A prolific composer, he wrote numerous ballads as well as choral works and light orchestral suites. He is already well-represented on Guild CDs with pieces such as Bal Masque (on GLCD 5108 and 5137), Folie Bergere (GLCD 5128) and Pearl O’ Mine (GLCD5134), but this time the choice is a longer musical overture Vanity Fair.
The highly regarded American composer Morton Gould (1913-1996) generally arranged the works he recorded, and What Is There To Say is a fine example of the way in which fine melodies like this should be performed by a light concert orchestra.
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. His commercial recordings (especially for the American market) were often labelled as ‘Van Lynn’ or ‘Daniel De Carlo’. Xarafes was composed by a wealthy Dutchman called Van Beuningen, who used the pseudonym ‘Guy Brain’. It seems he made his fortune in the oil business, and paid Dolf van der Linden handsomely for arranging and conducting his music.
In the summer of 1956 Frank Sinatra (1915-1998) conducted an album of orchestral music to celebrate the opening of the new Capitol Records Tower in Hollywood, supposedly built to resemble a stack of records. Like many creative artists before him, he wanted to do something completely different, so he engaged a team of top composers and arrangers to create short works based on poems by his radio scriptwriter, Norman Sickel. The poems were all about different colours, so the album was appropriately called "Tone Poems Of Color". Capitol assembled around sixty Hollywood musicians for their star singer, who proceeded to make one of the most unusual recordings of his long career. The line-up included some of Sinatra's well known arranger/conductors such as Nelson Riddle, Billy May, and Gordon Jenkins, as well as iconic figures like Elmer Bernstein and Andre Previn. Jeff Alexander contributed two works: Brown and the one chosen this time Yellow, depicting laughter – this is the fifth track from the album to appear on Guild. Jeff Alexander, born Myer Goodhue Alexander (1910-1989) was well-known in the USA for his work in radio ("The Lucky Strike Show" and "Amos ‘n’ Andy") and later films (around 35 such as "The Tender Trap" and "Jailhouse Rock"). His many television credits include "Columbo" and "The Twilight Zone".
George Melachrino returns with his own orchestra for the final track in this journey through the musical alphabet. ‘Z’ is represented by a charming work Zingara by the French pianist and composer Cécile Louise Stéphanie Chaminade (1857-1944), who has already appeared on Guild with her Scarf Dance. Despite considerable acclaim during her early years when she was an extremely prolific composer, she was largely forgotten during the second half of the last century.
David Ades
GUILD LIGHT MUSIC GLCD5170
Magical Melodies
1 Melody Fair (Robert Farnon)
LESLIE JONES and his ORCHESTRA OF LONDON
Pye-Nixa NSPL 83009 1959
2 Loveliest Of The Lovely (Rudolf Friml)
101 STRINGS Conducted by RUDOLF FRIML
Stereo Fidelity SF-6900 1959
3 Carnival Tango (Joseph Kuhn)
DOLORES VENTURA, piano and the CARNIVAL ORCHESTRA
Valiant V-4926 1959
4 Autumn Nocturne (Josef Myrow; Kim Gannon)
JOHN SCOTT TROTTER AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Warner Brothers WS 1223 1958
5 Warum Nur, Warum? (Why Just Why?) (Berking; Paulsen)
HANS GEORG ARLT AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Ariola 32721 1958
6 Long Ago And Far Away (Jerome Kern, arr. Conrad Salinger)
THE CONRAD SALINGER ORCHESTRA Conducted by BUDDY BREGMAN
Verve MG VS-6012 1958
7 I’ve Got My Eyes On You (Cole Porter)
VICTOR SILVESTER AND HIS SILVER STRINGS
Regal SREG 1015 1959
8 Mam’selle (Edmund Goulding; Mack Gordon)
JOHN SCOTT TROTTER AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Warner Brothers WS 1266 1959
9 Lullaby Of Broadway (Al Dubin; Harry Warren)
FRANK CHACKSFIELD AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Decca SKL 4048 1959
10 I’m Thru With Love (Matt Malneck; Fud Livingston; Gus Kahn, arr. Paul Weston)
PAUL WESTON AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Capitol ST 1154 1959
11 Lovely Lady (Jimmy McHugh; Ted Koehler)
THE MELACHRINO STRINGS Conducted by GEORGE MELACHRINO
HMV DSD 1751 1958
12 While We’re Young (Bill Engvick; Morty Palitz; Alec Wilder)
ANDRE KOSTELANETZ AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Philips BBL 7045 1955
13 If I Loved You (Richard Rodgers)
GEOFF LOVE AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Columbia SX 1060 1957
14 Return To Paradise (film theme) (Ned Washington; Dimitri Tiomkin, arr. Percy Faith)
PERCY FAITH AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Columbia CL 577 1954
15 Underneath Tahitian Skies (Ralph Siegel; Robert Mellin)
DOLF VAN DER LINDEN AND HIS ORCHESTRA (as ‘VAN LYNN’ on LP)
Brunswick LAT 8125 1956
16 Too Soon (Robert Harris, arr. Bruce Campbell)
BRUCE CAMPBELL AND HIS ORCHESTRA
MGM E 3460 1956
17 Mine At Last (Otto Cesana)
OTTO CESANA AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Columbia CL 631 1955
18 Scalinatella (Stay After School) (Giuseppe Cloffi; Wilson)
CYRIL STAPLETON AND HIS ORCHESTRA
MGM E 3302 1956
19 Spring In Montmartre (Larry Fotine)
MANTOVANI AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Decca LK 4150 1957
20 Tonight (Dorchas Cochran; Ralph Sterling, real name David Carroll)
DAVID CARROLL AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Mercury MG 20121 1956
21 I’ll Take Romance (Ben Oakland; Oscar Hammerstein II)
DAVID ROSE AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Standard Radio Transcription Services Z-165 1942
22 Eva Waltz (Franz Lehár)
HARRY HORLICK AND HIS ORCHESTRA (as ‘Rene Savard’ on disc label)
Standard Radio Transcription Services T 239-1 1945
23 On The Isle Of May (based on the Andante Cantabile from Tchaikovsky’s Quartet in D Major) (Andre Kostelanetz; David)
FRANK DE VOL AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Capitol H 185 1950
24 Without A Song (Vincent Youmans, arr. Robert Farnon)
ROBERT FARNON AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Decca LF 1052 1951
25 Midnight In Paris (from the film "Here’s To Romance") (Con Conrad; Herb Magidson)
LEWIS WILLIAMS AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Standard Radio Transcription Services Z 250-2 1949
Stereo: tracks 1-11; rest in mono
In this collection the emphasis is on melody – in many cases well-known, but not exclusively so. In fact the opening track may only be familiar to keen aficionados of original light music compositions, but few can surely dispute its glorious harmonies which instantly appeal. Its composer, the Canadian Robert Farnon (1917-2005), was already firmly established as a master of distinctive short cameos such as Jumping Bean (on Guild GLCD5162)and Portrait Of A Flirt (GLCD5120) when Melody Fair appeared on Decca’s new release lists in November 1952. Two years earlier the Chappell Recorded Music Library made it available to professional users in the entertainment business, and in 1949 cinemagoers had heard it as the titles music for a long-forgotten movie "Paper Orchid"; Farnon regularly used Melody Fair as one of his signature tunes. The recording conducted by Leslie Jones (b. 1905) comes from stereo sessions in 1958 for Pye-Nixa while Decca still had the composer under contract. Farnon was keen for many of his works to be available in stereo, but Decca seemingly lacked interest. The project was co-ordinated by Farnon’s manager, Derek Boulton, and Farnon provided all the scores and attended the sessions. Jones’ Orchestra of London consisted mainly of the session players who usually performed under Farnon’s baton, plus seven additional strings. Later researches revealed that the composer did assist with conducting when Leslie Jones occasionally experienced difficulty with some of the tempi. Mr Punch from these sessions is already available on Guild GLCD5165.
Although several compositions by Rudolf Friml (1879-1972) have previously appeared in Guild compilations, this is the first time we have enjoyed him conducting his own music. This talented and prolific composer was born in Prague (then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire) where he studied piano and composition with Antonín Dvořák at the Conservatory. As a young man he moved to the United States where he found success as a composer of operettas, notably "Rose-Marie" and "The Vagabond King". These were just two of around 20 Broadway scores and two original screen musicals. The Miller International organisation (which embraced several new labels to promote early stereo in the USA) engaged 79-year-old Friml to front their newly-created ‘101 Strings’ in a collection of his own melodies, from which comes Loveliest Of The Lovely.
The pianist Dolores Ventura was married to Ivor Slaney (1921-1998), and it is possible that he was conducting the anonymous ‘Carnival Orchestra’ in Carnival Tango.
In his native USA John Scott Trotter (1908-1975) will have been a familiar name through his work on radio in the 1930s, and on many TV shows from the late 1940s onwards. Warner Bros. Records used his talents on several LPs performing a mixture of standards and instrumental favourites including a few of his own compositions.
German violinist Hans-Georg Arlt (b. 1927) began his distinguished radio career in 1946, and when Werner Müller’s RIAS Dance Orchestra was formed in 1948 he led the string section for a while. In the following years he became a familiar name on German radio and television with his String Orchestra. The arranger of Warum Nur, Warum is not credited, but the distinctive string sound is similar to recordings by Müller during the 1950s.
Buddy Bregman (b. 1930), A&R Manager of the fledgling Verve Records label, took his orchestra into Studio A at Capitol Records on 20 & 21 March 1957 and conducted an album honouring arranger Conrad Salinger (1901-1961). Such was Bregman’s esteem for him that he retitled his orchestra ‘The Conrad Salinger Orchestra Conducted by Buddy Bregman’ for the LP "Conrad Salinger – A Lovely Afternoon". Long Ago And Far Away (from the film "Cover Girl") is the eighth track from those sessions to appear on Guild.
Victor Marlborough Silvester OBE (1900-1978) sold over 75 million records from the 1930s to the 1980s. His style of music for ballroom dancing relied upon a solo violin (usually Oscar Grasso), two pianos and a strong rhythm section. In the 1950s he became a television personality, and his record company realised that his music ought to appeal to listeners, as well as dancers. So strings were added and his recording career entered a new phase. Cole Porter’s I’ve Got My Eyes On You is a typical example of the ‘new’ Victor Silvester.
Frank Chacksfield (1914-1995) conducted one of the finest light orchestras in the world, and during his long recording career with Decca alone, it is estimated that his albums sold more than 20 million copies. In total he made more than 150 long-playing albums which were released in many countries, especially in Europe, Japan and Australia as well as Britain and America.
