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The Golden Age of Light Music – The Art of the Arranger Volume 1
Track-details see below
rec.1930-60
GUILD LIGHT MUSIC GLCD 5188 [77:19]
Though the word is freighted with ambiguity, the ‘arranger’ has long been revered for the palettes he (or she) can extract from a song. In fact in the last track on this first disc devoted to the art of the arranger, a promotional interview between Percy Faith and Goddard Lieberson, Faith discusses his arrangement of the preceding track, Temptation, and makes the point that he considers what he did with the song not merely ‘arrangement’ but more ‘creation’. He voices what I suppose must be a prevalent objection; namely the somewhat slighting nature of.his calling. In fact, though very genial, one feels him inwardly bristling at the imputation that he merely ‘arranged’ the song when in fact he effectively clothed it, shod it, fed it, and sent it out on its way in the world. The inclusion of this spoken track is very unusual in this series but I, for one, found it fascinating to hear. It was recorded, as was the song, in 1960.
That is the cut-off date for this album. The earliest track is Eric Coates’ Symphonic Rhapsody in 1930, and then we go forward to Sidney Torch’s Destiny, cut in 1947 for Parlophone. Between 1930 and 1960 one hears a lexicon of the arranger’s art – for so we must call it. There’s the helter skelter vivacity of Hal Mooney’s work on the Can Can – new wine, old bottle – or the de luxe orchestration from Conrad Salinger for The Continental. One might have predicted that Morton Gould would have come up with something bold and brilliant on Birth of the Blues – and he doesn’t disappoint, whilst Ron Goodwin deals appositely with the exotica of Windows of the East.
When things go wrong, though, boy do they go wrong. My One and Only Love (RCA, 1959) is not Henry Mancini’s finest hour – it’s three minutes of misery, with a horrible brass solo to get things underway. Just what was on Mancini’s mind? It’s better even to listen to the slinky ‘mood music’ palaver of Les Baxter’s Taboo and better still to encounter David Rose’s fast and gutsy, though not especially idiomatic, Old Man River.
A much more sensitive arrangement comes from Nelson Riddle in the case of Please Be Kind, with its lovely clarinet solo and refined textures. Monty Kelly arranges Willingly in the spirit intended – it’s a naughty song, naughtily arranged. Frank Cordell’s Summertime takes a while to settle down but works reasonably well but you need to wait for Farnon’s Shenandoah to hear a really fine piece of work. This is a mini tone poem, a filmic gem, with craggy rock-faces and gleaming vistas, imbued with all Farnon’s genius for colour and richness and refinement. Make for this track without delay. There’s plenty of fun from the always dependable Group-Forty Orchestra in The Irish Washerwoman (KPM 1960).
As ever there is variety in time, place, mood, composers, arrangers and ensembles from Guild.
Jonathan Woolf
Guild’s accustomed variety in time, place, mood, composers, arrangers and ensemble.
Track-details
Jacques Offenbach -Orphée aux enfers, operetta: Can Can 2:07
Hal Mooney and his orchestra
Con Conrad -The Continental (from The Gay Divorcée) 3:32
The Conrad Salinger Orchestra/Buddy Bregman
Frederick Loewe -Almost Like Being In Love, song (from "Brigadoon") 3:32
Cyril Ornadel and The Starlight Symphony
Ray Henderson -Birth of the Blues 4:12
Morton Gould and his orchestra
Elias Rahbani - Windows of the East, song (a.k.a. "Ya Mayla") 2:33
Ron Goodwin and his Concert Orchestra
Caroll Coates - London by Night 2:00
Angela Morley and her orchestra
Bruno Coquatrix - Clopin, Clopant (for the revue "Latin Quarter") 3:42
The Melachrino Strings/George Melachrino
Guy Wood - My One and Only Love 3:15
Henry Mancini and his orchestra
Margarita Lecuona - Tabu (Taboo) 2:40
Les Baxter and his orchestra
Brown, Henderson - The Thrill Is Gone 2:44
Gordon Jenkins and his orchestra
Jerome Kern - Ol' Man River, song (from "Show Boat") 2:28
David Rose and his orchestra
Sammy Cahn - Please Be Kind 3:41
Nelson Riddle and his orchestra
Carlos Julio Ramírez - Te quiero dijiste (Magic is the Moonlight) 3:31
Mario Ruiz Armengol and his orchestra
Carl Sigman -Mélodie perdue, for pops orchestra (a.k.a. "Willingly") 2:30
Monty Kelly and his orchestra
George Gershwin -Summertime, song (from Porgy and Bess, opera) 3:02
Frank Cordell and his orchestra featuring Jack Laroque
Jerome Kern -The Song Is You, song (from "Music in the Air") 3:10
Paul Weston and his orchestra
American Traditional – Shenandoah 5:30
Robert Farnon and his orchestra
Sydney Baynes - Destiny, waltz 4:13
Sidney Torch and his orchestra
Irish Traditional - The Irish Washerwoman Jig 3:16
Group-Forty Orchestra
Eric Coates - With a Song in my Heart, Symphonic Rhapsody (after Richard Rogers) 7:49
Court Symphony Orchestra/Eric Coates
Nacio Herb Brown - Temptation, song (from the film Going Hollywood) 3:10
Percy Faith and his orchestra
Spoken Word - Percy Faith discusses his arrangement of "Temptation" 4:28