Various CD releases
Boosey & Hawkes salute one of their most famous composers with a special Production Music CD
trevor duncan
"final frontiers"
THE VISIONARIES
THE VOYAGERS
THE SEEKERS OF GLORY
THE GREAT QUEST
THE CHALLENGE OF SPACE
PANORAMIC SPLENDOUR
GRAND VISTA
BROAD REACH
PASSAGE TO WINDWARD
CITIZENS OF THE WORLD
AIM AND ENDEAVOUR
THE SPIRIT OF PROGRESS
HORIZONS UNLIMITED
Boosey Media CAVCD171
Trevor Duncan is one of the great light music composers of the 20th century, and his music has been heard in numerous radio and television programmes, films and documentaries from the 1950s onwards.
"High Heels" started it all way back as the 1940s were drawing to a close, at a time when the composer was working as a sound engineer in BBC Radio. His publishers, Boosey & Hawkes, were happy to take just about everything that he composed, but his output was so prolific that, by the mid-1950s, with their blessing he started to place some of his creations with other London recorded music libraries. From then on it seemed that music just flowed from his fertile imagination, but apart from a few better-known works (such as the "Dr. Finlay’s Casebook" theme and "The Girl From Corsica") most of his delightful melodies have been ‘locked away’ from the general public in publishers’ libraries.
However in recent years record buyers have been able to acquire some of his works on CD, the most important release being the 1996 Marco Polo disc of new stereo performances of just some of his vast output (see details at the end of this feature). The recent Vocalion release of Boosey & Hawkes recordings by the New Concert Orchestra has provided further tantalising examples of Trevor’s work, and it is hoped that more will be forthcoming in due course.
Boosey Media have issued a CD of Trevor Duncan compositions which concentrates on his panoramic and scenic works, stretching from the oceans to the vastness of space. This is an area of his output which was not fully recognised in the Marco Polo selection. We should mention that not every movement of all the suites listed has been included, mainly because the professional users of production music often require only segments as ‘scene setters’ which are frequently incomplete in themselves, musically speaking.
Unfortunately (for the general public) this CD has been produced for use mainly by film and television companies, so it is not commercially available from record stores. Happily copies have been made available to members of the Robert Farnon Society, and they can be ordered from the RFS Record Service in the usual way. The compilation is the work of our good friend André Leon, and we are most grateful to Ann Dawson at Boosey Media for kindly allowing RFS members to obtain copies. David Ades
Some other CDs featuring music by TREVOR DUNCAN
British Light Music – TREVOR DUNCAN 20th Century Express (original title ‘Making Tracks’); Little Suite – March, Lullaby, Jogtrot; High Heels; Children in the Park – Dancing for Joy, At the Pool, Hide and Seek; Serenade from Maestro Variations; The Girl from Corsica; Meadow Mist; Valse Mignonette; Wine Festival; Sixpenny Ride, Enchanted April (original title ‘The Olive Grove’), St. Boniface Down; La Torrida; The Visionaries Grand March; Little Debbie Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra (Bratislava) conducted by Andrew Penny Marco Polo 8223517 (available from the RFS Record Service for £12.50 [US$25].
THE NEW CONCERT ORCHESTRA – Boosey & Hawkes Background Music Volume 1 Trevor Duncan compositions: Citizens of the World – March; Passage to Windward; Four Old Fusspots; Icicle Ride; Broad Reach; Harvest Supper; The Scent of Sandalwood; Little Suite – Folk Tune; The Spirit of Progress – March. CD also includes works by Ernest Tomlinson, Vivian Ellis, Frederic Curzon, Cyril Watters, Dennis Farnon, Monia Liter and Sam Fonteyn –for full details see JIM 156. Vocalion CDLK4192 (available from RFS Record Service for £10 [US$20]).
Tomboy (from "Pink Champagne" – Sanctuary Group Living Era CDAJA5470 (available from RFS Record Service for £8 [US$16]).
Revelation; Testament; Mob Violence 1, 2, 3 & 4; The Unwanted – The Boy 1, 2 (from "Big Screen Little Screen" Boosey Media CAV CD 155 (2 CDs) only available from RFS Record Service £12 [US$24]).
March from ‘A Little Suite’; Making Tracks; High Heels; Title Fanfares 1 & 2; Newsreel Special 1 & 2; Panoramic Splendour; Grand Vista; Transitionals 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5 (from "Archive Collection Vol. 1" Boosey Media CAV CD 32 – only available from RFS Record Service £9 [US$18]).
Peak Production; Plutonium Plant; Spirit of Industry (from "Archive Collection Vol. 2" Boosey Media CAV CD 37 – only available from RFS Record Service £9 [US$18]).
Glad I’m Home; Cartoon Capers; Zebedee; Susilu; Nokogok; Bach with a Bite; Find me There; Wheeler Dealer; Groovy Train; Mad Mendoza; You Were Right I Was …; O’Donovan Downtown (from "Fromage a la Funk" Boosey Media CAV CD 92 (2 CDs) only available from RFS Record Service £12 [US$24]).
Uncle Harry*; Eight Man Bunce; Colonel Crud* (*from "Four Old Fusspots"); Valse Parisienne (from "Archive Collection Vol. 3" Boosey Media CAV CD 125 only from RFS Record Service £9 [US$18]).
Funkrund (from "Soho Hipsters" Boosey Media CAV CD 147 only available from RFS Record Service £9 [US$18]).
March from ‘A Little Suite’; The Girl from Corsica; High Heels; Smile of a Latin (from "The Great British Experience" EMI CD GB 50 (2 CDs) available from RFS Record Service for £15 [US$30]).
March from ‘A Little Suite’ (from "Britain’s Choice" Light Music Society Orchestra conducted by Sir Vivian Dunn – Vocalion CDLK4182 available from RFS Record Service for £10 [US$20]).
The Girl from Corsica (from "Ron Goodwin – That Magnificent Man and his Music Machine" EMI 724358255027 (2 CDs) available from RFS Record Service £16 [US$32]).