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. I’m Thru With Love is a typical example of the hundreds of tasteful arrangements he created during his long career. In 1971 the Trustees of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences gave him its Trustees Award.
George Melachrino (1909-1965), Andre Kostelanetz (1901-1980), Geoff Love (1917-1991), Percy Faith (1908-1976) and Dolf van der Linden (1915-1999) are Guild ‘regulars’ who are already familiar to light music lovers.
Bruce Campbell was one of several writers who owed much to his association with Robert Farnon. He was a fellow Canadian, who actually came to Britain some years before Farnon, and played trombone with various British bands during the 1930s including Ambrose, Jack Harris, Jack Hylton, Sid Millward, Hugo Rignold and Lew Stone. Campbell assisted Farnon on his post-war BBC radio shows, and was on hand to replace Wally Stott as MD for "The Goon Show" on those occasions when Wally wasn’t available. Later Bruce became a frequent contributor to various mood music libraries. His US LP "Lovelight" (from which comes Too Soon) is very rare, and makes one wonder why he was not invited to make other albums in a similar style.
Although born in Brescia, Italy, Otto Cesana (1899-1980) spent much of his career in California, and was especially active in radio and films during the 1940s and 1950s.
During the 1950s and 1960s, Cyril Stapleton (1914-1974) was a well-known orchestra leader in Britain and overseas, thanks to his regular BBC broadcasts and his many recordings.
Annunzio Paolo Mantovani (1905-1980) became the conductor of one of the most famous light orchestras 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 worldwide acclaim.
David Carroll (1913-2008) – real name Rodell Walter ‘Nook’ Schreier – was well-known in his native USA as a conductor and arranger. He was also a successful composer, with his songs accepted by leading singers such as Sarah Vaughan, Vic Damone and Patti Page. Born in Chicago, his early career was centred on local ballrooms and radio stations. He played saxophone, but it was his talent as an arranger that created most interest among fellow musicians. Gradually he became known in wider music circles following a move to New York to work in radio on the "Lucky Strike All-Time Hit Parade"; 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 formed his own orchestra which recorded over 20 albums, often with a dance or percussion theme, reflecting his musical roots. When stereo arrived he embraced it enthusiastically, and gained recognition by some as one of the pioneers of this new marvel. 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. During his long career David Carroll was active in several organisations within the music profession, and served a term as President of The National Association of the Recording Arts and Sciences, which is best known for its annual Grammy Awards to recording artists. His attractive instrumentals have already been featured on many previous Guild Light Music CDs, and on this occasion ‘Ralph Sterling’ conceals his true identity as the co-composer of Tonight. Like so many A&R Managers, he probably felt more comfortable using pseudonyms to disguise the extent to which he promoted his own compositions on his recordings.
London-born David Rose (1910-1990) became one of the truly great light orchestra leaders in the USA. More than 30 of his recordings have already graced Guild Light Music CDs, but this time I’ll Take Romance is something special, because it dates from the period just before he became world famous through Holiday For Strings (on Guild GLCD5120). The distinctive Rose string sound is already clearly apparent.
Russian-born violinist Harry Horlick (1896-1970) was the conductor of one of early American radio’s most popular salon orchestras, largely due to his regular appearances on the long-running "A & P Gypsies" show from 1924 to 1936. When this series ended, Decca signed him for almost twenty sets of 78s featuring what has been described as ‘musically sturdy, if somewhat careful, albums, with a number devoted to popular and theatre music’. Such descriptions certainly apply to the recording of Franz Lehár’s Eva Waltz, which Horlick recorded for Standard Radio Transcription Services in 1945, using the pseudonym ‘Rene Savard’.
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. In the 1950s his own Hollywood orchestra, called "Music of the Century", played frequently at the Hollywood Palladium. His many motion picture scores included the following which were all nominated for Oscars: the Doris Day/Rock Hudson comedy "Pillow Talk" (1959), "Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte" (1964), "Cat Ballou" (1965), and "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" (1967). Frank also appeared as a character actor in several US television series, such as "I Dream of Jeannie", "Bonanza" and "Petticoat Junction". For many years – probably well into the 1950s – the BBC in Britain banned dance bands and light orchestras playing adaptations of classical works, but this did not apply in the USA. Frank De Vol’s arrangement of the Tchaikovsky Andante Cantabile, which was retitled On The Isle Of May would certainly have been caught up in the BBC ban. Is it wrong to make classical music more readily accessible to listeners who might otherwise not hear it? Individuals must make up their own minds on that contentious subject!
Without A Song is a prime example of the kind of popular arrangement that Robert Farnon perfected while he was with the Canadian Band of the Allied Expeditionary Forces. The opening track in this collection illustrates how quickly he moved on to concentrate more on composing, but it is good to remind ourselves how brilliantly he handled all the various sections of his early concert orchestra (essentially a dance band with strings, as Paul Weston observed about his own similar outfit).
To complete this CD we turn to another rare recording from the Standard Radio Transcription Service in the USA. Lewis Williams conducts a time-locked and wonderfully corny version of Midnight In Paris from an unmemorable 1935 comedy musical "Here’s To Romance". Perhaps the most notable fact about the film is that the title song was the subject on a court case in 1939 for alleged plagiarism. The UCLA Film and Television Archives possess a nitrate print of the film, but it is not on the list for preservation. At least one of the tunes will survive via this Guild CD!
David Ades
GUILD LIGHT MUSIC GLCD5164
A Trip To The Library
1 Livin’ It Up (Harry Rabinowitz)
THE CONNAUGHT LIGHT ORCHESTRA
Conroy BM 153-B 1958
2 The Girl From Corsica (Trevor Duncan, real name Leonard Charles Trebilco)
NEW CONCERT ORCHESTRA Conducted by CEDRIC DUMONT
Boosey & Hawkes OT 2316 1958
3 Jacaranda Melody (Paul Dubois, real name Clive Richardson)
DANISH STATE RADIO ORCHESTRA Conducted by ROBERT FARNON
(on 78 label as ‘Melodi Light Orchestra Conducted by Ole Jensen’)
Chappell C 544 1956
4 Popsy (Bruce Campbell)
THE GROSVENOR STUDIO ORCHESTRA Conducted by DOLF VAN DER LINDEN
Synchro FM 177 1958
5 Helicopter Journey (Jack Beaver)
STUTTGART RADIO ORCHESTRA Conducted by KURT REHFELD
(on 78 label as ‘The Crawford Light Orchestra’)
Josef Weinberger Theme Music JW 163 1958
6 Country Canter (Ivor Slaney)
HUDSON ENSEMBLE Conducted by WALTER WARREN (real name MEYER DE WOLFE)
De Wolfe DW 2581 1956
7 Dinner At Chasons (Norrie Paramor)
THE CONNAUGHT LIGHT ORCHESTRA
Conroy BM 146-B 1958
8 Stardom (Robert Farnon)
DANISH STATE RADIO ORCHESTRA Conducted by ROBERT FARNON
(on 78 label as ‘Melodi Light Orchestra Conducted by Ole Jensen’)
Chappell C 547 1956
9 Fiddlers’ Frivol (Kurt Rehfeld)
STUTTGART RADIO ORCHESTRA Conducted by KURT REHFELD
(on 78 label as ‘Lansdowne Light Orchestra’)
Impress IA 155-B 1956
10 Tele-Ski (Roger Roger)
ROGER ROGER AND HIS CHAMPS ELYSEES ORCHESTRA
Chappell C 517 1955
11 Sunday Driver (Peter Dennis, real name Dennis Alfred Berry)
SYMPHONIA ORCHESTRA Conducted by THEO ARDEN
CBL 356 1954
12 Children’s Hour (Ronald Hanmer)
L’ORCHESTRE DEVEREAUX Conducted by GEORGES DEVEREAUX
Francis, Day & Hunter FDH 078 1952
13 Serenade To The Moon (Henry Croudson)
THE LOUIS VOSS GRAND ORCHESTRA
Bosworth BC 1239 1950
14 Remembrance (Pat Lynn)
BOSWORTH’S DANCE ORCHESTRA
Bosworth BC 1248 1950
15 Dance Of The Dew Fairy (Edward White)
LONDON PROMENADE ORCHESTRA Conducted by WALTER COLLINS
Paxton PR 448 1948
16 Bromsgrove Fair (Leslie Bridgewater)
NEW CENTURY ORCHESTRA Conducted by SIDNEY TORCH
Francis, Day & Hunter FDH 013 recorded 29 October 1946
17 Come Landlord Fill The Flowing Bowl – Juke Box Fantasy (Trad. arr. George Melachrino)
MELACHRINO ORCHESTRA Conducted by GEORGE MELACHRINO
EMI Mood Music EPX 014 1947
A short vocal section has been edited out of this recording
18 Overture To An Italian Comedy (Arthur Benjamin)
NEW CONCERT ORCHESTRA Conducted by STANFORD ROBINSON
Boosey & Hawkes O 2080 1946
19 A Love Song (Haydn Wood)
QUEEN’S HALL LIGHT ORCHESTRA Conducted by CHARLES WILLIAMS
Chappell C 243 1945
20 Clown With A Tambourine (Montague Ewing)
LONDON CONCERT ORCHESTRA
Bosworth BC 1165 1943
21 The Invaders (Charles Williams)
QUEEN’S HALL LIGHT ORCHESTRA Conducted by CHARLES WILLIAMS
Chappell C 101 1942
22 Ten Days Leave (Charles Williams)
QUEEN’S HALL LIGHT ORCHESTRA Conducted by CHARLES WILLIAMS
Chappell C 131 1942
23 Fighter Command (Frank Tapp)
WEST END CELEBRITY ORCHESTRA
Bosworth BC 1133 1942
My Native Heath – Suite (Arthur Wood)
24 Knaresboro Status
25 Ilkley Tarn
26 Barwick Green
REGENT CONCERT ORCHESTRA Conducted by WILLIAM HODGSON
Boosey & Hawkes BH 1928 1939
27 In Buddah’s Realm (José Armandola, real name Willi Lautenschläger)
REGENT CLASSIC ORCHESTRA
Bosworth BC 1060 1938
28 Life’s Laughter - Overture (Lachendes Leben) (Friedrich Wilhelm Rust)
LOUIS VOSS GRAND ORCHESTRA
Bosworth BC 1025 1937
All tracks mono
For many people a trip to their local library is a pleasurable experience, full of eager anticipation as to what might be waiting for them on the shelves. However the ‘library’ in this collection is not concerned with books but music of a very special kind, often created by talented composers who were masters of their craft. For decades their work remained virtually unknown, although its influence on daily lives was enormous.
