GLCD 5118 Buried Treasures Reviews & Broadcast

THE GOLDEN AGE OF LIGHT MUSIC Buried Treasures CELEBRITY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA - DANISH STATE RADIO ORCHESTRA - BBC THEATRE ORCHESTRA - WALLY STOTT AND HIS ORCHESTRA - HARMONIC ORCHESTRA - SIDNEY TORCH AND HIS ORCHESTRA - MELACHRINO ORCHESTRA - ASSOCIATED BRITISH PICTURE CORPORATION ORCHESTRA - QUEEN’S HALL LIGHT ORCHESTRA  - DOLF VAN DER LINDEN AND HIS ORCHESTRA - MALCOLM LOCKYER AND HIS ORCHESTRA - NEW CONCERT ORCHESTRA - LEIGHTON LUCAS AND HIS ORCHESTRA - CELEBRITIY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA - WILLIAM HILL-BOWEN AND HIS ORCHESTRA - MISCHA MICHAELOFF AND HIS ORCHESTRA - HARRY DAVIDSON AND HIS ORCHESTRA - THE TONHALLE ORCHESTRA, ZURICH Track 02 Swing-Hoe Track 08 Song of Soho Rhapsody for Piano and Orchestra Track 15 There Is A Tavern In The Town Track 21 Selection of Popular Melodies by Robert Stolz

Contents:

Buried Treasure is the stuff of schoolboy yarns, and how many of us have dreamed of digging up a mysterious box and discovering that it contained untold riches? Such things may only exist in dreams, but ‘treasures’ of many kinds abound in the world around us. In choosing the title ‘Buried Treasures’ for this collection of Light Music, the intention has been twofold: firstly, to reveal musical gems that have been long forgotten; and secondly to make available previously unknown compositions by many leading writers.

Some tracks have already appeared on commercial recordings, but in almost every case they were only on sale briefly – certainly most only saw the light of day fleetingly over fifty years ago. The remaining titles have never been offered to the general public, since they originate from the mood music libraries which exist solely to provide music for the entertainment profession - mainly films, radio and television.

One or two may still be slightly familiar, through their use as signature tunes, but at this distance in time they can simply be enjoyed for the delightful cameos that they are – unpretentious, yet charming in the way they conjure up mental images of a world far removed from the 21^st century. But in case some memories need jogging, the following clues might trigger fading recollections of four of the titles.

Castles In The Air has been a gift for programme makers dealing with the ‘Golden Days’ of Hollywood; Barry Norman was just one presenter who used it as the theme for a BBC Television series. The composer Rufus Isaacs used various pseudonyms, including Kenneth Essex, Claud Vane, Derek Dwyer and Howitt Hale. His many short works often had a ‘show business’ or holiday feel, and three more can be heard on the Guild CD “Highdays and Holidays” – GLCD5115.

Valse Serenade was used by its composer, Stanford Robinson, to introduce a popular music programme “Tuesday Serenade” he conducted on BBC Radio in the post-war years. He was born in Leeds on 5 July 1904, and during his early musical career he played the piano in hotel orchestras, until attending the Royal College of Music in London, where he studied conducting under Sir Adrian Boult.  From 1924 to 1966 he was on the staff of the BBC, originally as organiser of the BBC’s London Wireless Chorus in 1924.  He conducted the BBC Theatre Orchestra (heard on this recording) from 1932 to 1946, and was also director of music productions (including opera and operetta) from 1936 to 1946. From 1946 to 1949 he was opera director and associate conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, and he worked with the BBC Opera Orchestra as an opera organiser from 1949 until 1952. Thereafter he served in various capacities (including numerous broadcasts) until his official retirement in 1966, when he went to the southern hemisphere and conducted several orchestras in Australia and New Zealand during the remainder of 1966 and 1967. In 1968 he was appointed chief conductor of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra.

Dickon O’Devon was chosen by the makers of a BBC West of England Home Service radio soap opera “At The Luscombes”, appropriately set in the West Country. It was first broadcast in September 1948, and continued well into the 1960s, over 1,000 episodes later.

Automation played beneath the closing titles for an early British television filmed crime series “Fabian Of The Yard” starring Bruce Seton, seen on the BBC between 1954 and 1956. It was also shown on CBS in the USA, retitled “Patrol Car”.

