Portrait Of My Love
GUILD LIGHT MUSIC GLCD5179
Portrait Of My Love
1 Portrait Of My Love (Cyril Ornadel)
CYRIL ORNADEL AND THE STARLIGHT SYMPHONY
MGM 45-MGM 1090 1960
2 Impression Of A Princess (Eric Coates)
DANISH STATE RADIO ORCHESTRA Conducted by ROBERT FARNON ("Melodi Light Orchestra Conducted by Ole Jensen" on disc label)
Chappell C 542 1956
3 I Love You Samantha (Cole Porter)
VICTOR SILVESTER AND HIS SILVER STRINGS
Regal SREG 1015 1959
4 April Love (from the film "April Love") (Sammy Fain: Paul Francis Webster)
MANTOVANI AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Decca SKL 4067 1959
5 The Prince and Princess Waltz (Dimitri Tiomkin; Ned Washington)
DAVID CARROLL AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Mercury MG 20301 1957
6 Wedding Day (Douglas Brownsmith)
NEW CONCERT ORCHESTRA Conducted by R. de PORTEN
Boosey & Hawkes OT 2223 1953
7 One Night Of Love (Victor Schertzinger, arr. Robert Farnon)
ROBERT FARNON AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Decca LK 4055 1953
8 You Are Too Beautiful (Richard Rodgers; Lorenz Hart, arr. Glenn Osser)
GLENN OSSER AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Kapp KL 1022 1955
9 Two Hearts In Three-Quarter Time (Robert Stolz)
ANDRE KOSTELANETZ AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Columbia CL 863 1956
10 Like Someone In Love (Johnny Burke; Jimmy Van Heusen, arr. Paul Weston)
PAUL WESTON AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Columbia CS 8042 1958
11 Beguine For Lovers (Joseph Kuhn)
DOLORES VENTURA, piano and the CARNIVAL ORCHESTRA
Valiant V-4926 1959
12 Can"t Help Loving That Man (from "Show Boat") (Jerome Kern)
MANTOVANI AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Decca LK 4215 1957
13 Take Me In Your Arms (Alfred Markus; Fritz Rotter; Mitchell Parish)
LEROY HOLMES AND HIS ORCHESTRA
MGM E 3378 1956
14 If I Should Fall In Love Again (Jack Popplewell, arr. Peter Yorke)
PETER YORKE AND HIS CONCERT ORCHESTRA
Delyse Envoy ES 7041 1959
15 Tenderly (Walter Gross; Jack Lawrence)
DAVID ROSE AND HIS ORCHESTRA
MGM E 3067 1953
16 Dancing in The Starlight (Trevor Duncan, real name Leonard Trebilco)
THE SYMPHONIA ORCHESTRA Conducted by CURT ANDERSEN
Harmonic/Charles Brull CBL 461 1960
17 Deep In My Heart, Dear (Sigmund Romberg, arr. William Hill Bowen)
THE MELACHRINO ORCHESTRA Conducted by GEORGE MELACHRINO
RCA Victor LSP 2106 1960
18 You"re My Thrill (Jay Gorney; Sidney Clare)
JACKIE GLEASON AND HIS ORCHESTRA featuring BOBBY HACKETT, trumpet
Capitol W 1147 1959
19 Star Eyes (Don Raye; Gene De Paul)
CYRIL STAPLETON AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Decca LK 4177 1957
20 If She Should Come To You (La Montana) (Augusto Alguero; G. Moreu; Alec Wilder)
FRANK DE VOL AND HIS RAINBOW STRINGS
Philips PB 1038 1960
21 For Those Who Love (Frank Cordell)
FRANK CORDELL AND HIS ORCHESTRA
HMV 45-POP 755 1960
22 "Sons And Lovers" - Theme From The Film (Mario Nascimbene)
THE CASCADING STRINGS Conducted by JOHNNY GREGORY
Fontana H 251 1960
23 To A Young Lady (Robert Farnon)
LESLIE JONES and his ORCHESTRA OF LONDON
Pye-Nixa NSPL 83008 1959
24 You Are Beautiful; Love Look Away (from "Flower Drum Song") (Richard Rodgers, arr. Brian Fahey)
CYRIL ORNADEL AND THE STARLIGHT SYMPHONY
MGM SE 3817 1960
25 Amor (from film "Broadway Rhythm") (Gabriel Ruiz, arr. Percy Faith)
PERCY FAITH AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Decca 23344 1944
26 The Wedding Dance (Paul Lincke)
LONDON PROMENADE ORCHESTRA Conducted by ERIC ROGERS
Decca LF 1166 1954
27 The Wedding Song (Horan, real name Geoff Love)
MANUEL AND THE MUSIC OF THE MOUNTAINS ("Manuel" is GEOFF LOVE)
Columbia SCX 3297 1960
Stereo: tracks 3, 4, 10, 11, 14, 17, 23, 24 & 27; rest in mono.