Regular collectors of Guild’s "Golden Age of Light Music" series will not need reminding that London publishers operating libraries of pre-recorded background music were a fertile source of Light Music during the middle years of the last century. Indeed there were also publishers in many other countries who established their own collections of music aimed specifically at radio and television broadcasters, film companies and — particularly during the 1940s and 1950s — cinema newsreels.
With the notable exceptions of Paxton, Bosworth and Boosey & Hawkes, few of these publishers ever permitted private enthusiasts to acquire their recordings, which were initially issued on 78 rpm discs, although some did experiment with sound film for a while. The result is that this area of the music business remained shrouded in secrecy as far as the general public was concerned. Only when a particular piece of music became popular (usually when chosen as a signature tune) did a commercial record company decide to make it generally available. However it was rare for the original recording to be issued: more often the record company would engage its own ‘house’ orchestra to make the recording, which sometimes resulted in a degree of disappointment if keen collectors decided that the commercial release sounded inferior, or too different from the original.
Recorded music libraries still thrive today, with literally thousands of new CDs being made available each year. Even more music (the modern term is ‘production music’) is being offered through the latest technology, with professional users being able to download what they require direct from the publishers through the Internet. But it was rather different back in the 1930s, when two leading publishers in England (Bosworth and Boosey & Hawkes) took the first steps to establish their own mood music libraries on records, thus making it convenient to use and easy to license. The spur had been pressure from commercial record companies to charge exorbitant fees for the use of their discs for other than home entertainment. The new mood music libraries provided the perfect answer that the entertainment profession was seeking.
Of course, early silent films were sometimes screened to the accompaniment of music specially composed for them, so the notion of ‘background music’ was not exactly new. However the use of 78s to deliver the music was a big step forward and it provided publishers with a valuable additional source of income at a time when sheet music sales were in decline.
Initially there was a temptation to make recordings of established repertoire, drawing upon the vast resources of published scores already held. Some of this music did fulfil the needs of the profession, but soon it became apparent that new material was required in order to provide a wide range of moods and styles. The outbreak of World War II in 1939 meant that newsreels needed vast amounts of ‘action’ music, not previously available.
Research by leading authorities in this niche of the music business suggests that Bosworth issued the first of its 78s early in 1937 (the Guild CD "Highdays and Holidays" GLCD 5115 includes several of the earliest discs). Boosey & Hawkes probably launched their Recorded Music Library very late in 1937, but it was five years before perhaps the most famous source of mood music appeared on the scene with the arrival of Chappell & Co. in 1942. Although Bosworth and B&H remained important players, it was Chappell that dominated the market for mood music for the next three decades using top composers such as Charles Williams, Robert Farnon and Sidney Torch.
Alongside these three publishers were Paxton, Francis Day & Hunter, Harmonic (later known as Charles Brull), Josef Weinberger, Impress, Conroy and Synchro. EMI operated a short-lived library in the 1940s which evolved into their "Q" Library then the EMI Photoplay Library. But one of the biggest, De Wolfe, celebrated its centenary in 2009, being able to trace its roots back to 1909 when its founder, Meyer de Wolfe, started supplying sheet music to accompany silent films.
Often it was possible to identify the publisher by the style of the music, and the sound of the orchestra. For many years the recordings were made in England, using the finest session musicians available. They were familiar with playing light music in concerts and radio broadcasts, and ‘names’ such as the Queen’s Hall Light Orchestra (Chappell), London Promenade Orchestra (Paxton), the New Concert Orchestra (B&H) and the New Century Orchestra (FDH) frequently employed the same musicians and studios (most likely EMI Abbey Road or Levy’s Studios at 73 New Bond Street).
At the end of the 1940s a dispute between the Musicians’ Union and the publishers prohibited its members from making mood music recordings in Britain. This is not the place to rake over the reasons for this sorry state of affairs, but the result is that for many years the publishers were forced to employ orchestras in Europe to record their music. A few of these recordings were noticeably sub-standard at first, but very soon the technical quality improved and the performances achieved by musicians such as Dolf van der Linden’s Metropole Orchestra in Holland were among the best in the world.
This collection concentrates on the publishers that were active during the years 1937-1958. Thereafter other big names would get involved, but the style of music they offered drifted into different areas as the general music scene changed, and it remains the 1940s and 1950s that contain some of the finest examples of light music in what might be termed its purest forms.
Among the special highlights on this CD is the original, full-length version of Trevor Duncan’s Girl From Corsica. Ron Goodwin’s best-selling version on Parlophone was abridged, but here we can enjoy the full sensual beauty of a work inspired by a young lady from the Auvergne, C. Gurrieri. She also moved the composer (real name Leonard Charles Trebilco 1924-2005) to write his tone poem St Boniface Down around the same time – it is featured on Guild GLCD5157.
Clive Richardson (1909-1998) was not the most prolific of light music composers, but he also created some lovely pieces as ‘Paul Dubois’. Possibly Shadow Waltz (on GLCD 5111) was the most familiar by his ‘alter ego’, but equally charming is the lesser-known Jacaranda Melody.
Mood music catalogues were often sub-divided into separate sections to assist users to locate more easily the kind of themes they required. Among the many categories were Animals, Children, Comedy, Dance, Dramatic, Industrial, Light Atmosphere, Pastoral and numerous others. Many of these are represented in this collection, and always in demand were pieces relating to dramatic subjects and industry – particularly for documentary films. Composers able to combine the atmosphere of machinery and transport with a strong theme were welcomed by publishers, and Jack Beaver (1900-1963) was pre-eminent in this field. Helicopter Journey is a good example and it was used in a 1958 film "Skyhook" about the use of helicopters to transport an oil-drilling rig to a prospecting site deep in the Papua New Guinea jungle. It was frequently screened by the BBC from September 1959 until October 1971 as a colour demonstration film.
Norman William (Norrie) Paramor (1914-1979) would have made regular visits to EMI’s Capitol subsidiary in Los Angeles during his period as A&R Manager of the Columbia label. No doubt he dined at the famous Chasen’s restaurant in Beverly Hills, frequented by the top stars and show-biz executives. Hardly surprising, therefore, that he penned a piece of music in its honour, but somehow the publishers Berry Music Co. Ltd. (Conroy) managed to spell the name incorrectly. So Chasen’s became ‘Chasons’ and the music - Dinner at Chasons - is now all that remains: the original restaurant closed in April 1995, and the building was eventually demolished to make way for a grocery store.
The tune Remembrance by Pat Lynn is an unashamed attempt by Bosworths to cash in on the popularity of Victor Silvester. In addition to being a pianist, during the 1960s Pat Lynn looked after the Chappell Recorded Music Library, and he had the unenviable task of trying to salvage many scores that were damaged in the tragic fire on 6 May 1964. As already mentioned, the Chappell library was launched in 1942, and the very first title in the catalogue was The Invaders by Charles Williams (1893-1978 - real name Isaac Cozerbreit). This coincided with some of the darkest days of the Second World War, and music of this nature was required all the time for cinema newsreels. But occasionally there were happier moments to dispel the gloom, and another Williams piece Ten Days Leave was also cropping up regularly. For many years Williams worked closely with Edward Cecil Milner (1905-1989) and recent research has revealed that Milner frequently orchestrated Williams’ compositions. It is possible that he may have helped to create the distinctive sound on both of these titles, and more of these historic recordings can be found Guild GLCD5107 containing 28 tracks by Charles Williams and the Queen’s Hall Light Orchestra from 1942 to 1945.
Still in the realms of musical history, one of the main competitors for the title ‘most recognisable signature tune’ has to be Arthur Wood (1875-1953). When the BBC launched its ‘everyday story of country folk’ on the Midlands Home Service in the summer of 1950 (transferred to national radio from 1 January 1951) it made the composer of the theme tune a very happy man. The previously neglected Barwick Green was one of the movements in his 1924 suite "My Native Heath" published by Boosey & Hawkes, and several recordings have been used by the BBC during its long run – still continuing in 2009. Wood 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, but it is probably true to say that he might have been forgotten today if a BBC employee in 1950 had not chosen a certain piece of music for that famous radio serial. Happily the composer lived just long enough to relish the fame that ensued.
The final track is the work of a prolific German composer, Friedrich Wilhelm Rust (1902-1972), who – much to the confusion of researchers – had exactly the same name as another illustrious German composer from two centuries earlier (1739-1796 to be exact). But the Overture – Life’s Laughter was created by the 20th Century Herr Rust who was born in Gera and received his musical education in Stuttgart. In 1925 he became conductor of Berlin’s Comic Opera and enjoyed a particularly busy period writing light, show and film music during the 1930s, when it seems likely that our final track was written. Following war service he moved to Hamburg where he continued to compose until his death.
The Guild "Golden Age of Light Music" series of CDs already contains many recordings from the recorded music libraries, previously unavailable to private collectors. There is still a vast amount of music awaiting rediscovery, and no doubt there will be many more "trips to the library" in future.
