This is a particularly interesting release for me.
There’s a real smattering of string class here in the form of
Campoli and Sandler, but also all the recordings go back to a 17-year
period ranging from 1929 to 1946 - these are the release dates. I’ve
not checked to see if, for example, Ray Noble’s
Fairy on the
Clock was actually recorded in 1928. It’s Noble who gets the
enterprise underway, though in rather rinky-dink fashion by his high
standards. It may be the New Mayfair Dance Orchestra but it’s
on very light duties. The reverse of that 78 is much better and we hear
from the pianist (Harry Jacobson?) and a classy fiddle player (Jean
Pougnet?).
One of the minor mysteries of this series has been the International
Novelty Orchestra, and the question one asks is simply this: who were
they? No one seems to know, and Regal Zonophone doesn’t tell us
anything, but they were highly efficient. Rudy Starita, brother of the
possibly more famous Ray, was a rather vapid xylophone player but amongst
his uncredited crew in 1932 he had a guitarist who had clearly been
listening - and listening early on, too - to Django Reinhardt. There’s
also a good classically trained fiddler - was it George Hurley? Campoli
solos strongly on his contributions but he’s given a good run
for his money by Jay Wilbur’s Serenaders whose version of
Intermezzo
- from the film
Escape to Happiness - features some elite musicians;
I’m taking a punt that the violinists were Hugo Rignold and Reg
Leopold.
It’s good to find waltz time provided by the Orchestra Macotte
on Parlophone - they introduce a Hawaiian guitar effect on the
Sphinx
Waltz - and the appearance of the experienced Louis Voss on the
Bosworth label. It’s also enjoyable to hear JH Squire and his
Celeste Octet in their Columbia recording of
The Wedding of the Rose;
pure charm. Sandler’s recording of Percy Fletcher’s
Fiddle
Dance is characteristically brilliant and it’s followed by
one of the best known of the selection, Campoli’s
Poupée
Valsante, the Poldini morceau, on an early Decca, and always welcome.
Indeed throughout there is the expected Guild expertise in programming,
not to mention the characteristically top-notch booklet notes.
Jonathan Woolf
See also review by
Byzantion
Full contents list
Fairy On The Clock (Sherman Myers, real name Montague Ewing) - New Mayfair
Dance Orchestra/Ray Noble [2:31]
La Petite Tonkinoise (My Chin Chin Lou) (Vincent Baptiste Scotto, Henry
Marius Christine) Alfredo Campoli and his salon orchestra with Whistling
by Ronald Gourlay [2:08]
Parade Of The Pirates (John W. Bratton) International Novelty Orchestra
[2:59]
Neapolitan Serenade (Gerhard Winkler) Alfredo Campoli and his salon
orchestra [2:54]
Magic Notes (Fritz Steininger) Rudy Starita, xyophone with un-named
orchestra [3:07]
Tango Habanera (Jose F. Payan, arr. Fred Hartley) Alfredo Campoli and
his salon orchestra [3:31]
Intermezzo (Souvenir de Vienne) (from the film 'Escape To Happiness')
(Heinz Provost) Jay Wilbur’s Serenaders [3:22]
Secrets Of The Adige - Waltz (Felice Carena) Orchestra Mascotte [2:44]
Grasshoppers' Holiday (Herman Bick) Louis Voss Grand Orchestra [2:52]
Finesse (Bernard Maltin, Anthony Raymond Doll) New Mayfair Dance Orchestra/Ray
Noble [2:37]
A Birthday Serenade (Paul Lincke) London Palladium Orchestra/Richard
Crean [3:09]
Rose Mousse (Fabrice Gabriel Lemon) International Novelty Orchestra
[3:13]
If You But Knew (Reginald King) Reginald King and his orchestra [2:54]
Hiawatha - Cake Walk (Neil Moret) Alfredo Campoli and his Novelty Orchestra
[2:41]
The Wedding Of The Rose (Leon Jessel, arr. Willoughby) J.H. Squire Celeste
Octet [3:04]
Fairy Whispers (Rhode) Victor Ricardo and his orchestra [3:25]
The Cuckoo In The Clock (Walter R. Collins) International Novelty Orchestra
[2:39]
The Excuse Me Waltz (Nicholas Brodszky) Reginald Pursglove and his Music
Makers [3:00]
Fiddle Dance (Percy Fletcher) Albert Sandler and his orchestra [2:52]
The Dancing Doll (Poupee Valsante) (Eduard Poldini) Alfredo Campoli
and his salon orchestra [2:55]
The Butterfly - Morceau Characteristique (Theo Bendix) Alfredo Campoli
and his salon orchestra [3:06]
Dolls' Games (Lederer) Victor Ricardo and his orchestra [3:01]
Sphinx Waltz (Francis Popy) Orchestra Mascotte [3:13]
Dark Red Roses (Philip Braham) Reginald King and his orchestra [3:06]
King Chanticleer (Seymour Brown, Nat D. Ayer) International Novelty
Orchestra [2:40]