"Love like youth is wasted on the young" - thus sang Frank Sinatra to Sammy Cahn"s perceptive words in 1960, although many believe the sentiments originated with playwright George Bernard Shaw. If writers and composers are to be believed, love knows no age boundaries and most of us on the planet will be lucky enough to experience it at least once during our lifetimes. It provides such strong inspiration for all kinds of creative people that few can resist expressing it in words and music, as witnessed in this collection that should mist up the bifocals of those whom Sinatra was originally serenading. Hopefully it will also appeal to a younger generation, where wedding bells may be in the offing.
The honour of providing the title, and the opening track, of this CD goes to Cyril Ornadel (b. 1924) who rose to prominence in Britain during the 1950s, largely due to his weekly appearances conducting the orchestra for the popular television series "Sunday Night at the London Palladium". He was MD for numerous top musicals in London"s West End, and his composing credits include the hit show "Pickwick" and the song Portrait Of My Love which gave Matt Monro an international hit when lyrics were added by "David West", a pseudonym for Norman Newell. Cyril returns later with two love songs from "Flower Drum Song".
Eric Coates (1886-1957) was a successful composer of ballads in the early years of the last century, before devoting all his energies to light music. He was particularly adept at writing catchy melodies that appealed as BBC signature tunes, which helped to establish his high profile with the public, especially in Britain where he became known as "the uncrowned king of light music". Impression Of A Princess was composed as a tribute to Queen Elizabeth"s sister, Princess Margaret, who was the subject of much speculation regarding her romantic private life during the 1950s. Sadly history tells us that she did not always enjoy the carefree, happy lifestyle vividly portrayed in Coates" charming composition.
I Love You Samantha was one of several hit songs in the 1956 film "High Society". The critics thought it dull, but it still appeals to new generations - possibly due to the music from that master who also provided his own witty lyrics, Cole Porter (1891-1964). The British ballroom dancing legend Victor Silvester (1900-1978) makes a welcome return to Guild with his Silver Strings.
From the earliest flickering moments of silent movies on a silver screen, love and romance have been guaranteed to fill cinema seats. Several of the songs featured in this collection were written for films, beginning with April Love from the 1957 movie starring Pat Boone. Mantovani (1905-1980) makes his first of two appearances in this collection with a wistful performance that perfectly captures the sentiments in the lyrics.
David Carroll (1913-2008) - real name Rodell Walter "Nook" Schreier - was well-known in his native USA as a conductor and arranger. In the mid-1940s he joined the newly formed Mercury Records where he spent the next 15 years. Initially employed as an arranger and conductor, he progressed to being a producer and was later promoted as head of artists and repertoire. The Prince and Princess Waltz was composed in honour of Prince Rainier and Princess Grace of Monaco.