David Ades
GUILD LIGHT MUSIC GLCD5165Orchestral Gems In Stereo
1 Lady Of Spain (Tolchard Evans, arr. Carmen Dragon)
CARMEN DRAGON AND THE CAPITOL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Capitol SP 8487 1959
2 She Didn’t Say Yes (from "The Cat And The Fiddle") (Jerome Kern, arr. Paul Weston)
PAUL WESTON AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Columbia CS 8049 1958
3 Just A Kiss Apart (from "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes") (Jule Styne; Leo Robin)
WARREN BARKER AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Warner Bros. WB 1218 1958
4 La Mer (Charles Trenet)
XAVIER CUGAT AND HIS ORCHESTRA
RCA LSP 2173 1959
5 Shooting Star (Les Baxter)
LES BAXTER AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Capitol ST 968 1958
6 Our Love Affair (from "An Affair To Remember") (Harry Warren; Harold Adamson, arr. Conrad Salinger)
THE CONRAD SALINGER ORCHESTRA Conducted by BUDDY BREGMAN
Verve MG VS-6012 1958
7 Mr. Punch (Robert Farnon)
LESLIE JONES and his ORCHESTRA OF LONDON
Pye Nixa NSEP 85004 1959
8 Chelsea (Fats Waller, arr. Angela Morley)
ANGELA MORLEY AND HER ORCHESTRA (as ‘WALLY STOTT’ on LP label)
Philips SBBL 501 1958
9 Misirlou (Nicholas Roubanis; Fred Wise; Milton Leeds; Sidney Keith Russell)
JOHN SCOTT TROTTER AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Warner Brothers WS 1266 1959
10 Glamorous Night (Ivor Novello, arr. Peter Yorke)
PETER YORKE AND HIS CONCERT ORCHESTRA
Delyse Envoy ES 7041 1959
11 After You (Cole Porter)
VICTOR SILVESTER AND HIS SILVER STRINGS
Regal SREG 1015 1959
12 When Your Lover Has Gone (Einar Aaron Swan, arr. Gordon Jenkins)
GORDON JENKINS AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Capitol ST 884 1957
13 Le Premier Rendezvous (Sylviano; Busch)
HANS-GEORG ARLT AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Ariola 32721 1958
14 Majorca (David Rose)
DAVID ROSE AND HIS ORCHESTRA
MGM SE 3748 1959
15 I’ll Follow My Secret Heart (Noel Coward, arr. Philip Green)
PHILIP GREEN AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Columbia BTD 701 1956
16 Damisela Encantadora (Ernesto Lecuona, arr. Percy Faith)
PERCY FAITH AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Philips SBBL 529 1959
17 Sea Of Dreams (Nelson Riddle)
NELSON RIDDLE AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Capitol ST 915 1958
18 Dreamland USA (Hal Mooney)
HAL MOONEY AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Mercury SR 60073 1958
19 Marigold (Billy Mayerl, arr. Ronald Binge)
RONALD BINGE AND HIS ORCHESTRA
RCA LSP 1890 1959
20 Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Sera, Sera) (Raymond Evans; Jay Livingston)
FRANK DEVOL AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Columbia CS 8010 1958
21 Mostly For Lovers (Henry Mancini)
HENRY MANCINI AND HIS ORCHESTRA
RCA LSP 2101 1959
22 Cecelia (Herman Ruby; Dave Dreyer, arr. Dennis Farnon)
DENNIS FARNON AND HIS ORCHESTRA
RCA Victor LSP 1897 1959
23 La Vita E Un Paradiso Di Bugie (Gaetano Oliviero)
GEORGE MELACHRINO Conducting the Orchestra of the 6th San Remo Festival
HMV SCT 1519 1957
24 The Theme From "A Summer Place" (Max Steiner, arr. Percy Faith)
PERCY FAITH AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Columbia AS 166 1959
25 España (Emmanuel Chabrier)
101 STRINGS
Stereo Fidelity SF 6600 1959
All tracks are in stereo
As the 1950s drew to a close, the decade had witnessed dramatic changes that were to dictate trends in popular culture for many years in the future. Television was gaining dominance over radio as the main source of home entertainment, and in the world of recorded music the long playing record – with the added benefit of stereophonic sound - was overtaking the single disc as the preferred choice for most music lovers’ collections.
Singles were far from dead and buried – in a different form they are still a feature of pop music today – but the idea of around forty minutes of music dedicated to a certain theme had a strong appeal. When LPs first arrived they were often random selections of existing recordings, but the idea of a ‘concept album’ gradually evolved, and this is still with us today.
The Guild ‘Golden Age Of Light Music’ series attempts to offer varied collections based on a central theme, so that listeners do not have to endure too many sudden changes in style and content. Today, with CDs offering playing times approaching eighty minutes, this makes the compiler’s task much more challenging than it used to be, when just six pieces of music on each side of an LP was commonplace.
But those 1950s recordings contain a wealth of beautiful sounds that were created by talented people with a genuine love of their craft. So many LPs were collections generally described as ‘light orchestral music’ (or maybe ‘easy listening’ or ‘concert music’) which sold in millions around the world. Stereo gave it a new dimension, and this latest Guild CD attempts to recreate the excitement felt by record collectors around fifty years ago as they scanned the lists of new releases to see what new ‘Orchestral Gems in Stereo’ were being offered by their favourite conductors.
No less than nine orchestras are taking their Guild ‘bow’ in this collection, and top of the list making a welcome appearance 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. His inspired arrangement of the Tolchard Evans’ standard Lady Of Spain breathes fresh life into a tune which was once performed by every imaginable kind of musical ensemble – often with far less respect than it deserved.
The potential traps placed in the path of researchers are vividly illustrated in the case of La Mer. Widely recognised as Charles Trenet’s great masterpiece, this tune is clearly identified on the original French Columbia 78 (DC 414) as having music and lyrics by Charles Trenet; the orchestra conductor, Albert Lasry, is credited as arranging the music. Yet the sheet music states that both Trenet and Lasry composed the piece. To complicate matters further, some sources quote Leo Chauliac as having an input as co-writer. The one consistent story is that Trenet came up with the lyrics on a train journey along the Mediterranean coast in 1943, but how much credence should be placed upon the myth that he used SNCF toilet paper for his manuscript is anybody’s guess. Xavier Cugat takes his Guild Light Music bow with a charming version of this 1948 worldwide hit. Cugat (1900-1990 - born Francesco d'Asís Xavier Cugat Mingall de Bru i Deulofeu) was a Spanish-born bandleader who spent his formative years in Havana, but achieved fame in the USA. He provided the resident orchestra at New York’s Waldorf-Astoria before and after the Second World War, and he was also a cartoonist and successful businessman. His four marriages provided fodder for gossip columnists, but his lasting legacy is appearances in several Hollywood films and many fine recordings of Latin American music.
Leslie Jones (b. 1905) is another conductor making his Guild debut this time. A lawyer by profession, his abiding passion had always been music-making around his home area of Staffordshire in the English midlands. When his son took over the law practice, Leslie relocated further south, and formed his Little Orchestra of London which gained international acclaim through a series of Haydn recordings for Pye. When stereo arrived Robert Farnon (1917-2005) was keen to have some of his own compositions recorded in the new format, but he was tied to his Decca contract until the end of 1958 and they were seemingly not very enthusiastic. During that year Pye-Nixa agreed that Leslie Jones could conduct a surprisingly large number of Farnon originals for them, and the results were released in 1959 on two LPs and one EP, in both mono and stereo versions (in the early days of stereo the discs were not deemed ‘compatible’ – in other words it was considered damaging to stereo LPs if they were played with a mono pickup cartridge). The project was co-ordinated by Farnon’s manager, Derek Boulton, and Farnon provided all the scores and attended the sessions, which Jones confessed was rather a nerve-racking experience. Jones’ Orchestra of London consisted mainly of the session players who usually performed under Farnon’s baton, plus seven additional strings. Later researches revealed that the composer did, on occasion, assist with conducting when Leslie Jones experienced difficulty with some of the tempi. But essentially these recordings are a great tribute to Jones who was a modest man who devoted much of his life to creating music for the benefit of others without any wish for personal reward, and the track Mr. Punch is the first of several from these sessions that will now reappear to reach an appreciative new audience via Guild CDs.
In his native USA John Scott Trotter (1908-1975) will have been a familiar name through his work on radio in the 1930s, and on many TV shows from the late 1940s onwards. Although he worked as MD with several top singers, he was especially linked with Bing Crosby, and it is from seeing him credited as the orchestra on numerous Crosby 78s that music lovers elsewhere in the world would have picked up on his name. Eventually someone at Warner Bros. Records realised that his talents as an arranger deserved to be more widely known, and he appeared on several LPs performing a mixture of standards and instrumental favourites (such as Misirlou), including a few of his own compositions.
Victor Marlborough Silvester OBE (1900-1978) sold over 75 million records from the 1930s to the 1980s. His style of music for ballroom dancing relied upon a solo violin (usually Oscar Grasso), two pianos and a strong rhythm section. In the 1950s he became a television personality, and his record company realised that his music ought to appeal to listeners as well as dancers. So strings were added and his recording career entered a new phase. Cole Porter’s After You is a fine illustration of the ‘new’ Victor Silvester.
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. In the following years he became a familiar name on German radio and television with his String Orchestra, and his attractive version of Le Premier Rendezvous makes one wish that he had been a more frequent visitor to the recording studios.
Henry Mancini (born Enrico Nicola Mancini, 1924-1994) started life in Cleveland, Ohio although most of his childhood was spent near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where his Italian-born father Quinto was a steelworker. Fortunately he made his only child learn the flute, thus inspiring young Henry to pursue an interest in music, including a year at the prestigious Julliard School of Music before he was drafted into the US Army in 1944. Upon his discharge in 1946 he found work playing piano and arranging, and wisely decided to continue his more serious studies so that he would be well-equipped to achieve his goal of being recognised as a composer. In 1952 he was fortunate in gaining a job at Universal Pictures in Hollywood, and during a six-year contract he worked on around 100 films, including "The Glenn Miller Story" which gained him an Oscar nomination. By 1958 his talents were widely recognised within the music business, and thereafter he was offered numerous commissions for television series, films and – of course – recordings. For the next three decades his name was constantly being noticed by the public, but his prodigious output was not achieved at the expense of quality. His debut for Guild comes from one of his earliest LPs, and Mostly For Lovers clearly signposts the kind of mellow, slightly jazzy sound that would become his trademark. Among the numerous awards he received he was probably proud of his 20 Grammys. His most famous theme was for the "Pink Panther" series of films. Perhaps the greatest accolade was his portrait on a US 37¢ stamp in 2004.
Dennis Farnon (b. 1923) is the youngest of the three famous Farnon brothers: the first was Brian (b. 1911) and the second – the most famous of the three – was Robert Farnon (1917-2005). Dennis worked for ten years in Hollywood where his screen credits included the music for twelve ‘Mr. Magoo’ cartoons, and four humorous animated ‘Art’ films. For three years he was Artist and West Coast Album Director for RCA Records, and was one of the five founders in 1957 of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, who present the annual Grammy awards. His conducting and arranging assignments included albums with Harry Belafonte, Tony Martin, Gogi Grant, George Shearing and the Four Freshmen. Among his own LPs are ‘Caution Men Swinging’, ‘Enchanted Woods’ (from which comes his unusual, yet appealing arrangement of Cecelia) and ‘Magoo in Hi-Fi’. He came to Europe in 1962, composing a large body of production music and working on TV series such as ‘Bat Out Of Hell’, ‘Spy Trap’ and ‘Bouquet of Barbed Wire’. He scored the 1966 Tony Curtis film "Drop Dead Darling" which was renamed "Arrivederci Baby" for its US release. Dennis now lives in The Netherlands, where he continues to compose and teach.