The Canadian composer Robert Farnon (1917-2005) produced such a wealth of light music, that it is hardly surprising that some of his catchy numbers are still unknown to many people. Such a piece is Swing-Hoe, although its perky exuberance makes you feel that it has always been around. After giving the world so many charming melodies (Journey Into Melody, Portrait Of A Flirt, Jumping Bean and Westminster Waltz are just four well-known examples), it was a sad irony that Robert Farnon passed away on 23 April 2005, exactly three weeks before the world première of his last major work – Symphony No. 3 in F “Edinburgh”.

During the early years of her musical career, Angela Morley (b. 1924) was known as Wally Stott. Radio listeners became familiar with her work, especially as her orchestra was an essential ingredient in the overwhelming success of BBC Radio’s “Goon Show” starring Peter Sellers, Spike Milligan and Harry Secombe. During the 1950s she made numerous recordings for the Philips label, and many of the titles she played carried the hallmark of her own distinctive arranging style, such as Venezuela on this CD. In her later career she has been much in demand for film scores, and has also assisted leading composers on major projects – working with John Williams on “Star Wars” being a prime example.

Ray Martin (1918-1988) was one of the biggest names in British popular music during the 1950s.  He conducted his orchestra regularly on radio and television, and was also an Artists and Repertoire Manager at EMI’s Columbia label, where he produced many hit records by their top contract stars. His own compositions were among some of his biggest successes (notably Marching Strings), but an early piece of mood music he wrote for the Harmonic Music Library, Parlour Game, appears to have made little impact and he never recorded it commercially.  

Leroy Anderson (1908-1975) is probably the best-loved American light music composer of his generation. For many years he was the chief arranger for the Boston Pops, and its famous conductor, Arthur Fiedler, introduced many Anderson novelties to an appreciative world. Perhaps Sleigh Ride has been the most enduring, but numerous others like Serenata, Belle Of The Ball, Blue Tango, Forgotten Dreams, The Waltzing Cat and Fiddle Faddle have ensured his rightful place in musical history. Like Robert Farnon, he was so prolific that some of his numbers have tended to become overlooked, such as Penny Whistle Song.

George Melachrino (1909-1965) was one of the top British conductors of light music, with his records (especially LPs) selling in large numbers around the world. Like many of his contemporaries, he served his musical apprenticeship in British Dance Bands (especially Carroll Gibbons) before World War 2 found him fronting the British Band of the Allied Expeditionary Forces, alongside Glenn Miller and Robert Farnon. As well as conducting, Melachrino was a fine composer, and we feature a rarely heard march simply entitled London. Perhaps he is in more familiar guise with his inventive arrangement of There Is A Tavern In The Town, subtitled ‘Juke Box Fantasy’, where the coins can be heard dropping in the record player, to be followed by interpretations of several well-known bands of the 1940s. Swing music fans should have little difficulty in recognising the famous styles of Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, Harry James – and maybe some others?

One particular piece of music in this collection which fully deserves to be described as ‘Buried Treasure’ is Song of Soho. It was composed by Philip Green for a long-forgotten British film “Murder Without Crime” (1950) starring Dennis Price and Derek Farr, which appears to have been the first feature directed by Bristol-born J. Lee Thompson (1914-2002), who later went on to receive praise for British movies such as “Yield To The Night” (1956), “Ice Cold In Alex” (1958), “Tiger Bay” (1959), and in Hollywood “The Guns Of Navaraone” (1961) and “Cape Fear” (1962).   Philip Green conducted the Associated British Picture Corporation Orchestra for the soundtrack on 27 September 1950, and this is the version which was released on EMI’s Columbia label in December 1950. The young Bill McGuffie (1927-1987) took the piano solo – he was credited as ‘William’ on the label. Written documentation states that the music (described as a ‘Rhapsody for Piano and Orchestra’) was used throughout the film, presumably in segments, and careful listeners may notice several editing points in the final version as it was released on the 12” 78. Philip Green (1910-1982) had a long recording career which began with EMI in 1933, and he is credited with at least 150 film scores.

