Reviews
GLCD 5105 The Golden Age of Light Music: Great American Light Orchestras

International Record Review January 05
 

The second Guild disc also has many rare tracks and is equally recommendable; Leroy Anderson, Paul Whiteman, Morton Gould, David Rose (why doesn’t someone record his lovely Flute Concerto?), André Kostelanetz, Hugo Winterhalter and Victor Young – these names are a selection from the 26 tracks represented here, from 1939-53. My only complaint is that items 23 and 24 ought not to have been placed next to one another: the music (Dance of the Violins and Tic-Tac-Toe) is too similar. It is instructive to hear If You Are But a Dream, arranged from the music of Anton Rubinstein (!) – not the Melody in F – and Morton Gould’s version of Lecuona’s Andalucia (with the Robin Hood Dell Orchestra – i.e., the Philadelphia Orchestra. Morton Gould told me Ormandy himself played in the violin section on this track.) The transfers are excellent and notes by David Ades enhance both these CDs.             Robert Matthew-Walker

(Guild Historical GLCD 5105, 1 hour 18 minutes).

MusicWeb Friday September 03 04

Great American Light Orchestras: The Golden Age of Light Music
Fiddle Faddle (Leroy Anderson)
The Bad and the Beautiful – theme from film (David Raksin)
Brazilian Sleigh Bells (Percy Faith)
Anna (Roman, Giordano, Godfrey)
No Strings Attached (Richard Hayman)
Rain (Eugene Ford)
Holiday in Rio (Terig Tucci)
Sophisticated Lady (Duke Ellington, arr. Gould)
Marguerite Waltz (Meredith Willson)
Blue Violins (Ray Martin)
No other Love (Richard Rodgers)
Three o'clock in the Morning (Robledo, Terriiss)
La Mer (Charles Trenet)
If You are but a Dream (Jaffe, Fulton, Bronx – adapted from 'Romance' by Rubinstein)
Satan and the Polar Bear (David Rose)
Carriage Trade (Richard Hayman)
Tradewinds (David Carroll)
Manhattan Serenade (Louis Alter)
The Cavalier's Ball (Nicolas Acquaviva)
Tropicana (Bernie Wayne)
Smoke gets in your Eyes (Jerome Kern)
Andalucia (Ernesto Lecuona, arr. Gould)
Dance of the Violins (Jeanjean)
Tic-Tac-Toe (Lou Singer)
Toyland Waltz – from "Babes in Toyland" (Victor Herbert)
Manhattan Masquerade (Louis Alter)
Recorded in the USA
GUILD GLCD5105 [78.04]

The corresponding volume in this series devoted to British light orchestras sports an idyllic village cricket match, full of rolling acres and church spires. America gives us a diner with bright neon lights, coffee and a Danish and with just a hint of angst amidst the bagels. But all the big names are here from the opening salvo of "gusto personified" by Leroy Anderson and the luscious orchestration of genre maestro David Raksin’s The Bad and the Beautiful through to the final piece of portentous Gershwinesque concoction presided over by Paul Whiteman (whose Gershwinesque stripes had been well and honorably won).

These examples from the late 1940s and early 1950s pay testament to the high level of orchestration and execution in the bands of such as Rose, Gordon Jenkins and Victor Young. Richard Hayman’s massed fiddles certainly flaunt their prowess in No strings attached – ironic title – and we get some appropriately amusing genre writing in Brazilian Sleigh Bells, finely despatched by Percy Faith. Not everything goes so well; exotically named Acquaviva – crazy name, crazy guy – hams up Holiday in Rio and Morton Gould (surprisingly) disappoints with a clever-clever Sophisticated Lady whilst Monty Kelly is inclined to get treacly in Three o’clock in the morning. But the dance songs sway and drive and as ever Rose leads the way in descriptive-pictorial writing of an exalted level (try Satan and the Polar Bear for an unlikely sounding winner). If Gershwin animated Alter’s Manhattan Masquerade, the Whiteman band’s one outing on this disc, then Rachmaninov haunts the pocket piano concerto of Manhattan Serenade and elsewhere we can enjoy wordless vocals, guitar solos, pizzicato fizzers and subtly coloured writing – and some brash swagger as well.