101 Strings was a name which seems to have been the brainchild of American record company executive David L. Miller, initially employing the arranging, composing and conducting talents of Monty Kelly, Joseph Kuhn and Robert Lowden. The first recordings took place in Hamburg in 1957, using the North West German Radio Orchestra conducted by Wilhelm Stephan. In 1958 the market was literally flooded with over 20 albums, some featuring recycled material from earlier productions under names such as the New World Theatre Orchestra and the Rio Carnival Orchestra. As years went by recordings were made in many different countries (especially England) with top arrangers and conductors often working anonymously. The ‘101 Strings’ brand is still a big success today through constant reissues of old recordings, although the originator David L. Miller sold the franchise in 1964.
The other orchestras on this CD have all previously featured on Guild CDs, so it is only fair that the nine newcomers should be spotlighted in the notes this time.
David Ades
GUILD LIGHT MUSIC GLCD5166
Highly Strung
1 Pops Polka (Jack Mason)
BOSTON ‘POPS’ ORCHESTRA Conducted by ARTHUR FIEDLER
RCA LM 1985 1956
2 Ring Ding (Steve Race)
THE KNIGHTSBRIDGE STRINGS
Top Rank 45-JAR 272 1959
3 Highly Strung (George French)
GROUP-FORTY ORCHESTRA Conducted by ERIC COOK
KPM 008 1959
4 Song Of Lisbon (Sempre Que Lisboa Canta) (Carlos Rocha)
ERIC JUPP AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Columbia DB 3926 1957
5 Paris Pullman (Roger Roger)
THE PARIS STUDIO ORCHESTRA Conducted by PHILIPPE PARES
Synchro FM 237 1959
6 Sapphire (theme from the film) (Philip Green)
PINEWOOD STUDIO ORCHESTRA Conducted by PHILIP GREEN featuring JOHNNY DANKWORTH, saxophone
Top Rank 45-JAR 112 1959
7 Le Soir (I’d Love To Fall Asleep) (Louis Felix Marie Gasté)
BORIS SARBEK AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Epic LN 3317 1956
8 Afraid To Dream (Mack Gordon; Harry Revel, arr. Ronald Binge)
RONALD BINGE AND HIS ORCHESTRA
RCA LPM 1458 1957
9 Jack In The Box (Fred Hartley)
FRED HARTLEY AND HIS MUSIC
Chappell C 659B 1959
10 Gay Spirits (David Rose)
DAVID ROSE AND HIS ORCHESTRA
M-G-M MGM-C 788 1959
11 Sheerline (Kurt Schick)
THE SYMPHONIA ORCHESTRA Conducted by CURT ANDERSEN
Harmonic/Charles Brull CBL 437 1959
12 Little Miss Molly (Robert Farnon)
TELECAST ORCHESTRA Conducted by ROBERT FARNON
Chappell C 660B 1959
13 Stumbling (Zes Confrey)
MORTON GOULD AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Columbia ML 4796 1957
14 Cry Of The Wild Goose (Terry Gilkyson, arr. Philip Green)
PHILIP GREEN AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Top Rank RX 3013 1959
15 Whirlwind (Otto Cesana)
OTTO CESANA AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Columbia CL 631 1955
16 Life In New York (Bernie Wayne, real name Bernard Weitzner)
MONTY KELLY AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Essex ESLP 208 1955
17 Sunshine Beguine (Frank Chacksfield)
THE SYMPHONIA ORCHESTRA Conducted by CURT ANDERSEN
Harmonic/Charles Brull CBL 437 1959
18 Gigue Ecossaise (Scottish Jig) (Gérard Calvi, real name Grégoire Elie Krettly)
GÉRARD CALVI AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Pye NPL 28003 1958
19 Sentimental Magic (Paul Dubois, real name Clive Richardson)
TELECAST ORCHESTRA Conducted by CHARLES WILLIAMS
Chappell C 671B 1959
20 All Strung Up (Ron Goodwin)
RON GOODWIN AND HIS CONCERT ORCHESTRA
Parlophone 45-R 4608 1959
21 The Honeymoon Song (from the film "Honeymoon") (Mikis Michel Theodorakis)
MANUEL AND THE MUSIC OF THE MOUNTAINS (‘Manuel’ is actually GEOFF LOVE)
Columbia 45-DB 4323 1959
22 Limelight Waltz (Albert Marland)
GROUP-FORTY ORCHESTRA Conducted by ERIC COOK
KPM Music KP 006B 1959
23 Ma Belle (from "The Three Musketeers") (Rudolf Friml)
GEOFF LOVE AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Columbia SX 1060 1957
24 The Wonderful Country (theme from the film) (Alex North)
HOLLYWOOD STUDIO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Conducted by MITCHELL POWELL
London HA-T 2222 1959
25 Toy Violin (Charles Williams)
QUEEN’S HALL LIGHT ORCHESTRA Conducted By CHARLES WILLIAMS
Chappell C 265 1946
26 A Blues Serenade (Mitchell Parish; Frank Signorelli)
AXEL STORDAHL AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Capitol LC 6631 1954
27 Perpetual Notion (Percy Faith)
PERCY FAITH AND HIS ORCHESTRA
RCA Victor 20-4001 1949
28 A Pretty Girl Is Like A Melody (Irving Berlin, arr. Peter Yorke)
PETER YORKE AND HIS CONCERT ORCHESTRA
Decca DL 8240 1954
29 Park Avenue Fantasy (underscore from film soundtrack "Some Like It Hot") (Adolph Deutsch)
STUDIO ORCHESTRA Conducted by ADOLPH DEUTSCH
London HA-T 2176 1959
All tracks are in mono
Our opening number is a feisty piece by the world-famous Boston ‘Pops’, who were once known more sedately outside the USA as the Boston Promenade Orchestra. It is appropriate that Arthur Fiedler (1894-1979), the man most associated with the orchestra, should actually have been born in Boston. His Austrian-born father played violin in the Boston Symphony Orchestra (from which the Boston ‘Pops’ is created for its lighter moments). Arthur became the eighteenth conductor of the ‘Pops’ in 1930, and remained at the helm until a heart attack following a performance on 5 May 1979 hastened his death two months later at the age of 84. Pops Polka by Jack Mason (1906-1965, also a prolific arranger) is typical of the kind of bright piece often promoted by Fiedler to attract audiences who would otherwise shun concerts by symphony orchestras.
It’s always a pleasure to welcome new composers and orchestras to the Guild Music ‘Golden Age of Light Music’ series, and this time there are several to introduce.
When the J. Arthur Rank Organisation introduced its own Top Rank label in 1959, The Knightsbridge Strings caused quite a stir. Apart from making some very good recordings, there was speculation regarding the musicians actually creating the music – especially the arrangers and conductors. They followed in the footsteps of many similar outfits, of which 101 Strings was the most prolific, with Living Strings also gaining much praise.
There were two arranger/conductors credited with the success of The Knightsbridge Strings. Reg Owen (born George Owen Smith, 1921-1978) became arranger for the Ted Heath orchestra from 1945, before working for several other conductors including Cyril Stapleton. When he joined the Performing Rights Society in 1954 he decided to change his name legally to "Reginald Owen." Regarded as one of England's leading orchestrators, Reg published his book "The Reg Owen Arranging Method" in 1956. He is regarded as a ‘one hit wonder’ thanks to his best-selling recording of Manhattan Spiritual in 1958. This possibly encouraged Top Rank to engage him for The Knightsbridge Strings, because some of their output was aimed at the pop market. His own film scores date from 1957 and include "Murder Reported" (1958), "Very Important Person" (1961), "A Coming-Out Party" (1961) and "Payroll" (1962). He moved to Brussels in 1961, though he continued to arrange, compose and conduct albums all over Europe, including France, Germany and Italy before moving finally to Spain where he died in 1978 aged just 57.
Owen’s ‘Knightsbridge Strings’ colleague died even younger at 52. Although one might describe Malcolm NevilleLockyer (1923-1976) as a typical backroom boy in the music business, he became well-known to the British public largely due to the fact that he notched up almost 6,000 broadcasts during his prolific career. After war service in the Royal Air Force, in 1945 he began broadcasting on BBC radio in programmes such as ‘Piano Playtime’, and he was still contributing to shows like ‘Words and Music’ when throat cancer finally ended his life. Originally trained as an architect, he played piano as a hobby, and his contacts with jazz musicians during the war persuaded him that his future lay in the music business. For a while he was engaged as pianist and arranger with the famous Ambrose band, and he also worked with Cyril Stapleton and Robert Farnon before forming his own orchestra for broadcasting in 1951. He discovered a talent for composing: in the light music field he became noticed through his cameos such as "Pizzicato Rag" (on Guild GLCD 5118); "Fiddlers’ Boogie" (on GLCD 5130 - also recorded by Frank Chacksfield for Decca); and "The Big Guitar" (written under his pseudonym ‘Howard Shaw’ for the Chappell Recorded Music Library) which BBC TV used as the theme for a series called "Stranger Than Fiction", prompting a recording by Sidney Torch and guitarist Bert Weedon (on GLCD 5126). In total Malcolm Lockyer scored some thirty films and television series, and in 1960 he succeeded Harry Rabinowitz as the conductor of the BBC Revue Orchestra. When the BBC decided to amalgamate its Revue and Variety orchestras as the BBC Radio Orchestra in 1964, Malcolm Lockyer was the associate conductor with Paul Fenoulhet until 1972.
Steve Race, OBE (1921-2009) also makes his Guild debut with The Knightsbridge Strings as composer of Ring Ding. This catchy number certainly caught the public’s imagination back in 1959. In his later career he became better known as compere of a long-running radio (also TV) show "My Music", and during the 1980s he compered a series featuring the BBC Radio Orchestra. But he first made his mark as a pianist and arranger with many top British bands of the post-war years, and was a prolific contributor to publishers’ production music libraries.
George French was a British violinist who broadcast frequently on the BBC in the happy times of the last century when radio stations broadcast hours of live light music. He contributed to many popular series ("Music While You Work" being one prime example) and performed (often as leader) for most of the well-known conductors. He also had a gift for composing, and his Bobby Sox from the Francis, Day & Hunter mood music library has already been featured on Guild GLCD 5146. This time he has the honour of providing our title track: his Highly Strung was especially composed for the new KPM Music Library which was launched in 1959.
With so many fine composers, arrangers and conductors on parade this time, it is inevitable that choices have to be made for special mention. To be fair, newcomers ought not to be ignored, and another feature of the new Top Rank label was occasional releases of film music with the orchestra’s name firmly linked to the British film industry (Pinewood Studios still flourish today). "Sapphire", released in 1959, related the story of the murder of a black music student, with veteran composer Philip Green (1910-1982) on top form: the film deservedly won a BAFTA award. Green also arranges Cry Of The Wild Goose which he conducts with his orchestra on an early LP from the Top Rank stable.
