Garland1134 of British Light Music Composers
I start with Mark Goddard, arranger of many classical
forces especially JS Bach and composer of some church music
and much lighter work often suitable for young performers: Variations
On Teddy Bears Picnic (quintet), Boogie Band (versions for brass,
strings or wind), Tricks And Games (duets for violas), Tales
of Five Winds, a story for Christmas for narrator and wind quintet,
Questions (violin and piano), Pasodoble Demente (bassoon quartet),
Plain Sailing (various versions), Party Pieces (several versions),
Mediaeval Carol for string orchestra, Flute Fundae and a sonatina
both for flute and piano, Flower Festival for string quartet,
Buffoonery for bassoon or cello or trombone and piano, Fanfare
Romance And Jig for wind sextet and Chesterton Flowers for saxophone
Quartet.
Frederic d’Erlanger (1868-1943) is best remembered for
his operas including Tess of the d’Urerbervilles and perhaps
a Violin Sonata and concertos for piano and violin; in lighter
mood we point to the ballet Les Cent Baisers (1935), a Ballade
for cello and Orchestra and the witty Midnight Rose, recorded
in 1934 by Barbirolli.
Finally mentions for Stephen Divo (Boogaloo for horn
or trombone and piano), Rosalind Carlson for the Wooden
Broom Stick Scherzo for bassoon and piano (2001) and Dal
Strutt, composer of a Suite for Oboe (1970) and, Mr Gillan’s
Run for string quartet and November Rose for clarinet and piano.
Philip L Scowcroft
November 2010