I always consider that I am having an adventure when I first
listen to a new volume of The Golden Age of Light Music.
It is quite definitely an exploration in sound and mood. In
the present CD we are treated to a contemplation of ‘Nature’s
Realm’. Like most of these discs there is a good balance
between arrangements of standards from the ‘shows’
or the world of cinema and ‘original’ pieces. I
admit that the later genre is of most interest to me.
However, the arrangements on this album are all first-class.
The opening Johann Strauss Thunder and Lightning Polka
is a great place to start. Well-known to virtually everyone,
it is given a vibrant performance by Sidney Torch and his Orchestra.
This presents nature at its most thrilling and spectacular.
Harold Arlen’s lovely Stormy Weather is probably
more about the ‘atmospherics’ in a lover’s
hearts rather than in Nature -‘stormy weather since my
man and I ain't together, keeps raining all the time.’
It is good to have Malcolm Arnold’s characteristic tune
from the film Whistle Down the Wind. It is not a film
I relate to - but the music is classic Arnold. I love the sparkling
score from the 1949 psychological thriller Whirlpool
starring Gene Tierney and Richard Conte. It is so typical of
the period with gorgeous romantic strings and swirling harps.
A slightly more relaxed mood is created by the song ‘Softly
as in a Morning Sunrise’ from Sigmund Romberg’s
1927 operetta The New Moon. Here are lots of romantic
strings in the Mantovani style. Three men collaborated to provide
the ravishing September in the Rain - Al Dubin and Harry
Warren’s original was given the Ronald Binge touch which
certainly has echoes of Binge’s more famous ‘Sailing
By’.
The remainder of the numbers on this disc are miniature tone
poems describing a geological, meteorological or geographical
feature: painting a picture or portraying an emotional response
by the onlooker.
Peter Yorke has written an attractive little piece that perfectly
- if a little romantically - describes a Misty Valley.
Not to be outdone Trevor Duncan has contributed an essay of
English pastoral music called Meadow Mist. This is one
of the loveliest works on this CD and probably deserves inclusion
in ‘samplers’ of English landscape music. It is
at times almost ‘Delian’ in its harmonies and orchestration.
I have not heard of Lotar Leonard Olias before, however his
‘Tango in the Rain’ is a little bit of a novelty:
a good tune complete with ‘rain and thunder sounds’
in the background and also a melodeon, I think.
It is good to hear another piece from Frederick Curzon. He is
best known for pieces such as The Boulevardier, the Dance
of the Ostracised Imp and Punchinello. The present
accomplished arrangement is a setting of the well-known song
‘Over the Hills and Far Away’. The original dates
back to the late 17th century. Clive Richardson’s
film score-like Saga of the Seven Seas is a big, expansive
piece. It conjures up images of sailing ships and wartime convoysand
is full of the salt tang of the sea.
Leroy Anderson must be one of the best-known composers of light
music. His contribution Summer Skies is sultry piece
that echoes its title: ideal for daydreaming. I have not come
across Leslie Coward before, however his Wandering the King’s
Highway is an attractive little arrangement of a song that
was once popular. It dates from the nineteen-thirties. A touch
of Elgar and Coates here along with a bit of a swing.
Peter Yorke’s Fireflies is a typically colourful
piece of whimsy. Beautifully scored it vacillates between a
deliciously romantic nocturnal mood and the delicate tracery
of the beasties in question. It’s one of my favourites
on this CD. The liner-notes are right in suggesting that Percy
Faith’s Blue is the Night reflects the composer’s
mastery of the orchestra. This is a haunting number that is
both romantic and descriptive. I imagine a lady or gentleman
looking out over the blue Bay of Naples on a warm, still night
and regretting the absence of a lost love. Listening to the
progress of the music suggests they will not return …
but there are plenty of other fish in the sea!
Another fine musical picture is provided by Anthony Mawer with
his idyllic Countryside. I believe it is not an English
landscape - but just where it is located is harder to say; most
likely somewhere a touch warmer. However, it has a lovely melody
and is well arranged.
Thunder in Louisiana by Gerard Calvi is quite explicit -
it starts off quietly, but a jazz suffused mood takes over.
Beating drums and wa-wa brass move the music onto a different
level. The score builds up to an iddy bit of a storm before
subsiding. There are lots of good orchestral devices, especially
in the percussion department. Domenic Savino’s Twilight
on Las Pampas is quintessential Latin-American mood music.
I guess that no compilation of light music would be complete
without at least one example of Robert Farnon’s craft.
In this present CD, it is his magnificent Headland Country.
It is almost like a score for a 1950s travelogue film advertising
Cornwall or the Dorset Coast. However, the liner-notes suggest
a possible Canadian background. Whatever the geographical setting
it is a lovely expansive and undeniably romantic piece. Trotting
Class by Bruce Campbell is another ‘novelty’
number. Lots of good tunes and a clip-clop accompaniment would
have made this an ideal score for a romantic Ealing Comedy featuring
a day’s pony-trekking on the South Downs.
Roger Roger - I knew of someone called William William Williams
once - is a French composer who has contributed his quixotic
imaginary Landscape to the Chappell Recorded Music Library.