Not having heard the originals it’s difficult to comment decisively on the transfers, the majority of which sound warm and pleasing. A few however sound a bit cramped – Paul Weston’s Rain in particular – which makes me wonder whether too much treble has been cut in the remastering. Otherwise, another warm welcome. Jonathan Woolf

Classical Net


This is the fifth volume in Guild's growing Light Music series that is dedicated to the immense tradition of the American Light Orchestra. There is a veritable treasure trove of recordings here with the main contenders being David Rose, Leroy Anderson, Percy Faith and the inimitable Andre Kostelanetz apart from several others who flew the flag for the genre throughout the United States.
I enjoyed this disc immensely from first note to last and with the fastidiously detailed notes by the indefatigable David Ades, the experience was an even more complete one. Morton Gould's
arrangement of Duke Ellington's 'Sophisticated Lady' was particularly effusive whilst the jaunty sounds of Kostelanetz's 'Manhattan Serenade' and Monty Kelly's 'Tropicana' certainly put me into a dancing mood. However it would be unfair to single out particular recordings for special praise as all are very much magical and quite ravishingly excellent. Acquaviva, Harry Horlick, David Carroll and Richard Hayman are also well represented here.
Guild's Light Music series is shaping up quite well and one hopes for the classic recordings from Haydn Wood, Ernest Tomlinson, Robert Farnon, Charles Williams and other greats of this genre to have their own albums in this excellently produced series. Otherwise, another warm welcome for this collection; one that should go down extremely well with enthusiasts of the genre.
Copyright © 2004  by Gerald Fenech

MusicWeb Wednesday July 21 04

GREAT AMERICAN LIGHT ORCHESTRAS
The Golden Age of Light Music
Fiddle Faddle (Leroy Anderson)
The Bad and the Beautiful – theme from film (David Raksin)
Brazilian Sleigh Bells (Percy Faith)
Anna (Roman, Giordano, Godfrey)
No Strings Attached (Richard Hayman)
Rain (Eugene Ford)
Holiday in Rio (Terig Tucci)
Sophisticated Lady (Duke Ellington, arr. Gould)
Marguerite Waltz (Meredith Willson)
Blue Violins (Ray Martin)
No other Love (Richard Rodgers)
Three o'clock in the Morning (Robledo, Terriiss)
La Mer (Charles Trenet)
If You are but a Dream (Jaffe, Fulton, Bronx – adapted from 'Romance' by Rubinstein)
Satan and the Polar Bear (David Rose)
Carriage Trade (Richard Hayman)
Tradewinds (David Carroll)
Manhattan Serenade (Louis Alter)
The Cavalier's Ball (Nicolas Acquaviva)
Tropicana (Bernie Wayne)
Smoke gets in your Eyes (Jerome Kern)
Andalucia (Ernesto Lecuona, arr. Gould)
Dance of the Violins (Jeanjean)
Tic-Tac-Toe (Lou Singer)
Toyland Waltz – from "Babes in Toyland" (Victor Herbert)
Manhattan Masquerade (Louis Alter)
Recorded in the USA
GUILD: GLCD5105 [78.04]        

This is the second disc in Guild's 'Golden Age' series. The compilation is transfers from 78rpm records issued by major recording labels in the 1940s and 50s.

Many of the titles will not be readily known by readers under the age of 45, but in the forties and fifties the original records sold well in America. Herbert's Toyland Waltz and Kern's Smoke gets in Your Eyes are better known and are still played. Other titles, though, are not well known. Rose, Faith and Gould were popular arrangers of the time and are responsible for some of the adaptations that appear here. The majority of pieces were recorded by dance bands and would have been written to accompany hotel and ballroom dances.

Most of the recordings were made at the start of the tape recording era when some companies stuck rigidly to the direct cutting method until tape durability had been fully tested by the mid fifties. Although most of the titles would have been issued as singles, the LP came early to America and so it is likely that some like the pioneering Brunswick records would have been available in a dual format. Vinyl was also used as the pressing medium in these last days of the 78. Not only has Guild's sound restoration and transfer of these 78s by Alan Bunting been excellent, with no background hiss or clicks and wide frequency range, but also the original recordings by Mercury, Columbia, Capitol, MGM and must be admired for their clarity.

For me a lot of the tracks contain recordings of a similar style, with repititious phrases and sections to the number and often lack a good melody line. Listeners of a younger generation may well react differently to those who are familiar with the music. Raymond J Walker

Page revised 09.05.02