GLCD 5132 Continental Flavour Reviews & Broadcast

THE GOLDEN AGE OF LIGHT MUSIC Continental Flavour RON GOODWIN AND HIS CONCERT ORCHESTRA - FRANK CORDELL AND HIS ORCHESTRA  - SYMPHONIA ORCHESTRA Conducted by THEO ARDEN  - ROBIN HOOD DELL ORCHESTRA Conducted by MORTON GOULD  - STUTTGART RADIO ORCHESTRA Conducted by KURT REHFELD  - PETER YORKE AND HIS CONCERT ORCHESTRA  - SIDNEY TORCH AND HIS ORCHESTRA  - NEW CONCERT ORCHESTRA Conducted by DOLF VAN DER LINDEN -METROPOLE ORCHESTRA Conducted by DOLF VAN DER LINDEN  - ROGER ROGER AND HIS CHAMPS ELYSEES ORCHESTRA  - ROBERT FARNON AND HIS ORCHESTRA  - BOB SHARPLES AND HIS MUSIC  - EDDIE BARCLAY AND HIS ORCHESTRA  - GUY LUYPAERTS AND HIS ORCHESTRA  - EMILE DELTOUR AND HIS ORCHESTRA  - HARRY FRYER AND HIS ORCHESTRA  - CHARLES WILLIAMS AND HIS CONCERT ORCHESTRA  - HARMONIC ORCHESTRA Conducted by CLAUDE YVOIRE - ROBERT RENARD AND HIS ORCHESTRA – real name OTTO DOBRINDT  - NEW CONCERT ORCHESTRA Conducted by DOLF VAN DER LINDEN featuring Alexander Glushkoff, piano  - BARNABAS VON GECZY AND HIS ORCHESTRA  - FERDY KAUFFMAN AND HIS ORCHESTRA  - THE MELACHRINO ORCHESTRA Conducted by GEORGE MELACHRINO     02 Mon Pays (Rossi, arr. Frank Cordell)  - FRANK CORDELL AND HIS ORCHESTRA 04  “La Strada” – ‘Road’ theme from the film (Nino Rota)  - EDDIE BARCLAY AND HIS ORCHESTRA 12 Malaga (Robert Farnon) - ROBERT FARNON AND HIS ORCHESTRA 14 C’Est Si Bon (Ange Eugene Betti, Jerry Seelen, Andre Hornez – arr. Jo Boyer)  - EDDIE BARCLAY AND HIS ORCHESTRA 23 Fresh Breezes (Borchert)  - BARNABAS VON GECZY AND HIS ORCHESTRA

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Britons and Americans have always had a fascination for Continental Europe, whether focussing on musical and artistic culture or simply a love of the diversity offered by so many unique countries full of proud traditions and beautiful scenery. This admiration has resulted in many composers producing numerous glorious melodies in tribute to lands far removed from their everyday existence in publishers’ offices in London or New York.

But every so often the genuine article has emerged, with writers and performers in France, Italy, Germany and Spain enjoying international success with their own impressions of their homelands. The sum total of all this creative endeavour has resulted in a wealth of recordings from numerous sources, as a glance through the list of titles in this collection will readily confirm. Some well-known orchestras and conductors will be instantly recognised, but there are also some less familiar names which deserve to have their music appreciated by a wider audience. Together they all combine to offer a sense of the breadth of musical diversity in a continent that has charmed so many people over the ages.

Among the composers and conductors who could be defined as ‘the genuine article’, due to their spheres of influence falling within the boundaries of Continental Europe, it is important to include specific mention of Eddie Barclay, Roger Roger, Guy Luypaerts, Emile Deltour, Claude Yvoire, Otto Dobrindt, Barnabas Von Geczy, Ferdy Kauffmann and the composer/conductor whose light music output was truly prolific – Dolf van der Linden.

Eddie Barclay (1921-2005) (real name Edouard Ruault – he changed it in 1944 when he came into contact with American liberation forces) was famous in France for two reasons: his music, and his nine wives. His career took off at the end of World War 2 when he realised that his jazz with a French flavour was much in demand. He launched what he claimed to be the first discothèque, Eddie's Club, based on the American clubs that had opened to serve US military personnel, and started his own band in 1947.  Gradually he began extending his talents into conducting and record production for several leading singers, and eventually he formed Barclay Records. Thanks to his contacts with the American record industry he was able to take a leading role in the production and distribution of LP records in France where he became known as the ‘king of microgroove’.