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. Two of his own compositions have already been featured on Guild CDs: Alpine Festival was included on Guild GLCD5141, and the other side of the same Decca single Adios Mexico appeared on GLCD5151. Towards the end of the 1950s he contributed several of his own pieces to the Chappell Recorded Music Library, from which we have selected Jack In A Box. This number will probably ring a faint bell of recognition among people in Britain, because it is the kind of charming novelty which he featured so often in his radio programmes.
Geoff Love (1917-1991) hailed from Todmorden in Yorkshire, and began his professional musical career in 1935, playing in various dance bands until he was called up for war service in the King’s Royal Rifles. Back in civilian life he had several jobs as a trombone player before joining Harry Gold’s Pieces Of Eight for three years. Norrie Paramor (1914-1979) was the band’s pianist, and he and Geoff were to work together very successfully in later years when Norrie was an A&R man at EMI’s Columbia label. Geoff had already made some pleasing records in his own name, but in 1959 a new sound – and a new identity that would remain a secret for many years – catapulted him into international recognition. Geoff became ‘Manuel And The Music Of The Mountains’ and the public simply assumed that this fresh, new and appealing music had to be created in South America (people thought the same about Johnny Gregory, the real ‘Chaquito’). Alongside his alter-ego, Geoff was very busy in radio and television, and he made numerous recordings with singers as well as a varied selection of orchestral albums. He was simply very good at the three things essential in his chosen career – composing, arranging and conducting. The Honeymoon Song firmly launched Manuel upon the world, while melodic trifles such as Ma Belle were enjoyed by lovers of lush orchestral music, and they could be counted in their millions back in the 1950s. The original mono recording of The Honeymoon Song has been chosen as it is considered by many to be a better performance than the later stereo version.
Another of the 78s from the new KPM Music Library in 1959 featured Limelight Waltz by Albert Marland. His full name was James Albert Marland (1904-1976) and as Bert Marland he was a pianist in Percival Mackey’s Band in 1928. Later he played with Henry Hall’s BBC Dance Orchestra, where he also contributed some arrangements. During the Second World War, ‘Musician Albert Marland’ was a member of the Royal Marines Band, where it is reported that he sometimes provided some pianistic light relief in the Mess Room in contrast to the more formal, serious music that was usually expected. Post-war he worked in London’s West End and also fronted his own band. He composed the music for the film "Sunshine In Soho" (1956). During the 1990s Limelight Waltz was used several times in the "Ren and Stimpy Show" in the USA.
Alex North (1910-1991) made his name as a Hollywood composer, yet he disliked publicity and did not entirely approve of the Hollywood system. However he received 15 Oscar nominations, and in 1986 was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Oscar for his work in the film industry. Among his numerous film successes were "The Rainmaker" (1956), "Spartacus" (1960), "Cleopatra" (1963) and "Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf" (1966). Stanley Kubrick commissioned him to compose the score for "2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968) but it was rejected, although it was subsequently recorded for CD release. His song "Unchained Melody" (from the 1955 film "Unchained") became a worldwide hit, attracting numerous recordings, and it is still being revived today by fresh performers rediscovering it. The film "The Wonderful Country",featured on this CD, was a run-of-the-mill western from 1959, starring Robert Mitchum.
The final track comes from the 1959 Billy Wilder comedy "Some Like It Hot", which regularly turns up on lists of peoples’ most favourite films of all time. Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis reputedly had to contend with Marilyn Monroe’s occasional erratic acting, although it doesn’t show. Veteran Hollywood musical director Adolph Deutsch (1897-1980) created just the right 1920s atmosphere, and Park Avenue Fantasy (with an appropriate period sound) is used as the underscore to the zany antics on-screen. Deutsch (who was born in London, England) went on to work on another Billy Wilder comedy "The Apartment" in 1960, then retired a year later. He had previously been involved as arranger, composer and/or conductor on some of the best Hollywood films of the 1950s, winning Oscars for "Seven Brides For Seven Brothers" (1954) and "Oklahoma!" (1955).
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 2009
For 2009:
GUILD LIGHT MUSIC GLCD 5161
European Tour
1 Voice Of London (Charles Williams)
CHARLES WILLIAMS AND HIS CONCERT ORCHESTRA
Columbia DB 2295 1946
2 Comin’ Thru’ The Rye (trad. arr. Robert Farnon); My Love Is Like A Red, Red Rose (trad. arr. Robert Farnon) (from the Suite "From the Highlands")
ROBERT FARNON AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Decca LK 4220 1958
3 Rhondda Rhapsody (Rhapsody of Love) (Mai Jones)
THE MELACHRINO ORCHESTRA Conducted by GEORGE MELACHRINO
HMV B 10138 1951
4 The Irish Have A Great Day Tonight (Victor Herbert)
MANTOVANI AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Decca LK 4060 1953
5 Continental Galop (Clive Richardson)
DANISH STATE RADIO ORCHESTRA Conducted by ROBERT FARNON (as ‘Melodi Light Orchestra Conducted by Ole Jensen)
Chappell C 578 1957
6 Tivoli-Melodie (Take Me Dreaming) (Heino Gaze)
WERNER MÜLLER AND HIS ORCHESTRA (as ‘Ricardo Santos and his Cascading Strings’)
Polydor 46091 LPHM 1958
7 Luxembourg Waltz (Geoffrey Everitt; Frederick Peter Hargreaves)
FRANK CHACKSFIELD AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Decca 45-F 11052 1958
8 Fiesta In Seville (David Rose)
DAVID ROSE AND HIS ORCHESTRA
M-G-M MGM 644 1953
9 La Seine (The River Seine) (Guy Pierre M.L. LaFarge; Flavien Monod)
THE PARIS THEATRE ORCHESTRA
Stereo Fidelity SF 2500 1958
10 The Lights Of Lisbon (Tony Osborne)
TONY OSBORNE AND HIS DANCING STRINGS
HMV 45-POP 439 1958
11 When It’s Spring In Baden-Baden (Wenn es in Baden-Baden Frühling est) (Rolf Arland)
BADEN-BADEN SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Conducted by HANS ROSBAUD
Ariola 36 809 C 1958
12 Copenhagen Polka (Joseph Thobrither)
THE MELACHRINO ORCHESTRA Conducted by GEORGE MELACHRINO
HMV B 10738 1954
13 Roman Holiday (David Rose)
DAVID ROSE AND HIS ORCHESTRA
M-G-M D 149 1957
14 The Beautiful Girls Of Vienna (J. Fred Coots)
DAVID CARROLL AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Mercury MEP 9518 1957
15 Passe Partout introducing El Gato Montes (from "Around The World In Eighty Days") (Victor Young)
THE CINEMA SOUND STAGE ORCHESTRA
Stereo Fidelity SF-2800 1958
16 Maids Of Madrid (Clyde Hamilton, real name Cyril Stapleton)
CYRIL STAPLETON AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Decca 45-F 10793 1956
17 Swiss Holiday (Joe Leahy)
JOE LEAHY AND HIS ORCHESTRA
W & G WG-SPN 280 1957
18 Spanish Affair (Cortez)
PHILIP GREEN AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Parlophone R 3760 1953
19 Under Paris Skies (Sous Le Ciel De Paris) (Waltz of Paree) (Hubert Giraud)
MONTY KELLY AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Essex ESLP 203 1955
20 Swedish Polka (Roslagsvår) (Springtime in Roslagen) (Hugo Emil Alfvén)
Orchestra Conducted by HUGO ALFVÉN
Philips PB 737 1957
21 Café Mozart Waltz (from the film "The Third Man") (Anton Karas)
ETHEL SMITH – Organ with orchestral accompaniment
Brunswick O 4517 1950
22 Sicilian Tarantella (Fischiettando) (G. Balsamo; Chester Conn; Ned Miller)
VICTOR YOUNG AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Decca DL 8466 1956
23 April In Portugal (Raul Ferrao)
RICHARD HAYMAN AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Mercury MG 20103 1956
24 Sur Le Pave de Paris (Pavements Of Paris) (Georges Abel Louis Auric)
MICHEL LEGRAND AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Columbia CL 2599 1956
25 Catalan Sunshine (Frank Chacksfield)
FRANK CHACKSFIELD AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Decca 45-F 10904 1957
26 East Of Malta (Ronald Hanmer)
NEW CENTURY ORCHESTRA Conducted by SIDNEY TORCH
Francis, Day & Hunter FDH 016 1947
27 The Spider Of Antwerp (Ernest Jean Craps; Paula Maria Vandebroek)
GUY LUYPAERTS AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Capitol T 10024 1956
Mono recordings, except for tracks 9 & 15 in stereo.
Once again it’s time for Guild’s ‘Golden Age of Light Music’ series to take another musical tour around Europe, prompted by so many appealing works created by talented composers from near and far. In the world of music you do not have to be a native to express the beauty in a favourite location: the saying "the onlooker sees more of the game" sums it all up quite well. However the first four tracks are the work of writers from close to the chosen locations. The evocative Voice Of London comes from the pen of Charles Williams (1893-1978) (real name Isaac Cozerbreit) who began his career accompanying silent films, then played violin under the batons of Beecham and Elgar. Right from the start of the ‘talkies’, he provided scores for numerous British films, and his ability to create a wide variety of moods through background music won him the contract to conduct the first recordings for the new Recorded Music Library launched by London publishers Chappell & Co in the early 1940s. World War 2 was raging, and Williams contributed many dramatic pieces which were used regularly by newsreels. Voice Of London was originally a 90-second work from 1942 that became so familiar that he was asked to extend it for commercial release on EMI’s Columbia label shortly after hostilities ceased.
From England we move north to Scotland, with an excerpt from a 1958 Decca album "From The Highlands". Canadian Robert Farnon (1917-2005) arranged and conducted a beautiful selection of Scottish melodies that brought tears to the eyes of ex-pats around the world.
Rhondda Rhapsody was just a few bars heard in a popular BBC radio programme to introduce a regular feature in a show called "Welsh Rarebit". Again public demand prompted the show’s producer, Mai Jones (1899-1960), to extend her work which attracted commercial recordings by orchestras such as Charles Williams and George Melachrino.
Our opening quartet of four selections associated with the British Isles is completed with a popular number – The Irish Have A Great Day Tonight - by Dublin-born Victor August Herbert (1859-1924). During his twenties he settled in the USA, where he became one of the leading songwriters of his generation.
Clive Richardson (1909-1998) has already been featured on several previous Guild Light Music CDs (his Melody on the Move from Guild GLCD 5102 is one of the finest pieces of light music ever written) and he provides the transition from Britain into Continental Europe with one of his many works for the Chappell library, Continental Galop.
