Trad, arr. Robert
FARNON Early One Morning
featured in "Spring In Park Lane"
Robert Farnon and his Orchestra
ORTELLI, PIGARELLI
Song of the Mountains (La Montanara)
from film "The Glass
Mountain"
Sidney Torch and his Orchestra
Arthur SCHWARTZ
Dancing in the Dark soundtrack recording
from "The Band Wagon"
MGM Studio Orchestra Conducted by Adolph
Deutsch
Bronislau KAPER
Adoration soundtrack recording from
"Lili"
MGM Studio Orchestra Conducted by Hans
Sommer
Victor YOUNG
Call of the Faraway Hills from film
"Shane"
Ron Goodwin and his Concert Orchestra
Francis CHAGRIN
The Beggar’s Theme from film "Last
Holiday"
Charles Williams and his Concert Orchestra
Clifton PARKER
Seascape from film "Western Approaches"
London Symphony Orchestra Conducted
by Muir Mathieson
John ADDISON
Theme from the film "The Man Between"
Cyril Stapleton and his Orchestra with
Dave Shand, saxophone
Mischa SPOLIANSKY
Dedication from film "Idol Of Paris"
Queen’s Hall Light Orchestra Conducted
by Sidney Torch with Mischa Spoliansky,
piano
José
PADILLA La Violetera from
film "City Lights"
Philip Green and his Orchestra
Allan GRAY
Theme from the film "This Man Is
Mine"
Queen’s Hall Light Orchestra Conducted
by Charles Williams
Guy WARRACK
Men of Arnhem – March from film "Theirs
Is The Glory"
London Symphony Orchestra Conducted
by Muir Mathieson
Philip GREEN
Romance from film "The Magic Bow"
Louis Levy and his "Music From
The Movies" with Reginald Leopold,
violin
Andre MATHIEU
Quebec Concerto from film "Whispering
City"
Charles Williams and his Concert Orchestra
with Arthur Dulay, piano
Maurice JAUBERT
Valse Grise from film "Le Carnet
De Bal"
Sidney Torch and his Orchestra
Charles WILLIAMS
Throughout the Years from film "Flesh
And Blood"
Charles Williams and his Concert Orchestra
George MELACHRINO
Vision d’Amour from film "Woman
To Woman"
Melachrino Strings Conducted by George
Melachrino
Philip GREEN
Hour of Meditation from film "Twenty-Four
Hours Of A Woman’s Life"
Sidney Torch and his Orchestra
Anthony COLLINS
Saga of Odette from film "Odette"
Charles Williams and his Concert Orchestra
George MELACHRINO
Danse d’Extase from film "No Orchids
For Miss Blandish"
The Melachrino Orchestra conducted by
George Melachrino
Kenneth LESLIE-SMITH
Mansell Concerto from film "The
Woman’s Angle"
Charles Williams and his Concert Orchestra
– piano Arthur Sandford
Philip GREEN
Gaelic Fantasia from film "Saints
And Sinners"
Philip Green and his Orchestra
Here’s another in Guild’s
far trawling selection. The company
has a capacious but finely woven net
and manages to surprise through inventive
programming and, as here, unusual and
lesser-known items from the Decca, Parlophone,
HMV and Columbia catalogues. There are
also a few MGMs here as well to add
a more concentrated American spice.
Though not all the
items were specifically composed for
films they achieved some degree of fame
in that format – enough, at least, to
be immortalised on shellac. All date
from the immediate post-War years. It’s
a necessarily disparate collection with
a fair sprinkling of styles and idioms
but all played with panache and élan
by some of the best such bands in the
business – as a look at the roster call
of talent in the head note will show.
The MGM Orchestra’s big fat trumpets
punch out Arthur Schwartz’s Dancing
in the Dark and under Hans Sommer
they let rip their jazzier credentials
in Adoration. Ron Goodwin and
his Concert Orchestra contribute a number
from Shane and then the appositely
weird John Addison score for The
Man Between where Dave Shand’s disembodied
saxophone sends shivers up the spine.
Mischa Spoliansky, then a London resident,
fuses a butch orchestration with vampish
piano in his score for the Idol of
Paris and Philip Green’s band turns
on the Spanishry in La Violetera.
One doesn’t hear so
much of Guy Warrack these days but his
stirring March from Men of Arnhem
is certainly tinged with gaunt nobility.
It’s programmed next to music from The
Magic Bow, the Stewart Grainger
Paganini biopic played on the soundtrack
by Yehudi Menuhin (I’m not quite sure
now but it was either Menuhin or Frederick
Grinke who "played"
Grainger’s bowing arm in the film).
Here we have Philip Green’s version
with an altogether lighter player, Palm
Court maestro Reg Leopold. Andre Mathieu’s
Quebec Concerto has made at least one
appearance over the last few years.
He wrote it at fourteen, believe it
or not, and obviously in love with Rachmaninov.
It fits into the genre of pocket battleship
piano concertos – a well nigh endless
list – with particular affection and
considerable cleverness. This is just
part of it but Arthur Dulay sets to
with vigour.
Pretty good transfers
and notes – and a variety bandbox of
pleasurable and entertaining listening.
Jonathan Woolf