Reviews
GLCD 5134 The Golden Age of Light Music -
Four Decades Of Light Music - Volume 1- 1920s & 1930s
MEMORY LANE
WINTER 2007
Guild Light Music Volume 1 (GLCn 5134)
and Volume 2 (GLCn 5135) The latest Guild Light Music CDs allow us to follow the
development of light orchestral music through four decades - Volume I covering
the 1920s and 1930s, and Volume 2 the 1940s and 1950s. Volume I contains a more
eclectic selection of music than usual and the orchestras similarly range from
the mighty Berlin Philharmonic to that directed by the verbally challenging
Bamabas Von Geczy! The final track, a selection of Lionel Monckton's melodies,
is however entrusted to the BBC Theatre Orchestra under the ultra reliable baton
of Stanford Robinson. The music contained in Volume 2 has also been carefully
selected to give a feel for the times but the names of most of the orchestras
featured are more familiar. Even Lew Stone with his concert orchestra gets a
billing in the 1940s section whilst Geraldo, Stanley Black, Robert Famon and
Laurie Johnson bolster an impressive list of well-known orchestras in the 1950s.
The production ofthese CDs is, as always, first class. GB
Klassik Com Friday August 28 2007
Nostalgie pur
Interpretation: 4 Star
Klangqualität: 3 Star
Repertoirewert: 5 Star
Booklet: 4 Star
Wann sieht David Ades
jemals das Tageslicht? Unermüdlich kramt er in den Katakomben der Musikarchive,
wo offenbar ein schier unerschöpflicher Vorrat an raren Aufnahmen aus Vaters,
Großvaters und Urgroßvaters Zeiten lagert. Die CD-Reihe ‚The Golden Age of Light
Music’ wächst und wächst und wenn das so weiter geht, wird bald die
einhundertste CD erschienen sein. Denn noch immer gibt es viel zu entdecken
unter den audiophilen Kostbarkeiten aus alten Zeiten, die Ades, der ungekrönte
König der Musikarchive, im Verbund mit Audio-Restaurator Alan Bunting auf den
heutigen Silberling pressen lässt.
Vier Dezennien leichter
Musik ist der neueste Wurf des Gespanns Ades-Bunting und präsentiert Aufnahmen
der 20er bis 50er Jahre. Triumphe der Technik bedeuteten in jenen Jahren einen
Aufschwung der Schallplattenproduktion. War es in den 20er Jahren noch der
Wandel vom Schalltrichter zum Mikrophon, das nun endlich auch einen verbesserten
Orchesterklang bot, so machte in den 50er Jahren der karge Monosound dem
stereophonen Hören Platz und mit ‚high fidelity’ bot sich dem Hörer ein ganz
neues Klangerlebnis dar.
Aus den zahlreichen
Schmuckstücken der 20er und 30er Jahre hat Ades ganz besondere Schmankerl
ausgesucht. Da wäre zum Beispiel das aparte ‚In a Clock Store’ von Charles Orth
mit dem New Light Symphony Orchestra in einer HMV-Aufnahme aus dem Jahr 1926.
Oder die zwischen ernster und leichter Musik grenzgehenden Piècen von Eric
Coates. Oder die schmissige ‚Laughing Marionette’ von Walter Collins aus dem
Jahr 1928. Rar ist auch die 1938er Telefunken-Aufnahme eines ‚Blues’ aus der
‚Dance Suite’ von Eduard Künneke, die der Komponist selbst dirigiert. Und er
dirigiert nicht irgendein Orchester, sondern die Berliner Philharmoniker. Die
20er und 30er Jahre waren nicht weniger schnelllebig als unsere heutige Zeit.
Und doch scheint das Gespür für qualitätsvolle und gewichtig interpretierte
Einspielungen nicht von der Uhr bestimmt worden zu sein.
