The Golden Age of Light Music: Bright
and Breezy
Peter DENNIS (1922-1994) (real name Dennis Alfred Berry) Bright
And Breezy (1959) The Grosvenor Studio Orchestra [3:03]
Charles WILLIAMS (1893-1978) (real name Isaac Cozerbreit) Theme
from 'The Apartment' (original title ‘Jealous Lover’) (1960) Billy Vaughn
and his Orchestra [2:22]
Harry WARREN (1893-1981) Bob RUSSELL (1914-1970) Carnival (1957)
Les Baxter and his Orchestra [2:44]
Alan Jay LERNER (1918-1986) Frederick LOEWE (1901-1988) arr. Robert FARNON
(1917-2005) ‘They Call the Wind Maria’ (from 'Paint Your Wagon')
(1960) Robert Farnon and his Orchestra [2:17]
ROBERTS Ragazza Romanza (1960) The Melachrino Orchestra conducted
by George Melachrino [2:32]
Anthony MAWER (1930-1999) Painted Carousels (1960) Cosmopolitan
Orchestra Conducted by Phillipo Andez [2:28]
Errol GARNER (1921-1977) Johnny BURKE Misty (1960) The Knightsbridge
Strings [2:58]
William DAVIES (1921-2006) Toy Town Trumpeters (1960)
The Crawford Light Orchestra [2:43]
Laurie JOHNSON (b.1927) ‘Tiger Bay' - Theme from the film (1959)
The Pinewood Studio Orchestra conducted by Philip Green [2:56]
Nino ROTA (1911-1979) ‘La Dolce Vita' (Theme from the film)
(1960) Manuel and the Music of the Mountains ('Manuel' is Geoff Love) [2:14]
Christian BRUHN (b.1934) Georg BUSCHOR (1923-2005) Midi-Midinette
(1960) Sir Chauncey (real name Ernie Freeman) [2:39]
Cole PORTER (1891-1964) arr. Brian FAHEY (1919-2007) Begin the Beguine
(from 'Jubilee') (1960) The Starlight Symphony conducted by Cyril Ornadel
[4:35]
Dante VIGNALI E Bello (1957) George Melachrino conducting the
Orchestra of the 6th San Remo Festival [3:02]
Vincent YOUMANS (1898-1946) Otto HARBACH (1873-1963) Herbert STOTHART (1885-1949)
Oscar HAMMERSTEIN II (1895-1960) arr. Reg OWEN Bambalina
(1960) Reg Owen and his Orchestra [1:52]
Maurice GRABMANN Kristina (1960) The Brussels New Concert Orchestra
[2:54]
Robert FARNON Sea Shore (1960) Rawicz and Landauer at two pianos,
with Angela Morley and her orchestra (as 'Wally Stott' on disc label) [3:20]
Ivor SLANEY (1921-1998) Stringendo (1960) Hilversum Radio
Orchestra conducted by Hugh Granville [1:40]
Arthur Dieudonne CHARLIER Place Du Tertre (1960) The Brussels
New Concert Orchestra [2:43]
Johnny STEGGERDA Dancing Daffodils (1955) Guy Luypaerts and
his Orchestra (as 'Guy Lupar' on LP label) [2:18]
Cyril WATTERS (1907-1984) Up and Coming (1960) The Westway
Studio Orchestra [2:38]
Mariano MARQUINA Spanish Gypsy Dance (1960) Jaques Leroy and
his Orchestra [1:42]
Bronislaw KAPER (1902-1983) Walter JURMANN (1903-1971) Gus KAHN arr. Carmen
DRAGON (1914-1984) San Francisco (1960) Standard School Broadcast
Orchestra conducted by Carmen Dragon [2:45]
Victor YOUNG (1900-1956) arr. Melle WEERSMA Sweet Sue
(1936) Jack Hylton and his Orchestra [4:09]
Hugo Emil ALFVÉN (1872-1960) Summerdance (1957) Orchestra
conducted by Hugo Alfvén [2:00]
Ernst FISCHER (1900-1975) South Of The Alps Suite – ‘In a Harbour
Town’ [3:16]; ‘Terrace by the Sea’ [3:22]; ‘Street of Flowers’ [3:16]; ‘Tarantella’
[3:18] (1937) Concert Orchestra conducted by Bruno Seidler-Winkler.
