ELIZABETHAN SERENADE
The Best of British Light Music
Various orchestras and
conductors
NAXOS 8.553515 (from
Marco Polo recordings originally issued in
1996)
[78.21]
Crotchet
1. Coates: By The Sleepy Lagoon - Slovak
PO/Andrew Penny
2. Curzon: Robin Hood Ste: March Of The Bowmen
- Czecho-Slovak RSO/Adrian Leaper
3. Ketelbey: Bells Across The Meadows -
Czecho-Slovak RSO/Adrian Leaper
4. Ellis: Coronation Scot - RTE Concert Orch/Ernest
Tomlinson
5. Wood: Sketch Of A Dandy - Czecho-Slovak
RSO/Adrian Leaper
6. Farnon: The Westminster Waltz - Czecho-Slovak
RSO/Adrian Leaper
7. Duncan: Little Ste: March - Slovak PO/Andrew
Penny
8. Binge: Sailing By - Slovak RSO/Ernest
Tomlinson
9. Benjamin: Jamaican Rumba - RTE Concert
Orch/Ernest Tomlinson
10. Coates: London Ste: Knightsbridge March
- Czecho-Slovak RSOAdrian Leaper
11. Ketelbey: In A Monastery Garden - Slovak
Phil Male Chor/Adrian Leaper
12. Tomlinson: Little Serenade - Czecho-Slovak
RSO/Ernest Tomlinson
13. Wood: Roses Of Picardy - Slovak RSO/Ernest
Tomlinson
14. White: Puffin' Billy - RTE Concert Orch/Ernest
Tomlinson
15. Binge: Elizabethan Serenade - Slovak RSO/Ernest
Tomlinso
16. German: Tom Jones Waltz - Czecho-Slovak
RSO/Adrian Leaper
17. Collins: Vanity Fair - RTE Concert Orch/Ernest
Tomlinson
18. Mayerl: Marigold - Slovak RSO/Gary
Carpenter
19. Ketelbey: In A Persian Market - Slovak Phil
Male Chor/Adrian Leaper
20. Coates: The Dam Busters March - Czecho-Slovak
RSO/Adrian Leaper
The term 'light music' defies definition. It's rather like 'class' or
'Englishness' - words we constantly use but whose meaning we are hard-pressed
to pinpoint. Among this disc's 20 tracks is, for instance, Eric Coates' The
Dam Busters, but no one would regard, say, Walton's Crown Imperial as 'light'.
Similarly, if Ketèlbey's In a Persian Market qualifies as 'light',
why not Rawsthorne's Street Corner Overture?
Be that as it may, the disc constitutes an impressive survey of the field,
featuring the works of no fewer than 14 composers. Personally, I could have
done without Binge's tedious Elizabethan Serenade and Collins' somewhat anaemic
Vanity Fair, but most of the rest are fine specimens of the genre. Performance
standards are generally sound, though the playing of the RTE Concert Orchestra
is more polished than that of their Czecho/Slovak counterparts.
The approach to these pieces of the three conductors involved - Ernest Tomlinson,
Adrian Leaper and Andrew Penny - is however often questionable. All three
seem to want to invest the music with a gravitas it does not warrant. My
notes are littered with the words 'stodgy', 'too slow' 'dreary'. (Coates's
Sleepy Lagoon is positively constipated). Notable exceptions to this lack
of sparkle are the March from Duncan's Little Suite, Mayerl's Marigold and
Ellis's Coronation Scot which are all vividly characterised.
Two incidentals. Ketèlbey's In a Monastery Garden is taken at such
a funereal tempo that one can't help suspecting that it's a deliberate send-up
(and the extraordinary sound of the 'bird song' resembles nothing so much
as the escape of hissing steam). And, as a member of a 'palm court' orchestra
I have played Haydn Wood's Roses of Picardy scores of times, but the opening
grand introduction (complete with mini-cadenza for violin) was new to me.
Despite these reservations, this disc can be warmly recommended to anyone
who will find this stream of familiar tunes as comfortable as a pair of favourite
old slippers.
Adrian Smith
Performance
Sound