Edward White (1910-1994) enjoyed considerable acclaim with his Runaway Rocking Horse when it emerged as one of the most popular pieces of light music in the immediate post-war years – the version by the Orchestre Raymonde can be heard on Guild GLCD5102. But he was to achieve even greater success a few years later with Puffin’ Billy, thanks to its use in Britain as the signature tune of “Children’s Favourites”, and as the theme for “Captain Kangaroo” in the USA. Many other White originals found their way into the recorded music libraries of several London publishers, and the choice this time is Effervescence from the Paxton Library.

 “Target For Tonight” has long been regarded as one of the most prestigious British documentaries to be made during World War 2. Written and directed by Harry Watt, it was filmed in 1941 by the Crown Film Unit, runs for 48 minutes, and tells the story of an RAF bombing raid over Germany. It won a special Academy Award, and the music was composed by Leighton Lucas, although the on-screen credits simply stated that it was played by the Royal Air Force Central Band. Lucas eventually conducted his own title music six years later in 1947, when (with his own orchestra) he made several special recordings for the EMI Mood Music Library.

Planet Recordings was a short-lived British label of the 1950s which produced only a dozen or so 78s before its demise, and only one orchestral one – by William Hill-Bowen and his Orchestra. Originally a classical pianist, Hill-Bowen (as he became better-known) was the arranger of many of George Melachrino’s HMV and RCA recordings, before concentrating on his own career as a conductor. His made numerous Reader’s Digest LPs of the 1960s (sometimes anonymously), but eventually received the public acclaim he deserved for his work with the Living Strings.

Nixa 12” 78s are truly buried treasure as so few were issued. This one, by Mischa Michaeloff and his Orchestra, is something of a mystery. Other than recording a Nixa LP of French tunes, an RCA album 'Strictly From Hungary', featuring his ‘Symphonic Gypsies’, and contributing to the BBC's "Music While You Work" and "Bright And Early" programmes, little can be discovered about him, or the composer of Serbian Sunset. All one can say is that the title is somewhat misleading, unless the music really does describe what happens when sunset arrives in Serbia!

The supposedly lost civilisation of Atlantis is surrounded by so many myths and legends, that it continues to fascinate scholars to this very day. Its exact location is still the subject of great debate (recent researches have placed it near Indonesia, rather than the Mediterranean), but since it is reputed to have disappeared over 11,000 years ago the real truth may never emerge. Writers and composers have used the accounts of Plato as inspiration, among them Edward Stanley de Groot, who wrote a tone poem during his early career when his future seemed to be heading towards the concert platform, both as a conductor and a violinist. But he decided to turn to comedy and, as ‘Stanelli’, he became popular with British audiences during the 1930s, largely due to his ‘Hornchestra’, constructed from a weird collection of electric and bulb motor horns on which he played jazz music. He demonstrated this device on 2 April 1937 when he made his television debut from Alexandra Palace in London. Stanelli’s Atlantis appears to have been rediscovered around 1946, when sheet music was published. Sidney Torch’s rare Parlophone recording came two years later.

Apart from removing unwanted surface noise, the sound restorations in the Guild Light Music series try to remain faithful to the original performances. However, very occasionally there is something about the music which tends to diminish its appeal – perhaps an obtrusive vocal, or maybe annoying repetition. Such an instance has occurred in Charles Ancliffe’s Secrets. In order to make this delightful piece long enough for a set dance, the recording on the 12” 78, in common with others in Harry Davidson's Old Time Dance series, included several repeats and a final long chord not in the original composition. These have been edited out.

Robert Stolz (1880-1975) was an acclaimed Austrian composer, extremely popular in his homeland until he went to Hollywood to escape the Nazis, where he enjoyed success writing music for films such as “Spring Parade” and “It Happened Tomorrow”.  Although he was one of the major composers of the last century, his tuneful creations have tended to be neglected in recent years. In an attempt to rectify this sorry state of affairs, we have concluded with a selection of his most popular melodies which he conducted in Switzerland in 1949.

Once again it is regretted that room in this booklet cannot be found for detailed notes on several other composers and orchestras, but hopefully those who have not already received mention in previous Guild releases will be given their due credit in the future.                                                             David Ades

Page revised 03.03.06