I just love the varied movement of George Trevare’s The
Mad Mountain Ride. This is quite a complicated piece
with contrasting themes and moods. However, the basic premise
would appear to be some kind of trek/ski/sledge in the high
hills. The penultimate track on this CD is Cyril Watters’
Spring Idyll. Somehow, this does not quite work for me:
it is just that little bit too intense. Yet there are some lovely
moments that exhibit an accomplished orchestrational ability
that goes well beyond much that appears as light music.
The final number on this exploration of ‘Nature’s
Realm’ needs no introduction. Ferde Grofé’s
stunning ‘Sunrise’ from the Grand Canyon Suite
is one of the masterpieces of American descriptive music. It
holds impressionistic description with high drama in perfect
equilibrium.
As usual, the sound quality of these restored tracks is excellent,
bearing in mind that they have been re-mastered (by Alan Bunting)
from old 78 r.p.m. and vinyl records. The accompanying notes
are helpful, giving an insight into both the composers and the
orchestras.
This is the 94th release in the Golden Age of
Light Music series (see review
listing): it shows no sign of being the last. It never ceases
to amaze me how many numbers in this genre there is. If I were
honest I would have imagined that after all these CDs they would
be scraping the bottom of the barrel. The opposite would appear
to be the case: each new release presents surprises and delights
that the listener can barely imagine. Long may the series continue!
John France
Track listing
Johann STRAUSS (1825-1899) arr. Sidney TORCH
(1908-1990) Thunder and Lightning Polka Sidney
Torch and his Orchestra (1952) [3:03]
Harold ARLEN (1905-1986) arr. Morton GOULD
(1913-1996) Stormy Weather Morton Gould and his
Orchestra (1961) [3:39]
Peter YORKE (1902-1966) Misty Valley Frank
Chacksfield and his Orchestra (1954) [2:34]
Lotar Leonard OLIAS (1913-1990) Tango in the
Rain Ray Martin and his Concert Orchestra (1957) [2:39]
Frederic CURZON (1899-1973) Over the Hills
and Far Away New Concert Orchestra conducted by Dolf Van
der Linden (1957) [2:26]
Malcolm ARNOLD (1921-2006) Whistle Down the
Wind (Theme music from the Film) The Wayfarers (1961) [2:08]
Trevor DUNCAN (1924-2005) Meadow Mist New
Concert Orchestra conducted by Dolf Van der Linden (1959) [4:20]
Ron GOODWIN (1925-2003) The Whirlpool Theme
(from the film ‘Whirlpool’) Ron Goodwin & his
Concert Orchestra (1959) [2:56]
Clive RICHARDSON (1909-1998) Saga of the Seven
Seas The Symphonia Orchestra conducted by Curt Andersen
(1959) [3:01]
Leroy ANDERSON (1908-1975) Summer Skies
Eastman-Rochester “Pops” Orchestra conducted by
Frederick Fennell (1960) [2:57]
Leslie COWARD (?) Wandering the King’s
Highway Danish State Radio Orchestra conducted by Robert
Farnon (1955) [3:07]
Sigmund ROMBERG (1887-1951) arr. William Hill
BOWEN (1918-1964) ‘Softly as in Morning Sunrise’
(from The New Moon) The Melachrino Orchestra conducted
by George Melachrino (1960) [3:00]
Peter YORKE (1902-1966) Fireflies Queen’s
Hall Light Orchestra conducted by Sidney Torch (1948) [2:45]
Al DUBIN (1891-1945) Harry WARREN (1893-1981)
arr. Ronald BINGE (1910-1979) September
in the Rain Ronald Binge and his Orchestra (1954) [2:37]
Percy FAITH (1908-1976) Blue is the Night
Percy Faith and his Orchestra (1961) [3:51]
Eric SPEAR (1908-1966) Whirlwind Queen’s
Hall Light Orchestra conducted by Charles Williams (1946) [2:43]
Anthony MAWER (1930-1999) Countrywide Hilversum
Radio Orchestra conducted by Hugh Granville (1961) [2:41]
Gérard CALVI (b.1922) Tonnerre sur La
Louisiane (Thunder in Louisiana) Gérard Calvi and
his Orchestra (1958) [3:44]
Dominico SAVINO (1882-1973) Twilight on Las
Pampas Richard Hayman and his Orchestra (1959) [3:15]
Robert FARNON (1917-2005) Headland Country
Queen’s Hall Light Orchestra conducted by Robert Farnon
(1959) [2:47]
Bruce CAMPBELL (?) Trotting Class Dolf
Van der Linden and his Orchestra (1957) [2:50]
Roger ROGER (1911-1995) Landscape (Paysages)
Roger Roger and his Champs Elysées Orchestra (1955) [2:46]
George TREVARE (?) The Mad Mountain Ride
Queen’s Hall Light Orchestra conducted by Sidney Torch
(1950) [2:58]
Cyril WATTERS (1907-1984) Spring Idyll
New Concert Orchestra conducted by Cedric Dumont (1957) [2:53]
Ferde GROFÉ (1892-1972) ‘Sunrise’
(from Grand Canyon Suite) Hollywood Bowl Symphony Orchestra
conducted by Felix Slatkin (1956) [4:49]
Stereo: 2, 10, 12, 15, 19, 25; rest in Mono
Dates refer to recording, not composition.
rec. 1948-61