There’s a belief that the Inuit, or Eskimos, have an inordinate
number of words for snow. This is not true, although the idea
persists. What is true is that after reviewing quite a number
of this excellent series of light music reissues from Guild, I
have run out of superlatives. The series just gets better and
better, the programming more interesting, the sound seems to improve,
and, best of all, there will be more to come.
This
marvelous bright and breezy disk is most enjoyable. I’m not
going to go through the selection track by track but I shall
mention some of the real hits on offer. It’s always fascinated
me as to why light music composers love pizzicato strings.
Here we have Ronald Hanmer’s Picking
Strings, starting pizzicato, then
the middle section has a glorious (bowed) string melody, returning
to the opening to close. Calvi’s Vacances is a deliciously
racy little number and Chacksfield’s Candid Snap perfectly
compliments it. With its reminder of Wagner’s Wedding March
from Lohengrin, Martin’s Carriage For Marriage
is a real hoot; a beautifully scored work – containing a nice
part for celesta – and one with a big smile on its face. The
Leslie’s Night Flight To Madrid reminds one of the
title music the BBC used to give their Sunday evening serials,
and it’s such a shame that it fades out – an unusual occurrence
on these disks.
Clive
Richardson’s Running Off The Rails is a wonderful headlong
train ride, with absolutely no sense of danger in sight! Another
mode of transport is evoked in Angela Morley’s Flight By
Jet. This starts as mock Walton, then rushes away as we
take off. There’s a British 50s movie feel here. Don Gillis’s
Symphony No.5½ is his best known work and Perpetual
Emotion is the first, and best, movement from that work.
It’s a kind of dueling fiddles type of piece.
Final
plaudits for Bob Haymes’s Road Show – keeping up the tempo
– Vic Reynaers for keeping the fiddlers in business in his Tandem
Promenade, Van Phillips for the cod Oirisihness of his Tom
Fool and for sheer cheekiness I have to nominate Roger Roger’s
Through The Town which starts as if it’s Gershwin’s Walking
the Dog. I am not mishearing this. However, after the opening
it’s decidedly Roger Roger.
Another winner from Guild.
Bob Briggs
Details of works and artists:
Gérard CALVI
(pseudonym for Grégoire Elie KRETTLY)
(b.1922) Vacances (Holiday Time) [3:15]
Frank CHACKSFIELD
(1914-1995) Candid Snap [2:34]
Ronald HANMER
(1917-1994) Picking Strings [2:49]
Lorenz HART (1895-1943) and Richard RODGERS (1902-1979) Mimi [1:57]
Ray MARTIN (1918-1988) Carriage
For Marriage [1:52]
Kermit LESLIE & Walter LESLIE (pseudonyms for Kermit and Walter LEVINSKY)
Night Flight To Madrid [2:14]
Otto CESANA (1899-1980) Marionette [3:09]
VAREL and BAILLY Savoy Beware (Escale A Victoria) (arranged
by Frank CORDELL
(1918-1980)) [2:11]
Clive RICHARDSON (1909-1998) Running Off The Rails
[3:01]
Trevor DUNCAN (pseudonym
for Leonard Charles TREBILCO)
(1924-2005) Dream Of Tomorrow [2:24]
Norman WHITELEY
A Song For Penelope [2:46]
Angela MORLEY (at that time known as Wally STOTT)
(1924-2009) Flight By Jet [2:22]
Don GILLIS (1912-1978) Perpetual Emotion (from
Symphony No. 5½ - ‘A Symphony For Fun’) [3:18]
Earle H HAGEN (1919-2008) and Herbert SPENCER (1905-1992)
Silver Fizz [1:49]
Alan PERRY (pseudonym for Ernest
TOMLINSON) (b 1924) Fashion Promenade
[3:03]
F ANDRINI and Florian ZaBACH (1918-2006) Runaway Romance [2:08]
Margueritte Angele MONNOT
(1903-1961) Enfin Le Printemps (Finally
It’s Spring) [2:07]
Norrie PARAMOR
(1914-1979) Hollywood Freeway [3:00]
George CATES (1911-2002) Champagne Time [1:54]
Chucho MONJE La Feria De Las Flores (The Flower Fair) (arranged by Mario Ruiz ARMENGOL) 3:22]
Rafael HERNÁNDEZ (MARIN) (1892-1965) El Cumbanchero [2:10]
Steve KIRK
Swizzlesticks [2:51]
George MELACHRINO (1909-1965)
Busybodies [2:51]
Bob HAYNES
Road Show [2:18]
Nancy HAMILTON and Morgan LEWIS (b.1906) How
High The Moon (1940) [3:19]
Vic REYNAERS
Tandem Promenade [2:06]
Van PHILLIPS (1905-1992) Tom Fool [2:27]
Pierre DELANOE (1918-2006) and Gilbert BECAUD (1927-2001) Passe Ton Chemin (Pass
Your Way) [3:17]
Roger ROGER (1911-1995) Through The Town (Rythme Des
Rues) [2:42]
Percy FAITH (1908-1976) The Fiddling Bullfighter [2:23]
Acquaviva (BOB HAYMES), Marioi Ruyz Armengol
(CHUCHO MONJE), Eddie Barclay (MONNOT), Gérard
Calvi (CALVI), George Cates (CATES), Otto Cesana (CESANA), Frank
Cordell (VAREL & BAILLY), Percy Faith (FAITH), PéPé Gonzalez (RAFAEL HERNANDEZ), Philip Green (CLIVE RICHARDSON), Andre
Kostelanetz (RODGERS & HART), Kermit Leslie (LESLIE), Dolf
van der Linden (STEVE KIRK), Ray Martin (MARTIN), David Rose (NANCY
HAMILTON & MORGAN LEWIS), Boris Sarbek (DELANOE & BECAUD),
all conducting their own Orchestras; Roger Roger and his Champs
Elysses Orchestra (ROGER), The Connaught Light Orchestra (NORRIE
PARAMOR and PHILLIPS); The Brussels New Concert Orchestra/ Vic
Reynaers (REYNAERS); Danish State Radio Orchestra/Robert Farnon
(ANGELA MORLEY); The Melachrino Orchestra/George Melachrino (MELACHRINO);
New Symphony Orchestra of London/Don Gillis (GILLIS); The Spencer–Hagen
Orchestra (HAGEN & SPENCER); The Symphonia Orchestra/Curt
Andersen (FRANK CHACKSFIELD and TREVOR DUNCAN); Stuttgart Radio
Orchestra/Kurt Rehfeld (RONALD HANMER, ALAN PERRY and NORMAN WHITELEY);
Florian ZaBach his Violin and Orchestra (ANDRINI & ZaBACH)