Stereo: tracks 2, 4, 5, 12, 13: rest in mono
Dates refer to recording, not composition. ADD
GUILD LIGHT MUSIC GLCD5180 [78:54]
There are some 81 volumes of Guild’s ‘Golden Age of Light Music’ currently
available. If one allows an average of 28 tracks per CD, this makes a grand
total of about 2268 pieces of music. Now, I imagine that some listeners will
think that Guild must be scraping the bottom of the proverbial barrel to find
good material for any subsequent releases. In fact, I was beginning to wonder
myself how much more of this kind of music is still hidden away. The answer
is given as part of the liner-note discussion of Anthony Mawer and his delightful
and trippy Painted Carousels. In fact, Mr Mawer (1930-1999) is a new
boy to this series. Hailing from Sale in Cheshire, and a Manchester Grammar
School lad, he was largely self-taught. However in the ten years between 1955
and 1965 he contributed some 500 titles to the De Wolfe sound library. If
all this music were ‘rediscovered’ there could be a further 17 or 18 volumes
just of his music!! And I am sure that many of the other composers represented
on this CD will have similar large libraries of music attributed to them.
This is a strong selection of music that explores a wide range of moods and
imagery. Included are a few standards such as Errol Garner’s Misty,
Cole Porter’s Begin the Beguine and Lerner & Loewe’s ‘They Call
the Wind Maria’ from Paint your Wagon. Big name ‘classical’ composers
such as Hugo Alfvén with his Summerdance and Nino Rota’s film score
for ‘La Vita Dolce’ rub shoulders with the masters of the ‘light music’ genre
such Robert Farnon’s Sea Shore and Charles Williams’ Theme from ‘The
Apartment’. Incidentally, Farnon’s work is one of the most evocative pieces
on this CD – complete with chorus of sea-gulls and the magical piano playing
of Rawicz and Landauer.
But what is really impressive with this CD is the number of composers that
are largely new to the light music revival scene - at least to my understanding
of it. These include the German Ernst Fischer with his attractive Suite:
South of the Alps, which for me is the discovery of this disc. It manages
to capture the spirit and romance of Italy’s Mediterranean coast in the shadow
of those great mountains. Interestingly, this work also includes a ‘concertante’
part for cinema organ and balalaika, although this is not overdone ...
Other composers that are less mainstream than Farnon and Williams include
Peter Dennis and his evocative Bright and Breezy which gets the proceedings
off to a bouncy start. Harry Warren’s Carnival is perfect descriptive
music – although the carnival is in Latin America and not Liverpool or Grimsby!
Ragazza Romanza is a lovely tune by a composer simply billed as ‘Roberts’.
Toy Town Trumpeters by William Davies is a predictable fun piece that
once upon a time would have had some kind of vogue on Children’s Favourites.
And Laurie Johnson (theme music for The Avengers and The Professionals)
contributes the romantic theme music from ‘Tiger Bay’. Sheer heaven!
The American Sir Chauncey, whose real name is the slightly-less glamorous
Ernie Freeman, conducts Christian Bruhn and Georg Buschor’s good string piece,
Midi-Midinette. E Bello by a certain Dante Vignali is a moody
number that balances strings and brass and sheer sultry romance. Kristina
is a lady I would like to meet: I imagine that she impressed Maurice Grabmann
too!
I really enjoyed the zippy Stringendo by Ivor Slaney. Musicians will
know that this title means ‘gradually faster – pressing forward’: the piece
lives up to its title. Dancing Daffodils by Johnny Steggerda is another
one of those effervescent little pieces of light music that typifies the genre.
Cyril Watters’ contribution Up and Coming is equally as effective whilst
Mariano Marquina and his Spanish Gypsy Dance manages to conjure up
the sultry summer sun of Spain. The fascinating Sweet Sue by Victor
Young and a rather quirky musical portrait of San Francisco complete
this musical feast.
One amusing thing I noticed on this CD are the number of people sometimes
involved in creating a piece of music – for example Vincent Youmans, Otto
Harbach, Herbert Stothart, Oscar Hammerstein II and Reg Owen were all involved
in presenting the listener with 1:52 worth of Bambalina: Havergal Brian
managed to compose the massive Gothic Symphony all on his own!
Yet every one of these pieces is a joy and a pleasure to listen to. Certainly,
after recently reviewing the intense John Joubert Symphony No.2 (In memory
of those killed at Sharpeville 21/3/60) it was a welcome relief and a bit
of indulgent escapism. However, there is an important point. Each of the works
presented on this latest Guild Light Music series can be regarded as a ‘mini-masterpiece’
– not necessarily moving and shaking the artistic world, but being attractive
and well-wrought and displaying superb workmanship, imagination and invention.
The only downside to this CD is that Guild do not give the dates of all the
composers in the track listings or the liner notes: not all of them can be
easily found on the Internet!
Finally, this is a series than can probably continue indefinitely: roll on
the next 81 releases!
John France
This is a series than can probably continue indefinitely: roll on the next 81 releases!