For some, light music is the colourful and delightful orchestration
of a well known popular or show tune. For others, myself included,
light music is the well formed orchestral miniature of three
or four minutes duration, usually, but not always, in a bright
and breezy style. Whatever your likes in light music this disk
has something for everyone.
Starting with Vivian Ellis’s delightful Alpine Pastures
- well known as the signature tune for the long running BBC
Radio panel game My Word - in a racy arrangement by Sidney
Torch, the magical touch is continued with David Rose’s
The Christmas Tree-this series has, I imagine, introduced
many people to a lot of Rose’s work previously unknown
to them.
I am especially happy that pieces like Joyce Cochrane’s
Flowing Stream-as lovely a piece of Englishness
as could be-have been included, and to follow it with
King Palmer’s jaunty Going Concern-here’s
a business unaffected by the recession-and Eric Coates’s
march High Flight-a title new to me-makes
a nice three piece suite of genuine Englishness.
John Scott Trotter’s Escape To Monaco would, more
correctly, be called Escape to Morocco for it has a sultry
elegance (as well as a passing mention of the great Cole Porter
song In the Still of the Night) which I doubt can be
found in Europe! Henry Croudson’s Jump For Joy
is a real pleasure, and even if no one is jumping too high there
is much joy here.
Sherman Myers’s Moonlight On The Ganges is as much
about the Ganges as Trotter’s Escape To Monaco
is about Monaco. It’s a lovely nocturne, mind you, with
some delightful writing for French Horns. Jose Belmonte’s
The Kiss is a passionate tango-and I suspect
that the kiss was hot-with a prominent part for accordion,
thus some Frenchness is injected into the mix. Fascinating.
Hal Mooney’s Leo
starts as if it’s going to introduce some 1950s TV cop
show but quickly turns into a light romp. This is one of the
many highlights of this disk. Joseph F Kuhn’s Noche
Amour is another tropical romance, José Armandola’s
Rose–Beetle Goes A–Wooing is a marvellous
piece of whimsy in the manner of Ernest Bucalossi’s The
Grasshopper’s Dance, but without the same number of
legs, and with lots of the music hall in it.
Jack Coles’ Sunshine Express is the fast-track
cousin of Ellis’s Coronation Scot. Jeff Alexander’s
Yellow was written for a concept album recorded by Sinatra’s
own label when it opened for business, and it starts and ends
as a sort of celebration of a child’s tune but has a more
serious middle section. The disk ends with Cécile Chaminade’s
Zingara in a nicely conceived arrangement which has all
the colour and vivacity necessary for a piece with this name.
My favourite amongst the orchestral items is Percy Fletcher’s
Vanity Fair, a breezy piece in the John Ansell mould.
Great stuff!
Of the songs, Baubles, Bangles And Beads is full of eastern
promise, Over The Rainbow has the requisite amount of
yearning to it, Robert Farnon’s sensitive arrangement
of It Wouldn't Be Love is a subtle piece, but the best
of this bunch is Vernon Duke’s What Is There To Say,
made all the more memorable by a great performance by Morton
Gould and his Orchestra.
I, again, find myself marvelling at Guild’s choice of
repertoire, and this idea of an A–Z is a good one for
it will make for even more varied programmes in future issues.
As usual the sound is very good, the notes helpful and the whole
package attractive. How many more times can I say that this
is another success for Guild’s Light Music series? As
long as they keep making them this good!
Bob Briggs
see also review by Jonathan
Woolf
Track listing
Vivian ELLIS (1903-1996) Alpine Pastures
(arranged by Sidney Torch) [3:15]
Robert Craig WRIGHT (1914-2005), George
FORREST (1915-1999) Baubles, Bangles And
Beads (from Kismet) [3:24]
David ROSE (1910-1990) The Christmas Tree
[2:26]
JARY and von PINELLI Durch Dich Wird Diese Welt
Erst Schön (Through You This World Is Beautiful) [2:38]
John SCOTT TROTTER (1908-1975) Escape
To Monaco [2:28]
Joyce COCHRANE (1908-1988) Flowing
Stream [2:50]
King PALMER (1913-1999) Going Concern
[3:10]
Eric COATES (1886-1957) High Flight [3:19]
Allan ROBERTS, Buddy BERNIER and Jerome BRAININ
It Wouldn't Be Love (arr. Robert FARNON (1917-
2005)) [3:59]
Henry CROUDSON (1898-1971) Jump For Joy
[1:34]
Jose BELMONTE (pseudonym for Philip GREEN (1911
-1992)) The Kiss [3:00]
Hal MOONEY (1911 –
1995) Leo [2:30]
Sherman MYERS (pseudonym for Montague EWING
(1890-1957)) Moonlight On The Ganges [2:25]
Joseph F KUHN Noche Amour [3:43]
Harold ARLEN (1905-1986) and E
Y “Yip” HARBURG (1896–1981) Over
The Rainbow [3:35]
SILVESTRI Parole E Musica Words And Music [2:30]
Richard RODGERS (1902-1979) Quiet Night
[3:14]
José ARMANDOLA Rose–Beetle Goes A–Wooing
[2:42]
Jack COLES Sunshine Express [2:53]
Al DUBIN (1891-1945) and Joe BURKE
(1884-1950) Tip-Toe Through The Tulips (arranged
by Ronald BINGE (1910-1979)) [2:04]
Tolchard EVANS (1901-1978): Unless (arranged
by Peter YORKE (1902-1966)) [2:24]
Percy FLETCHER (1879-1932) Vanity Fair
(Overture) [5:47]
Vernon DUKE (1903-1969) What Is There
To Say (from Ziegfeld Follies of 1933) [3:27]
Guy BRAIN (pseudonym for Van BEUNINGEN) Xarafes
(arranged by Dolf van der LINDEN (pseudonym for David
Gysbert van der LINDEN) (1915-1999)) [2:44]
Jeff ALEXANDER (1910-1989) Yellow [2:35]
Cécile CHAMINADE (1857-1944) Zingara
(arranged by Arthur WILKINSON) [3:13]
Hans Georg Arlt (Durch Dich), Warren Barker (Baubles, Bangles),
Ronald Binge (Dubin and Burke), Frank Chacksfield (Over The
Rainbow), Robert Farnon (It Wouldn't Be Love), Michael Freedman
(Eric Coates), Morton Gould (Duke), Gordon Jenkins (Sherman
Myers), Andre Kostelanetz (Richard Rodgers), Hal Mooney (Mooney),
Angela Morley (as Wally Stott) (Jose Belmonte), David Rose (Rose),
John Scott Trotter (Scott Trotter), Dolf van der Linden (Guy
Brain) all conducting “his” Orchestra; Peter Yorke
and his Concert Orchestra (Tolchard Evans); The Connaught Light
Orchestra (Henry Croudson); The Grosvenor Studio Orchestra/
Dolf van der Linden (King Palmer); Group-Forty Orchestra/Eric
Cook (Jack Coles); The Melachrino Orchestra/George Melachrino
(Chaminade); New Century Orchestra/Erich Borschel (Joyce Cochrane);
The New Concert Orchestra/Jay Wilbur (Percy Fletcher); Orchestra
of the 6th San Remo Festival/ George Melachrino (Silvestri);
Queen’s Hall Light Orchestra/Sidney Torch (Vivian Ellis);
Regent Classic Orchestra (José Armandola); The Rio Carnival
Orchestra (Joseph F Kuhn); Symphony Orchestra/Frank Sinatra
(Jeff Alexander)
They keep making them this good… see Full Review
Re–issues from 78rpm discs and 33 rpm mono and stereo LPs recorded between 1938 and 1958
