A Second A-Z Of Light Music
GUILD LIGHT MUSIC GLCD5182
A Second A-Z Of Light Music
1 At The Theatre ("Up For The Day Suite) (Graeme Stuart, real name Frank Tapp)
REGENT CLASSIC ORCHESTRA
Bosworth BC 1200 1947
2 Bristol Cream (Toni Leutwiler)
THE SYMPHONIA ORCHESTRA Conducted by CURT ANDERSEN
Harmonic/Charles Brull CBL 446 1959
3 Curtain Time (J. George Johnson)
NEW WORLD THEATRE ORCHESTRA
Stereo Fidelity SF-3000 1957
4 Downland (Cecil Milner)
L'ORCHESTRE DE CONCERT Conducted by PAUL O'HENRY
Chappell C 389 1950
5 Edelma (Pasilli) (Terig Tucci, arr. Percy Faith)
PERCY FAITH AND HIS ORCHESTRA with MITCH MILLER (Oboe)
Columbia CL 551 1954
6 Fairy Tiptoe (Julian Fredericks)
HARRY DAVIDSON AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Decca Music While You Work MW 406 1946
7 Gazelle (Montague Ewing)
NEW CENTURY ORCHESTRA Conducted by SIDNEY TORCH
Francis, Day & Hunter FDH 060 1950
8 Huckle Buckle (Robert Farnon)
LESLIE JONES and his ORCHESTRA OF LONDON
Pye-Nixa NSPL 83009 1959
9 In A Monastery Garden (Albert William Ketèlbey)
NEW SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Conducted by STANFORD ROBINSON
Decca LK 4080 1954
10 Jack O'Lantern (Feux Follets) (Roger Roger)
ROGER ROGER AND HIS CHAMPS ELYSEES ORCHESTRA
Chappell C 470 1954
11 Kings Of Sport (Jack Beaver)
QUEEN'S HALL LIGHT ORCHESTRA Conducted by ROBERT FARNON
Chappell C 295 1947
12 Let Us Live For Tonight (Adrian Bernard, arr. Sidney Torch)
NEW CONCERT ORCHESTRA Conducted by REG LEOPOLD
Boosey & Hawkes OT 2127 1948
13 Miss Melanie (Ronald Binge)
STUTTGART RADIO ORCHESTRA Conducted by KURT REHFELD (as 'Lansdowne Light Orchestra' on disc label)
Impress IA 125 1956
14 No Orchids For My Lady (Alan Stranks; Jack Strachey)
ERNEST MAXIN AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Top Rank International JAR 335 1960
15 On A Little Street In Singapore (Peter DeRose; Billy Hill)
MONTY KELLY AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Trans-World TWLP 211 1957
16 Prairie Schooner (Ron Goodwin)
CYRIL STAPLETON AND HIS ORCHESTRA ( as 'Malcolm Peters')
Top Rank 39/668 1960
17 A Quiet Stroll (Charles Williams)
CHARLES WILLIAMS AND HIS CONCERT ORCHESTRA
Columbia DB 3215 1952
18 Romantic Illusion (Mischa Spoliansky)
THE HARMONIC ORCHESTRA Conducted by I. KARR
Harmonic/Charles Brull CBL 337 1952
19 Stereophonic March (David Rose)
DAVID ROSE AND HIS ORCHESTRA
MGM SE 3748 1959
20 Taxi (Bruce Campbell)
DANISH STATE RADIO ORCHESTRA Conducted by ROBERT FARNON ('Melodi Light Orchestra' on disc label)
Chappell C 546 1956
21 The Unstoppable Man (theme from the film) (Bill McGuffie)
BILL McGUFFIE, piano and conducting THE CINE-MUSICA OF LONDON
Philips BBE 12374 1960
22 Vienna City Of My Dreams (Rudolf Sieczynski, arr. Billy Ternent)
JACK HYLTON AND HIS ORCHESTRA
HMV BD 393 1936
23 A Waltz For Terry (Trevor Duncan, real name Leonard Trebilco)
NEW CONCERT ORCHESTRA Conducted by DOLF VAN DER LINDEN ('Nat Nyll' on disc label)
Boosey & Hawkes O 2350 1959
24 Exotica (Philip Green) (from "Maku And The Monkey – Ballet)
PHILIP GREEN AND HIS ORCHESTRA
MGM 180 1948
25 Young Man's Fancy (Peter Barrington, real name Felton Rapley)
NEW CONCERT ORCHESTRA Conducted by CEDRIC DUMONT
Boosey & Hawkes O 2208 1951
26 Zip Along (Edward White)
THE GROSVENOR STUDIO ORCHESTRA
Synchro FM 217 1959
Stereo tracks 3, 8 & 19; rest in mono
Just as two economists usually disagree, it would be difficult to find two music lovers who acknowledge where the exact boundaries of Light Music actually lie. The repertoire covered in this collection would certainly provide food for some serious arguments, but does it really matter? If music is enjoyable, then why do some people get so uptight about labels? At Guild we simply want to offer a varied selection that is pleasing upon a first encounter, and can become increasingly rewarding when it becomes better known, like a good friend.