Tivoli Melodi was written in 1958 by German Heino Gaze (1908-1967) to provide a musical picture of the famous Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen. This catchy tune has since been known by several titles – "Take Me Dreaming", "Nicolette", "Madeleine" and, most famously, "Calcutta". This recording of it has had almost as many identities – Werner Müller originally recorded it as a single using the title "Kalkutta Liegt am Ganges." It then became part of an album as "Tivoli Melody" but by then "Werner Müller und sein Orchester" had become "Ricardo Santos and his Cascading Strings". In Britain, the same track appeared on the Oriole label as a single, still called "Tivoli Melodi" but now performed by "Enrico Leandros and his Orchestra". Werner Müller (1920-1998) was a bassoonist who became the first conductor of the RIAS (Radio In American Sector) Dance Band based in Berlin, which gave its first concert on 24 April 1949. It was not long before Müller began to realise that the public’s love affair with the swing era was gradually starting to wane, and sixteen strings were added to the line up. The band had built up a strong following through its Polydor recordings, and by the mid-1950s the label dropped the ‘RIAS’ tag and simply credited ‘Werner Müller and his Orchestra’. In 1966 Werner moved to Westdeutsche Rundfunk in Cologne, where he continued to make LPs – both purely orchestral and also accompanying popular singers such as Caterina Valente.
Frank Chacksfield (1914-1995) conducted one of the finest light orchestras in the world, and during his long recording career with Decca alone, it is estimated that his albums sold more than 20 million copies. One of the composers of Luxembourg Waltz, Geoffrey Everitt, was a broadcaster on Radio Luxembourg’s English service in the 1950s. We also hear one of Chacksfield’s own attractive pieces Catalan Sunshine.
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 GLCD 5120) and The Stripper sold millions around the world. In this collection he is represented by two more of his many creations from the 1950s – Fiesta In Seville and Roman Holiday.
There have been many evocative melodies extolling the beauty of Paris, and the three on this CD are among the very best. ‘The Paris Theatre Orchestra’ (playing La Seine) was one of several names conjured up by Stereo Fidelity for its early stereo releases. Monty Kelly (1910-1971) heard on Under Paris Skies was a trumpeter, arranger and bandleader who played with the Paul Whiteman and Skinnay Ennis bands before landing a job with NBC in New York. For a while he was a regular in the recording studios, and managed to secure some success with Cash Box magazine naming him ‘most promising orchestra’ in 1953. Sur Le Pave De Paris presents a young Michel Legrand (b. 1932) arranging and conducting in a style which quickly catapulted him to international fame.
Tony Osborne (Edward Benjamin Osborne, 1922-2009) became a familiar name in post-war Britain due to his broadcasts and recordings. He had played piano with many top orchestras before embarking on his own career, and composed many catchy tunes such as The Lights Of Lisbon.
Once upon a time it was common for all self-respecting resorts (both seaside and inland) to support municipal orchestras, and some – such as at Baden-Baden – survived well into the 1950s. The Baden-Baden orchestra still thrives today as the South West German Radio Symphony Orchestra, which has a fine reputation for attracting the cream of visiting guest conductors.
George Miltiades Melachrino (1909-1965) was certainly among the masters of lush light orchestral music. His numerous recordings (especially LPs) sold in large numbers around the world, and in the post-war years he built up a thriving entertainment organisation also involved in films, theatre and broadcasting. Composer Joseph Thobrither became known briefly outside Scandinavia for his Copenhagen Polka, and when the sheet music was published George Melachrino was featured on the cover.
David Carroll(b. 1913) was musical director of Mercury Records from 1951 to the early 1960s, during which time he accompanied many of the label’s contract singers as well as making instrumental recordings of his own. Several of his LPs had a ‘dance’ theme, often including his own compositions, and he employed the cream of Chicago’s session musicians.
‘The Cinema Sound Stage Orchestra’ (giving a fine performance of part of Victor Young’s score for "Around The World In Eighty Days") is another of Stereo Fidelity’s incarnations in the early days of stereo. The recordings usually employed various European symphony and radio orchestras and were linked by the name of Joseph F. Kuhn who composed, arranged, scored or conducted most of the early ones. Doubtless there would have been many more had it not been for his untimely death in March 1962 at the age of 37. He was musical director for the Miller International Co., producer of Somerset and Stereo Fidelity record albums and was well known for his recording work in Hollywood, the US east coast and Germany.
During the 1950s and 1960s, Cyril Stapleton (1914-1974) was a well-known orchestra leader in Britain and overseas, thanks to his regular BBC broadcasts and his many recordings. Maids Of Madrid also reveals his composing abilities.
American trumpeter Joseph J. Leahy honed his musical skills in the bands of Les Brown, Charlie Barnet and Artie Shaw, before becoming known in his own right as a bandleader, arranger, conductor, record producer and prolific composer and arranger. Swiss Holiday was one of his most popular compositions, alongside Theme from Studio X which has already appeared on Guild GLCD 5160.
Philip Green (1910-1982) 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, as well as countless original compositions and arrangements.
Hugo Emil Alfvén (1872-1960) is a legend in his native Sweden where he was renowned as a violinist, composer, conductor, artist and author. His composition Swedish Polka is unusual because he was a classical composer and never wrote much incidental music for film, theatre or ballet. But he decided to try his hand at writing in a more popular style during the 1950s, and probably never imagined how successful he would be. Alfvén was 84 when he wrote "Roslagsvår" (Swedish Polka) in 1956. The original Swedish title means "Springtime in Roslagen", which is the coastal area around Stockholm with many small islands. It was recorded in Hamburg (at the insistence of Philips), probably so they could maintain strict control over the session, since Alfvén was old and in poor health. Therefore 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.
Ethel Smith (1910-1996) was one of the most popular organists in the USA, and The Café Mozart Waltz was a secondary theme in the famous film "The Third Man". Its composer, Viennese-born Anton Karas (1906-1985), earned considerable fame and fortune from his appealing melodies for the zither.
Victor Young (1900-1956) excelled as a violinist, arranger, film composer, songwriter, conductor and record producer. This wide experience in all forms of music, from his first hit songs in the late 1920s to his tremendous score for "Around the World in 80 Days" in 1956, was exceptional even by Tin Pan Alley and Hollywood standards, all the more so because his international reputation was achieved in such a short lifetime.
Conductor Richard Hayman (b. 1920) started at the age of 18 as a harmonica player in Borrah Minevitch’s Harmonica Rascals, but he wisely decided to concentrate more on arranging and conducting. He worked on the MGM musical "Meet Me In St. Louis" and was put under contract by Mercury Records in 1950, for whom he made many singles and albums, the best-seller being his version of Ruby from the film "Ruby Gentry". He also arranged for the Boston Pops, serving as back-up conductor for Arthur Fiedler.
Sidney Torch (1908-1990) was one of Britain’s finest theatre organists during the 1930s. After war service in the Royal Air Force, where he conducted the RAF Concert Orchestra, he concentrated entirely on composing, arranging and conducting light music. He worked extensively for the Chappell and Francis, Day & Hunter Recorded Music Libraries, from which comes East Of Eden. Its composer Ronald Hanmer (1917-1994) was a prolific British composer and arranger who contributed over 700 compositions to various background music libraries. In 1975 he emigrated to Australia, and in 1992 he received the Order of Australia for services to music, just before that country abolished the honours system.
To complete this collection we turn to Guy Luypaerts (b. 1917), whose orchestra first appeared on a Guild CD playing music by Cole Porter (GLCD 5127). He was born in Paris to Belgian parents during the First World War and became well-known in French musical circles through conducting an orchestra called the Nouvelle Association Symphonique de Paris. This was in the era when live music featured prominently on the radio, and his broadcasts with this orchestra resulted in invitations to conduct other radio orchestras in European cities. Luypaerts is listed as providing the music for the 1945 film "Etoile Sans Lumière". He worked with Edith Piaf (he arranged her 1946 world-wide hit "La Vie En Rose"), Georges Guetary, Yves Montand and most notably with Charles Trénet - their collaboration spanned 30 years and began when Trénet discovered him playing jazz at an officers’ mess early in World War 2. Guild has previously featured some of his more imaginative sounds conducting quirky cameos such as The Sleepwalker of Amsterdam (GLCD 5131), Masquerade In Madrid (GLCD 5132), Whimsy and his own composition Chatter Box (both on GLCD 5160), to which we now add The Spider of Antwerp. Arachnophobics need have no fear; this spider is sure to become your friend!