Douglas Brownsmith (1902-1965 - he preferred not to use his first name which was Reginald) was a pupil at St Paul"s Choir School. His first big success as a composer came in 1927 when Down the Mall - written in collaboration with Tony Lowry - was published. In the following years it was heard frequently in radio broadcasts by organists and light orchestras, and commercial recordings were made by Philip Green (on Guild GLCD5116) and Charles Shadwell (GLCD5171) - also Fodens Motor Works Band (GLCD5147). After the Second World War, production music publishers needed a vast amount of original orchestral compositions to service the requirements of radio, films and the emerging television stations around the world: Bosworth (See-Saw GLCD5144, Time For Fun And Games GLCD5125), Boosey & Hawkes (for whom he composed Wedding Day), Charles Brull (Continental Holiday GLCD5132) and Francis Day & Hunter all published a number of his works. During the 1930s Douglas purchased and ran the only bakery in the village of Ticehurst, Sussex, which he eventually sold and exchanged for a small restaurant in Bexhill-on-Sea. Apart from his music (and his love of cricket) this kept him fully occupied until his death from a sudden heart attack in 1965 at the age of 63.
It"s back to the cinema for the next four melodies, starting with the title song from One Night Of Love starring Grace Moore in 1934. Robert Farnon (1917-2005) conducts his orchestra in one of the polished arrangements that made his 1950s Decca LPs set new standards among fellow musicians. Farnon is heard later as the composer of To A Young Lady, dedicated to his daughter Judith in 1954.
You Are Too Beautiful escaped from Al Jolson"s 1933 movie "Hallelujah, I"m A Bum", giving Glenn Osser (b. 1914) the chance to shine as a conductor as well as an arranger, which had been his forté for many years with the likes of Les Brown, Jan Savitt, Bob Crosby, Bunny Berigan and Charlie Barnet.
Robert Stolz (1880-1975) originally wrote Two Hearts In Three Quarter Time for a 1930 German film, and a quarter of a century later the great maestro Andre Kostelanetz (1901-1980) gave it a welcome new lease of life.
Dinah Shore introduced Like Someone In Love in her 1945 film "Belle Of The Yukon". Paul Weston (born Paul Wetstein 1912-1996) was one of America"s top arrangers and conductors, whose orchestral collections such as "Music For Dreaming" and "Music For Memories" were to provide the springboard for many future albums. In 1971 the Trustees of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences gave him its Trustees Award.
The pianist Dolores Ventura was married to British composer and oboe player Ivor Slaney (1921-1998), and it is possible that he was conducting the anonymous "Carnival Orchestra" in Beguine For Lovers by Joseph Francis Kuhn (1924-1962).
Jerome Kern"s "Show Boat" premiered in New York in 1927, but it will have been more familiar to most people through the several film versions that followed. Can"t Help Loving That Man is one of the enduring songs from the show, performed for us here by Mantovani conducting his orchestra for his last Decca mono sessions in 1957.
Ruth Etting introduced Take Me In Your Arms back in 1932. Leroy Holmes (born Alvin Holmes, 1913-1986) scored Hollywood films and radio programmes during his early career, before becoming one of the mainstays of MGM"s conducting "team", also arranging many of their recordings. Eventually he moved on to United Artists where he conducted many of their contract singers and also recorded albums under his own name. His screen credits include the films "The Bridge In The Jungle" (1970) and "Smile" (1975).
If I Should Fall In Love Again won Jack Popplewell the first prize in a 1940 newspaper competition, launching his successful songwriting career. Peter Yorke (1902-1966) is a regular contributor to this series of CDs, as composer, arranger and conductor. After an apprenticeship in British Dance Bands of the 1920s and 1930s, he graduated to arranging for Louis Levy before eventually forming his own concert orchestra for recording and broadcasting.
Tenderly became a standard soon after it was published in 1946. London-born David Rose (1910-1990) was one of the truly great light orchestra leaders in the USA, and his compositions such as Holiday For Strings (on Guild GLCD 5120) and The Stripper sold millions. Over forty of his recordings have already been featured on previous Guild CDs.
Trevor Duncan (real name Leonard Charles Trebilco, 1924-2005) was working as a BBC sound engineer when one of his first compositions, High Heels (on Guild GLCD 5124) made the light music world sit up and take notice. Eventually his successful and prolific output mushroomed to such an extent that he had to give up his "day job" at the BBC, and also find several different publishers simply because he was writing too much for just one to handle - Dancing In The Starlight was published by Charles Brull.