Our first composer this time is Frank Harold Tapp (1883-1953) who was a contemporary of Eric Coates (1886-1957). Using the pseudonym 'Graeme Stuart', Tapp composed a suite "Up To Town which certainly contains the kind of atmosphere often generated by 'the uncrowned king of light music' when creating works dedicated to his adopted home city, London. Other suites by Tapp included "English Landmarks and "Land Of Fancy, but today his music seems largely forgotten, although two of his works have previously been featured on Guild CDs – Beachy Head Overture (GLCD5107) and Fighter Command (GLCD5164). From 1910 to 1919 he directed the Bath Pump Room Orchestra, which would have been a sizeable ensemble in those days.
As 'Tom Wyler', the Swiss violinist and composer Toni Leutwiler (1923-2009) became known outside his homeland, partly due to the success of his charming composition Lovely Day (on GLCD5183). His music was in demand from many broadcasting stations, and he was reported to have created over 2,000 arrangements. Bristol Cream is another fine example of his mastery of string writing.
J. George Johnson was an American pianist and composer who wrote more than 500 songs, although he never seems to have attained success in the charts. His best known was probably The Laughing Samba (with lyrics by his wife Anne Spear Johnson), which was recorded by The Andrews Sisters in the USA and Edmundo Ros in Britain. His composition Curtain Time came from a collection of several pieces connected with New York, from which Guild has previously included his Central Park Romance (GLCD5155) and Greenwich Village (GLCD5167). He died in April 1994 aged 80.
Edward Cecil Milner (1905-1989) was a respected backroom boy in London music circles, arranging for many top orchestras such as Mantovani, for whom he supplied around 220 scores. He was also an accomplished composer (he was being recognised while still in his twenties), with his works, such as Downland for Chappells, willingly accepted by several background music publishers. He was also closely associated with Charles Williams since their days working on pre-war British films.
Terig Tucci (1897-1973) was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, but he achieved fame spending most of his working life in New York. He played the violin, piano and mandolin, but his affinity with Latin American music meant that the major US radio stations employed him mainly as an arranger and orchestra leader. He made numerous recordings for RCA, where he was an executive producer for a while during the 1930s. His composition Edelma has rightly become a light music standard.
Julian Fredericks' Fairy Tiptoe was published in 1911, and it is among at least 40 of his pieces which were accepted by leading publishers between around 1902 and 1927. Little seems to be known of him today.
The English composer Montague Ewing (1890-1957) also wrote under the name 'Sherman Myers' (to appeal to American audiences), and he had a most successful career mainly as a composer and arranger of light music and popular songs. Among his best known works are Policeman's Holiday (GLCD5139) and Butterflies In The Rain (on GLCD5106 and 5137). Gazelle is a piece he composed for the mood music library established by London publishers Francis, Day & Hunter.
Canadian-born Robert Farnon (1917-2005) is widely regarded as one of the greatest light music composers and arrangers of his generation. His melodies such as Portrait Of A Flirt (on Guild GLCD5120) and Jumping Bean (GLCD5162) are familiar to millions around the world. He composed a vast amount of background music for the Chappell Recorded Music Library, and one of his lesser-known, but very appealing, pieces is Huckle Buckle. Around 40 of his works are already available on Guild Light Music CDs.
From the Lozells area of Birmingham, Albert William Ketèlbey (1875-1959) was a highly successful composer, who earned the equivalent of millions of pounds during the peak of his popularity. Pieces such as In a Monastery Garden (on this CD), The Phantom Melody, In a Persian Market (GLCD5120) and Bells Across the Meadow (GLCD5108)brought him international fame, no doubt assisted by his enthusiastic participation in the rapidly growing business of producing gramophone records.
Roger Roger (1911-1995) was a leading figure on the French music scene for many years, and his fine compositions and arrangements also won him many admirers internationally. He started writing for French films towards the end of the 1930s and after the Second World War he played piano and conducted a 35-piece orchestra for a major French weekly radio series "Paris Star Time" (Paris a l'Heure des Etoiles), which was sent all over the world and even broadcast in the USA. Roger's quirky compositions soon became available to radio, television and film companies, one of the earliest being Jack O'Lantern (original French title Feux Follets). His music is already well-represented on Guild.
Jack Beaver (1900-1963) was a 'backroom boy' in the music business – always busy composing and arranging, especially for theatrical productions. He has already been represented with a dozen of his mood music pieces on Guild, and Kings Of Sport was a gift to newsreel companies around 60 years ago.
Adrian Bernard wrote the words and music for the song Let Us Live For Tonight, but the credit for making it sound so special belongs to Sidney Torch (1908-1990) who arranged it for Boosey & Hawkes. It is conducted by Reginald Leopold (1907-2003), for many years a familiar name to BBC radio listeners, especially through his 17-year association with the "Grand Hotel programme.