David Ades
GUILD LIGHT MUSIC GLCD5162
The Hall Of Fame - Volume 3
1 Singin’ In The Rain (Arthur Freed; Nacio Herb Brown, arr. Conrad Salinger)
CONRAD SALINGER ORCHESTRA Conducted by BUDDY BREGMAN
Verve MG VS-6012 1958
2 Spanish Serenade (from ‘A Suite Of Serenades’) (Victor Herbert, arr. Percy Faith)
PERCY FAITH AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Columbia C2S 801 1958
3 Lingering Lovers (Ron Goodwin)
DAVID CARROLL AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Mercury SR 60026 1958
4 Ecstasy (Jose Belmonte, real name Philip Green)
PHILIP GREEN AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Columbia BTD 701 1955
5 Love And The World Loves With You (Amor Que Bonito) (Ernesto Lecuona)
RICHARD HAYMAN AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Mercury SR 60000 1957
6 Solitude (Duke Ellington, arr. Morton Gould)
MORTON GOULD AND HIS ORCHESTRA
RCA Victor LSP 1656 1958
7 Easter Isle (Nelson Riddle; Leland Gillette; Sid Wayne)
NELSON RIDDLE AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Capitol ST 915 1958
8 La Muñeca Española (The Spanish Doll) (Hugo Winterhalter)
HUGO WINTERHALTER AND HIS ORCHESTRA
RCA LPM 1677 1958
9 Dream (Johnny Mercer)
BILLY VAUGHN AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Dot DLP 3064 1958
10 Vivre (Love Of My Life) (Guy Luypaerts, arr. Ray Martin)
RAY MARTIN AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Polydor SLPHM 237503 1958
11 The Merry Widow Waltz (Franz Lehár)
FREDDY MARTIN AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Standard Radio Transcription Services P-171 1941
12 Devil’s Galop (Charles Williams)
CHARLES WILLIAMS AND HIS CONCERT ORCHESTRA
Columbia DB 2448 1948
13 Jumping Bean (Robert Farnon)
KINGSWAY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Conducted by ROBERT FARNON
Decca F 9038 1948
14 When Day Is Done (Robert Katscher; Buddy de Sylva)
ALBERT SANDLER AND HIS PALM COURT ORCHESTRA
Columbia DB 2168 1945
15 Shooting Star (Sidney Torch)
QUEEN’S HALL LIGHT ORCHESTRA Conducted by SIDNEY TORCH
Columbia DB 2456 1948
16 Elizabethan Serenade (Ronald Binge)
RON GOODWIN AND HIS CONCERT ORCHESTRA
Parlophone 45-R 4272 1957
17 Crazy Violins (Wildman)
HELMUT ZACHARIAS AND HIS MAGIC VIOLINS
Polydor 46091 LPHM 1958
18 The Kerry Dance (J.L. Molloy, arr. Wally Stott – later known as Angela Morley)
GERALDO Conducting THE TIP TOP TUNES ORCHESTRA
Parlophone E 11457 1947
19 Bubble, Bubble, Bubble (Pink Champagne) (Robert Craig Wright; George Forrest)
HENRI RENÉ AND HIS ORCHESTRA
HMV B 10052 1951
20 March Of The Pretzels (David Rose)
DAVID ROSE AND HIS ORCHESTRA
World Transcription Service 10057 1950
21 Music Everywhere (Rediffusion March) (Eric Coates)
QUEEN’S HALL LIGHT ORCHESTRA Conducted by ERIC COATES
Decca F 9157 1949
Featured Conductor: GEORGE MELACHRINO
22 Theme from "Runnymede Rhapsody" (Reginald King)
THE MELACHRINO ORCHESTRA Conducted by GEORGE MELACHRINO featuring WILLIAM HILL-BOWEN, piano
HMV C 4038 1950
23 My Song Of Spring (from "London Melody") (also known as Sophistication Waltz) (Robert Farnon, arr. George Melachrino)
THE MELACHRINO ORCHESTRA Conducted by GEORGE MELACHRINO
HMV B 10087 1951
24 Winter Sunshine (George Melachrino)
THE MELACHRINO ORCHESTRA Conducted by GEORGE MELACHRINO
HMV B 9527 1947
25 Aprite Le Finestre (Open The Windows) (Virgilio Panzuti)
GEORGE MELACHRINO Conducting the San Remo Festival Orchestra - 1956
HMV SCT 1519 1957
26 Warsaw Concerto (Richard Addinsell, based on the original arrangement by Roy Douglas)
THE MELACHRINO ORCHESTRA Conducted by GEORGE MELACHRINO featuring WILLIAM HILL-BOWEN, piano
RCA Camden CAS 10173 1958
Stereo: tracks 1-10, 25 & 26; others mono
This collection is intended as a tribute to talented musicians who have made an important contribution to our enjoyment of Light Music, either as conductors, composers or arrangers – and occasionally as all three. Like the two previous CDs in this series (GLCD 5120 & 5124), in order to qualify for inclusion in any kind of Hall of Fame there is a pre-requisite that recognition should already have been given for outstanding achievement. In the case of Light Music, if only the most famous melodies and orchestras are considered worthy for a CD such as this, the result would probably be a rehash of what may have been done many times before.
The Guild "Golden Age of Light Music" series is compiled by enthusiasts who understand that keen collectors probably already have many of the "best of" pieces in their music libraries. So you are not being offered a compilation featuring only the best known works performed by each orchestra, but a careful choice which mixes the familiar with – occasionally – the unknown. Some record companies delete slow selling CDs with indecent haste; others, like Guild Music, recognise that certain styles of music will attract buyers over a long period of time. When it is brought to our attention that an exceptional piece of Light Music is no longer available to new purchasers elsewhere, we will consider reissuing it once again. This is important, because there is growing evidence that younger people are starting to discover the wealth of attractive music that has previously been unknown to them.
No attempt will be made to compile any kind of league table. Such exercises have little real value, because music appreciation is such a personal matter of taste. It is simply hoped that the works chosen for this collection will each have a certain appeal, and be recognised as valuable contributions to an important area within the world of music which came to prominence and flourished during the 20th century.
In selecting a Conrad Salinger arrangement as the opening track we are recognising the major impact that Light Music has made in the cinema, whether as background music to heighten dramatic effects (often referred to as ‘underscores’) or in attractive arrangements of popular songs. Singin’ In The Rain is the title song of one of the most famous film musicals of the last century, and the brilliance of Salinger’s treatment of this melody is even more apparent without Gene Kelly’s vocal. Conrad Salinger (1901-1961) was first honoured in Guild’s "Strings And Things Go Stereo" collection (GLCD 5153). It is fortunate for his admirers that Buddy Bregman (b. 1930) A&R Manager of the fledgling Verve Records label took his orchestra into Studio A at Capitol Records on 20 & 21 March 1957 and conducted an album showcasing Salinger. Such was Bregman’s esteem for him that he retitled his orchestra ‘The Conrad Salinger Orchestra Conducted by Buddy Bregman’ for the LP "Conrad Salinger – A Lovely Afternoon". For these sessions Salinger recreated some of his memorable scores first heard in movies such as "Meet Me In St Louis", "The Band Wagon" and "Singin’ In The Rain". On previous CDs you will discover The Trolley Song (GLCD 5153), The Boy Next Door (GLCD 5155), That’s Entertainment (GLCD 5158), Let’s Fall In Love and I Cover The Waterfront (GLCD 5159).
Ray Martin (1918-1988) was born in Vienna, Austria as Raymond Wolfgang Kohn, and his preferred instrument was the violin. In 1937 he settled in England where he adopted the name Raymond Stuart Martin. After six years in the intelligence corps, while still in the army he moved to the British Forces Network, based in Hamburg, where he formed his own "Melody From The Sky" orchestra. Back in Britain during the 1950s he conducted his orchestra regularly on radio and television, and was also an Artists and Repertoire Manager at EMI’s Columbia label, where he produced many hit records by their top contract stars. His own compositions were among some of his biggest successes (notably Marching Strings composed under the name ‘Marshall Ross’ – one of his many pseudonyms), and he also worked in films such as "It’s Great To Be Young" (1956). In 1957 he relocated to the USA where he was obliged to modify his style to suit the changes happening to pop music. A couple of LPs he recorded for Polydor still retained hints of the ‘Ray Martin sound’ that had been so popular in Britain, which can be heard in his own arrangement of Guy Luypaerts’ Vivre.
A newcomer to Guild Light Music in this collection is American bandleader and tenor saxophonist Frederick Alfred (Freddy) Martin (1906-1983). However his name will already be known to many music lovers, especially in the USA, where he made numerous recordings from 1932 onwards and was frequently heard on the radio. He made a big impact in 1941 with an arrangement of Tchaikovsky’s piano concerto which he recorded as an instrumental. His record company wanted more, so he adapted other classical themes and one of these is Franz Lehár’s Merry Widow Waltz. For this repertoire Martin enlarged his usual dance band to include six violins alongside extra brass and saxes. He became known as ‘Mr Silvertone’ and was one of the most respected tenor saxophonists of the dance band era.
Before moving on to the final section on this CD it is appropriate to mention a few special highlights. David Carroll (b. 1913) paid Ron Goodwin (1925-2003) the honour of making a special arrangement of his composition Lingering Lovers – a sequel to Swinging Sweethearts (also known as Skiffling Strings) on GLCD 5153. Goodwin is heard conducting one of his most popular recordings of the 1950s, Ronald Binge’s (1910-1979) Elizabethan Serenade. During her younger days Angela Morley (1924-2009) was known as ‘Wally Stott’, and while in the Geraldo Orchestra she created several concert arrangements which have become highly regarded. The Kerry Dance was one of them, and another – March Of The Toys - is available on Guild GLCD 5124. To ensure that they are still available to light music aficionados, three landmark compositions are also included in their definitive recorded versions: Devil’s Galop by Charles Williams (1893-1978), Jumping Bean by Robert Farnon (1917-2005) and Sidney Torch’s (1908-1990) Shooting Star – the subject of the cover painting specially commissioned for this CD.
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. He was also in demand as a singer, and can be heard on recordings with Carroll Gibbons and others. During World War 2 he became Musical Director of the Army Radio Unit, and his 50-piece ‘Orchestra in Khaki’ toured with the ‘Stars in Battledress’. When the Allied Expeditionary Forces Programme of the BBC began broadcasting to Allied troops on 7 June 1944 (one day after D-Day), George Melachrino was featured conducting the British Band of the AEF; his colleagues were Glenn Miller and Robert Farnon (whose recordings can be heard on many Guild CDs), fronting the American and Canadian Bands. After the war Melachrino retained the finest elements of his service band to form the magnificent orchestra that went on to achieve worldwide fame, mainly through its superb long-playing record albums which sold in millions. Many tuneful pieces of light music flowed from his pen, and he developed a unique arranging style which was also adopted by his right-hand man for many years, William Hill-Bowen (1918-1964). Melachrino built up a thriving entertainment organisation also involved in films, theatre and broadcasting and EMI used his talents extensively when stereo arrived.
Our short tribute to his genius reflects upon his composing and arranging plus, of course, his conducting. The composer of Runnymede Rhapsody, 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. In the late 1920s he 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 during a long retirement he continued composing until shortly before his death. Another of his major works, the concert overture The Immortals, was featured on Guild GLCD5106.
As a tribute to his wartime comrade Robert Farnon, George Melachrino made a special arrangement of My Song Of Spring. Farnon returned the compliment with his own version of Winter Sunshine, although he was not asked by Decca to record it commercially and he only performed it in broadcasts. The original Melachrino version (heard in this collection) is one of the great light music creations of the last century. Aprite le finestre was one of the two Italian entries of the first Eurovision Song Contest back in 1956, and it was also the 6th San Remo winner the same year. Melachrino recorded all the entries with the San Remo Festival Orchestra which was released by HMV on a ‘stereosonic’ tape and, later, an LP on its International label.
To complete the collection the Melachrino Orchestra, with William Hill-Bowen as pianist, performs Richard Addinsell’s famous Warsaw Concerto, the work from the film "Dangerous Moonlight" which spawned many similar film themes in the following years, which broadcaster Steve Race dubbed ‘the Denham concertos’ – referring to the studios west of London where many of the films were made.
All the composers, arrangers and conductors featured in this collection deserve to have their careers profiled in considerable detail, but sadly lack of space prevents this on every occasion that they appear in this series. Many have already been (or are likely to be in the future) given a fair share of the limelight, and if you have internet access you can read the full booklet notes for all previous releases on the Guild Music website: www.guildmusic.com
David Ades