Die zweite CD mit
Aufnahmen der 40er und 50er Jahre bietet die dem Freund der ‚Golden Age of Light
Music’-Reihe bekannten Namen: Meredith Willson, Philip Green, Charles Williams,
Percy Faith, Roger, Roger, Robert Farnon, Leroy Anderson u.a. Insbesondere die
Aufnahmen der 50er Jahre riechen förmlich alle ein wenig nach Coca Cola, und
nach Kaugummi-Atem, einem Aufatmen nach Jahren des Kriegs. Humor ist eine ernste
Sache und ebenso verhält es sich mit dieser Musik. Hinter der beschwingten
Leichtigkeit dieser Arrangements steckt unglaublich subtiles Talent.
Restaurator Bunting hat
Meisterliches geleistet und selbst den teils über 80 Jahre alten Aufnahmen eine
elegante frische Knackfreiheit gegeben. Aufpoliert und klanglich rein glänzend
erklingen auch die Aufnahmen der 30er und 40er Jahre. Den Sound der 50er hat
Bunting ebenso kongenial zu bewahren gewusst. Die ‚Golden Age of Light Music’-Reihe
ist außerordentlich preiswürdig.
Erik Daumann
MusicWeb Wednesday
July 25 2007
Golden
Age of Light Music series:
Four Decades of Light Music – Volume 1: 1920s & 1930s
The 1920s
Northwards (COATES)
– Regal Cinema Orchestra/Emanuel Starkey [3:56]
Flapperette (GREER)
– Nat Shilkret & his Orchestra [3:17]
Estudiantina Waltz (WALDTEUFEL)
– London Palladium Orchestra/Horace Sheldon [3:57]
Pearl o’ Mine - Lyrical Melody (FLETCHER)
– Plaza Theatre Orchestra/Frank Tours [2:44]
Laughing Marionette (COLLINS)
– Debroy Somers Band [2:42]
Martial Moments – London Coliseum Orchestra/Alfred Dove [5:26]
In A Clock Store (ORTH)
– New Light Symphony Orchestra [4:17]
The Selfish Giant (COATES)
– Julian Fuhs’ Symphony Orchestra [7:36]
Lustspiel - Overture (BÉLA,
arr.
LOTTER)
– Athenaeum Light Orchestra [3:07]
The 1930s
Frog King’s Parade (KRONBERGER;
MARRIOTT)
– West End Celeb. Orchestra [2:48]
Lullaby of the Leaves (PETKERE)
– Reginald King’s Orchestra [3:04]
Parade of the Tin Soldiers (JESSEL)
– New Light Symphony Orchestra [2:46]
Blues (KÜNNEKE)
– Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra/Eduard Künneke [5:35]
In a Merry Mood (HARINGER)
– Barnabas Von Geczy & his Orchestra [2:49]
Dancing Clock (EWING)
– Orchestre Raymonde [2:50]
"Sunny Side Up" – film selection (DE
SYLVA/BROWN/HENDERSON)
– Scala Salon Orchestra [5:50]
Raindrops - Pizzicati for Strings (T.
DE
LA
RIVIERA)
– Bournemouth Municipal Orchestra/Sir Dan Godfrey [3:13]
Teddy Bears’ Picnic (BRATTON)
– Commodore Grand Orchestra/Joseph Muscant [2:59]
Monckton Melodies (MONCKTON)
– BBC Theatre Orchestra/Stanford Robinson [8:23]
rec. London,
Bournemouth, England; Berlin, Germany, 1921-38. ADD
GUILD
GLCD 5134 [78:21]
This
welcome addition to the Guild series has been issued alongside a second
companion disc of the 1940s and 1950s. The appeal in this disc is the fresh
Quickstep rhythm that gave the Charleston and Foxtrot. Examples of both are
found embedded in various tunes on this disc.
I fully
endorse the principles adopted by David Ades and Alan Bunting in selecting
records for transcribing: an early Coates recording of The Selfish Giant
was abandoned in favour of this better quality Fuhs’ recording.
Likewise, acoustic recordings have been dropped, despite any historic interest,
for electric recordings post-1925 when use of conventional instruments and the
better frequency ranges began to be possible.