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 (GLCD5183) and Miss Melanie (on this CD) being three of his best-known works.
Jack Strachey (1894-1972) has ensured his musical immortality by composing These Foolish Things (GLCD5133). In the world of light music he is also remembered as the composer of In Party Mood (GLCD5120), the catchy number he wrote for Bosworths in 1944 which was later chosen for the long-running BBC Radio series "Housewives' Choice. No Orchids For My Lady was first made popular by Frank Sinatra in 1948.
Peter De Rose (1900-1953) was a prolific and successful American songwriter, whose most enduring standard is probably Deep Purple (on Guild GLCD5129). He wrote On A Little Street In Singapore in 1938.
Prairie Schooner is a composition by Ron Goodwin (1925-2003) who was under contract to EMI for many years. Similarly Cyril Stapleton (1914-1974) had a Decca contract, so when they decided to record an LP of Ron's original pieces for a rival label Cyril had to become 'Malcolm Peters'.
Charles Williams (born Isaac Cozerbreit, 1893-1978) composed a vast amount of music for films and production music libraries. He is one of the top contributors to Guild CDs, and A Quiet Stroll became familiar in Britain as a signature tune to a regular farming programme.
Mischa Spoliansky (1898-1985) was one of several Russian-born composers who left the German film industry during the 1930s to work in Britain, and later the USA. He provided a few pieces for London publishers of mood music, which is where his Romantic Illusion originated.
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 (Guild GLCD5120) made him world famous. When stereo arrived in the mid-1950s his record company asked him to write something that would exploit the new wonder, and Stereophonic March was the result – even though it was first released in some countries in mono only! Is there a faint similarity to the music for the TV series "Highway Patrol (on GLCD5130)? There has long been a rumour in the music business that the composer of that famous theme - credited as 'Ray Llewellyn' - was actually David Rose.
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. Towards the end of the 1940s Campbell realised that he possessed some skills as a composer, and Farnon encouraged him and provided some valuable guidance. The fruits of this meeting of talents have already been experienced on Guild CDs in titles such as Cloudland (GLCD5145), Windy Corner (GLCD5150) and Skippy (GLCD5125). Taxi can now be added to Campbell's growing list of Guild credits.
Another musician whose career crossed paths with Robert Farnon is William (Bill) McGuffie (1927-1987). He is remembered by most music lovers as a fine pianist, often leaning towards jazz, although his occasional work in films proved that he was also a talented composer. The 1960 British crime film The Unstoppable Man may have vanished from cinema radar, but the music certainly deserves to be remembered.
The famous Austrian tenor Richard Tauber (1891-1948) made Vienna City Of My Dreams world-famous in the mid-1930s, so it came as no surprise when one of Britain's premier bandleaders, Jack Hylton (1892-1965), decided that it deserved what was termed in those days a 'concert arrangement'. His top arranger Billy Ternent (1899-1977) provided an inventive score that certainly put Hylton's polished musicians through their paces.
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. He was successful in many musical styles, and A Waltz For Terry finds him in a wistful mood.
We have had to admit defeat in our efforts to find a composition this time beginning with the letter 'X'. But Exotica sounds like it might start with an 'X' and we hope that the choice of music will forgive this lapse in precision. Its composer Philip Green (born Harry Philip Green 1911-1982) began his professional career at the age of eighteen playing in various orchestras. Within a year he became London's youngest West End conductor at the Prince of Wales Theatre. His long recording career began in 1933, and he is credited with at least 150 film scores.
Edmund Felton Rapley, ARCM, graduated from being a church organist in Gosport, to a familiar name on the BBC especially during the 1940s and 1950s. He studied at Winchester Cathedral School, and was a regular organist for the Gaumont British Picture Corporation– sometimes being given the prestigious invitation to perform the opening concert on newly installed organs. He was a prolific composer and arranger, seemingly at home in varied styles although many of his arrangements were hymns and religious works. His own pieces included the Overture Down The Solent (on Guild GLCD5140) and the catchy Peacock Patrol (written under the pseudonym 'Peter Barrington') on GLCD5143. He wears his 'Barrington' hat again for Young Man's Fancy.
Edward White (1910-1994) enjoyed considerable acclaim with his Runaway Rocking Horse when it emerged as one of the most popular pieces of light music in the immediate post-war years – the version by the Orchestre Raymonde can be heard on Guild GLCD5102. But he was to achieve even greater success a few years later with Puffin' Billy (featured on Guild GLCD5101), thanks to its use in Britain as the signature tune of "Children's Favourites, and as the theme for "Captain Kangaroo in the USA. Many other White originals found their way into the recorded music libraries of several London publishers, and this time we have chosen his lively Zip Along to complete this A-Z of Light Music.
David Ades