Sigmund Romberg"s operetta "The Student Prince", first produced in 1924, gained a new lease of life when MGM filmed it for the second time in 1954. Cinemagoers witnessed Mario Lanza"s strident tenor voice coming from Edmund Purdom"s lips, after the producers dropped Lanza in the starring role because he had put on too much weight. Deep In My Heart, Dear was one of many fine songs in the score, and William Hill-Bowen (1918-1964) arranged it beautifully for the George Melachrino (1909-1965) Orchestra.
Jackie Gleason (1916-1987) was an American comedian, actor and would-be musician, although apparently he could not read or write music. His name appeared on many top-selling Capitol LPs, but legend has it that he did not conduct the music and his input was restricted to merely suggesting ideas that he conceived in his head and persuaded others to write down for him. It seems that it was Gleason"s concepts for each album that were the main selling points, and a shroud of secrecy descended upon the actual arrangers, soloists and conductors. An exception was the trumpeter Robert Leo "Bobby" Hackett (1915-1976), an Americanjazzmusician who had played with the bands of Glenn Miller and Benny Goodman, and solos on You"re My Thrill.
Star Eyes was composed for an unmemorable 1943 MGM "potboiler" "By Hook Or By Crook" (original US title "I Dood It"). The song managed to outlive the movie, and it is given a creditable performance by Cyril Stapleton (1914-1974), who was a well-known orchestra leader in Britain and overseas during the 1950s and 1960s, thanks to his regular BBC broadcasts and his many recordings.
In the USA Frank De Vol (1911-1999) is known primarily as the composer for the radio and TV series "The Brady Bunch", but light music fans appreciate that his career has been far more substantial. It was not uncommon to see the credit "Music by De Vol" on many films, and he had an executive position at Columbia Records, for whom he made a number of successful mood music albums. The continental melody If She Should Come To You enjoyed modest success - partly due to Alec Wilder"s English lyrics.
Frank Cordell (1918-1980) was a fine English composer, arranger and conductor whose work first became noticed through the tuneful backings he often supplied to some contract singers on HMV singles in the 1950s. Occasionally he was allowed his own 78s, and he was also responsible for several distinctive LPs which quickly became collectors" items. The cinema beckoned with some prestigious projects and he was nominated for an Oscar for his work on "Cromwell" (1970). For Those Who Love was originally composed as the music behind a famous soap powder TV commercial in the UK.
Mario Nascimbene (1913-2002) scored numerous international films from the 1940s until his last in 1982, with the most notable including "The Vikings", "Alexander the Great" and "Room at the Top". Sons And Lovers (1960) was based on a novel by D.H. Lawrence about a young Nottinghamshire miner"s growing pains, and the version of the theme by Johnny Gregory (born Giovanni Gregori, 1924) fully exploits the lovely melody.
Percy Faith (1908-1976) hardly needs any introduction to Guild "regulars". Born in Toronto, Canada, in 1940 he moved permanently to the USA where he quickly established himself through radio and recordings. Amor is one of his earliest commercial recordings, which he conducted in Chicago for US Decca on 20 April 1944.
The German composer Paul Lincke (1866-1946) became known around the world for his Glow Worm (there are different versions on GLCD5106 and 5143), but this was just one number in a large body of musical works. His waltz The Wedding Dance is conducted by Eric Rogers (1921-1981) who is best remembered for scoring several "Carry On" films, although he was involved with numerous other projects in Britain and the USA.
Yorkshireman Geoff Love (1917-1991) succeeded in so many musical fields during his busy career. Internationally he achieved success as "Manuel and his Music of the Mountains" although his identity was a closely-kept secret for many years. His 1960 recording of The Wedding Song (which Geoff himself composed under the pseudonym "Horan") provides a fitting finale for this collection of music for romantics and lovers of all ages. David Ades