If you’re an admirer of contemporary artist Jerzy Marek, Polish-born
but who has lived in Britain since 1948, you will recognise
his The Love Birds. It graces the cover of this album
from Guild and Love is very definitely In The Air. David Ades’s
first paragraph in his booklet note skirts the cheesy, and indulges
one especially wry gag, but his biographical and musical muscles
are soon put to good use as he guides us through song, composer
and band in this 79 minute collection.
We’re off to a fine start courtesy of Cyril Ornadel, whose luscious
romance gives the disc its title. Can you get much better than
‘Farnon conducts Coates’? Try Impression of a Princess,
Coates’s portrait of Princess Margaret, though Ades reminds
us that on the record label Farnon was disguised as that venerable
Scandinavian ‘Ole Jensen’ – which, given as the orchestra doing
the honours was the Danish State Radio is, I suppose, at least
mildly explicable. Another royal connection is supplied via
Dimitri Tiomkin’s The Prince and Princess Waltz – the
two being Rainier and Grace, of Monaco fame.
Victor Sylvester’s Silver Strings meanwhile give a very full-bodied
view of I Love You Samantha – a bit too much port wine
in this interpretation, perhaps. Faux classical clarinet lines
infuse Mantovani’s take on April Love and there’s genial
Wedding Day by little known Douglas Brownsmith. Courtesy
of the notes I can tell you that Brownsmith (1902-65) was a
British composer who had hits from the late 1920s onwards but
then also ran a bakery in Sussex, exchanging it for a restaurant
in Bexhill-on-Sea. He loved music and cricket. Music, food,
cricket: what more could you want from life?
Robert Stolz’s big-hearted waltz, Two Hearts In Three-Quarter
Time, gets the big-hearted Kostelanetz treatment and there’s
an anonymous concertante piano role in Like Someone in Love,
played by the elite Paul Weston – his name Gentiled for mass
consumption (he was born Wetstein). Mantovani throws plenty
of sentiment over Can’t Help Loving That Man, but Peter
Yorke gets caught in treacle when he tries to do likewise for
If I Should Fall In Love Again. Jazz fans will recognise
the beautiful sound of Bobby Hackett’s trumpet in You’re
My Thrill whilst D.H. Lawrence would doubtless have spat
at the ingratiating music to the film of Sons and Lovers.
One of the very best performances here comes from Leslie Jones
and his Orchestra of London as they perform Farnon’s gorgeous
To A Young Lady. Percy Faith gets glitzy in Amor,
and then we end with two weddings but no funeral, courtesy of
The Wedding Dance and The Wedding Song; the former
with pulsing vocals getting rather out of hand, the latter more
clement. The last named is performed by Manuel and the Music
of the Mountains. ‘Manuel’ was Geoff Love, and his mountains
were located somewhere in the county of Yorkshire.
Lots of interesting music here on a variety of record labels.
The discs span less than a decade. Good stuff for lovers one
and all.
Jonathan Woolf
Track-listing
Portrait of My Love – (Cyril Ornadel) - Cyril Ornadel and the
Starlight Symphony [2:26]
Impression Of A Princess (Eric Coates) – Danish State Radio
Orchestra/Robert Farnon (‘Melodi Light Orchestra Conducted by
Ole Jensen’ on disc label) [3:09]
I Love You Samantha (Cole Porter) – Victor Sylvester and his
Silver Strings [2:18]
April Love (from the film 'April Love') (Sammy Fain) – Mantovani
and his orchestra [3:58]
The Prince and Princess Waltz (Dimitri Tiomkin, Ned Washington)
– David Carroll and his orchestra [2:13]
Wedding Day (Douglas Brownsmith) – New Concert Orchestra/R de
Porten [2:34]
One Night Of Love (Victor Schertzinger, arr. Robert Farnon)
– Robert Farnon and his orchestra [2:45]
You Are Too Beautiful (Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart, arr. Glenn
Osser) – Glenn Osser and his orchestra [2:28]
Two Hearts In Three-Quarter Time (Robert Stolz) – Andre Kostelanetz
and his orchestra [2:55]
Like Someone In Love (Johnny Burke, Jimmy Van Heusen, arr. Paul
Weston) – Paul Weston and his orchestra [3:41]
Beguine For Lovers (Joseph Kuhn) – Dolores Ventura (piano) and
the Carnival Orchestra [2:39]
Can’t Help Loving That Man (from 'Show Boat') (Jerome Kern)
– Mantovani and his orchestra [2:59]
Take Me In Your Arms (Alfred Markus, Fritz Rotter, Mitchell
Parish) – Leroy Holmes and his orchestra [3:04]
If I Should Fall In Love Again (Jack Popplewell, arr. Peter
Yorke) – Peter Yorke and his concert orchestra [2:16]
Tenderly (Walter Gross, Jack Lawrence) – David Rose and his
orchestra [3:19]
Dancing in The Starlight (Trevor Duncan) – The Symphonia Orchestra/Curt
Andersen [2:54]
Deep In My Heart, Dear (Sigmund Romberg, arr. William Hill Bowen)
– The Melachrino Orchestra/George Melachrino [2:20]
You’re My Thrill (Jay Gorney, Sidney Clare) – Jackie Gleason
and his orchestra with Bobby Hackett (trumpet) [2:39]
Star Eyes (Don Raye, Gene De Paul) – Cyril Stapleton and his
orchestra [2:23]
If She Should Come To You (La Montana) (Augusto Alguero, G.
Moreu, Alec Wilde) – Frank de Vol and his Rainbow Strings [3:27]
For Those Who Love (Frank Cordell) – Frank Cordell and his orchestra
[2:25]
'Sons And Lovers' - Theme From The Film (Mario Nascimbene) –
The Cascading Strings/Johnny Gregory [2:18]
To A Young Lady (Robert Farnon) – Leslie Jones and his orchestra
of London [3:16]
You Are Beautiful, Love Look Away (from 'Flower Drum Song')
(Richard Rodgers, arr. Brian Fahey) - Cyril Ornadel and the
Starlight Symphony [4:00]
Amor (from film 'Broadway Rhythm') (Gabriel Ruiz, arr. Percy
Faith) – Percy Faith and his orchestra [2:44]
The Wedding Dance (Paul Lincke) – London Promenade Orchestra/Eric
Rogers [4:01]
The Wedding Song (Horan - real name Geoff Love) – Manuel and
the Music of the Mountains [2:58]
GUILD LIGHT MUSIC GLCD 5179 [79:07] 