Eric Coates
had many facets to his musical style yet to many is best remembered for his
rousing marches. Here we are not disappointed with the opening Northwards,
a stirring unrelenting march, superbly played by the Regal Cinema Orchestra
under Emanuel Starkey involving difficult brass with repetitious triplets at
speed. Another Coates piece, The Selfish Giant was a popular spas
orchestra item, long for its type, but very enjoyable.
Flapperette
by Greer is
one of those homely pieces with its bustling, cheery theme depicting domestic
bliss surrounding an Afternoon Tea. It has a familiarity of the old Light
Programme’s ‘Housewives’ Choice’.
A rather
heavy rendering of Waldteufel’s Estudiantina Waltz, is delivered
by an early London Palladium Orchestra before it gathered its polish under
Richard Crean’s direction. I find this Horace Sheldon version lacking in the
delicacy and subtlety it would have received from a Viennese orchestra.
Sheldon’s performance is heavy and muddied. Good brass maybe, but the first
strings are thin and scratchy, and the bass/euphonium is overpowering. On some
of these pieces we come across that characteristic slur made by the first
violins and typical of the period: it is something either liked or disliked.
I came
across Béla’s Lustspiel Overture, in name only, a few years ago.
It is also known as his Comedy Overture. Béla came to England in 1874 and
then in 1875 toured conducting concerts of his music including this piece. It
became a favourite yet never having heard it I have always wondered what it was
like. Many arrangements had been published and it was widely played by our salon
orchestras. I find it utterly charming.
A
sprightly, snappy Charleston number, Laughing Marionette, is sure
to get your feet a-tapping. With Bunting’s restoration the Debroy Band sounds
superb. A raw recording (found on
You Tube)
reminds one how brittle and poor the equalisation of the original was. Thin
trumpets are just too piercing. The Guild track allows one to appreciate the
lush ebb and flow that puts energy into the notes. A not unpleasant euphonium
holds the rhythm while the trumpets and saxophones promote a 1920s feel.
All the
thrill of the circus or steam-organ fairground can be pictured in the well-known
opening to the medley, Martial Moments. Amongst the stirring
melodies is Colonel Bogey; it appears amongst other American marches one
cannot put a name to, probably by Sousa, This crisp recording with the large
forces of the Coliseum benefits from a brilliance added by the piccolo.
An amusing
diversion is provided by the 1894 German descriptive fantasie, In A Clock
Store by Charles Orth. This is a wonderfully evocative children’s piece
that would sit well in the soundtrack of a Disney film. Its piano arrangement
can be found on the
internet
but it gives little clue as to the atmosphere that the imaginative
clock-simulated percussion of the New Light Symphony Orchestra provides with
their numerous bells and ratchet mechanisms. Another clock piece, Dancing
Clock has more melody and appeal for repeated listening in a
pleasantly-shaped piece with choppy overtones.
Two more
children’s favourites are the well known Teddy Bears’ Picnic and
Parade of the Tin Soldiers by Jessel. The latter was a firm
childhood favourite of mine and it is very much as I remembered it yet with the
improvement of modern sound engineering.
An
excellent find by Ades and Bunting is the Monckton Melodies, which
are taken from a wide number of Monckton’s shows which ran in the first two
decades of the twentieth century. Why many of these charming tunes have never
received a modern recording I find hard to understand. Miss Gibbs,
Girls of Gottenberg, Quaker Girl and Dancing Mistress are
provided alongside the better known Arcadians in this nicely organised
medley by Stanford Robinson.
Of the
1930s pieces, I was reminded of the glorious melodies of the show, Sunny
Side Up, which originally featured Janet Gaynor, Marjorie White and
Charles Farrell. It opened just a few days before the 1930s began, yet its
music’s popularity spread from New York around the world through the 1930s and
1940s. Many of its numbers with their lasting charm will be well known to us
all.
This disc contains much to delight those mentally tuned-in to 'easy listening'
mode. Using technical CD mastery achieves much more than the nostalgia of
winding up the gramophone and playing a 78 record just purchased from the local
Wireless shop. One could add that the Guild series has ‘a living presence’ in
that requests from the public who write in are taken seriously and sometimes
rare discs are unearthed and offered for consideration.
Raymond J Walker
Page revised Thursday November 29 2007