Roger Roger (1911-1995) really did have this distinctive name. His father Edmond Roger was a French opera conductor and contemporary of Claude Debussy; one can assume that he also had a sense of humour. Young Roger became a leading figure on the French music scene for many years, and his fine compositions and arrangements also won him many admirers internationally. He started writing for French films towards the end of the 1930s (firstly documentaries, then feature films), and was responsible for the famous pantomime sequences in Marcel Carné’s Les Enfants du Paradis (1944). After the Second World War Roger played piano and conducted a 35-piece orchestra for a major French weekly radio series "Paris Star Time" (Paris a l’heure des Etoiles), which was sent all over the world and even broadcast in the USA. His own instrumental cameos that were featured in the show brought him to the attention of the London publishers Chappell & Co., who were rapidly expanding their Recorded Music Library of background music at that time. Roger’s quirky compositions soon became available to radio, television and film companies around the world, two of the earliest being The Toy Shop Window (La Vitrine aux Jouets) selected for the Guild CD “Say It With Music” (GLCD 5119) and Clowneries on “Childhood Memories” (GLCD 5125).

Guy Luypaerts (b. 1917) first appeared on a Guild CD playing music by Cole Porter (GLCD 5127). He was born in Paris to Belgian parents during the First World War and became well-known in French musical circles through conducting an orchestra called the Nouvelle Association Symphonique de Paris. This was in the era when live music featured prominently on the radio, and his broadcasts with this orchestra resulted in invitations to conduct other radio orchestras in European cities. He worked with Edith Piaf (he arranged her 1946 world-wide hit “La Vie En Rose”), Georges Guetary, Charles Trénet (their collaboration spanned 30 years and began when Trenet discovered him playing jazz at an officers’ mess early in World War 2) and Yves Montand.

Emile Deltour appears to have started his recording career as ‘Eddie Tower’, and some 78s he made in April 1940 of versions of Count Basie titles have received approval from jazz enthusiasts. During a career which began in the 1920s he worked with Django Reinhardt and the French singer Lucienne Boyer, but little seems to be mentioned in reference books about his light music recordings which briefly appeared during the 1950s. Another composer/conductor who is similarly difficult to track down is Claude Yvoire (1913-1997) who may have been born in Switzerland. He came to the attention of light music admirers in 1951 when Sidney Torch made a fine recording of his Cresta Run.

‘Robert Renard’ (featured conducting Acrobatics on this CD) is one of several pseudonyms adopted by Otto Dobrindt [1886-1963]. From 1928 onwards he led orchestras with various names including the Odeon Dance Orchestra, Otto Dobrindt’s Piano Symphony, Eric Harden, the Dobbri Orchestra and Frank Sandlers. He was also respected as a conductor for classical music, and some of his recordings accompanying noted singers of the time are still available on CDs.

Barnabas Von Géczy [1897-1971] was born in Hungary although his family originally came from Venice.  After the First World War his father was appointed concert master at Budapest Opera – a post he held for 22 years – but Barnabas decided to try his luck in Berlin where in 1924 he obtained his first resident engagement at the Weinhaus Traube. From 1925 to 1937 he led the Hotel Esplanade house orchestra, and during this period he made numerous broadcasts and recordings and undertook frequent tours. He became one of the best-known hotel ensembles in Germany and gained an international reputation. After the Second World War he decided to relocate to the Munich area, where in 1952 he formed a new orchestra.

Ferdy Kauffmann was one of a number of continental conductors whose instrumental recordings were popular internationally during the period leading up to the Second World War. In the 1920s, presumably before he formed his own orchestra, he was one of the principal instrumentalists with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra which made its first broadcast on 29 October 1923, and is still in existence today. Ferdy Kauffmann is credited with two German film scores in 1930: “Namensheirat” (also known as “Marriage In Name Only”) and “Gigolo”.

Dolf van der Linden (real name David Gysbert van der Linden, 1915-1999) was the leading figure on the light music scene in the Netherlands from the 1940s until the 1980s. As well as broadcasting frequently with his Metropole Orchestra, he made numerous recordings for the background music libraries of major music publishers such as Boosey & Hawkes, Charles Brull and Paxton, often under various pseudonyms such as Nat Nyll and David Johnson. Dolf’s commercial recordings (especially for the American market) were often labelled as Van Lynn or Daniel De Carlo.

The other orchestras in this collection are already Guild Light Music ‘regulars’ with one exception: Bob Sharples (1913-1987). His real name is Robert Frederick Standish, and he sometimes used other pseudonyms such as Les Sharp and Robert Earley (the latter was a musicians’ in-joke because it seems he often turned up late for broadcasts and record sessions). At the start of his career he played in, and arranged for, leading bands in London’s West End including Ambrose, Harry Roy and Roy Fox. After war service he concentrated on arranging, and from 1947 to 1952 he was under an exclusive contract to Geraldo. Thereafter he contributed scores to Cyril Stapleton’s BBC Show Band, and was signed by Decca in 1954. Eventually he became Musical Director for ABC Television – one of the early commercial television companies in Britain.

Our final selection is a glorious arrangement by George Melachrino of timeless French melodies that immediately evoke images of sun, wine and good food. In case a few titles may be less familiar than others, you are likely to recognise Sur le pont d’Avignon, Madelon, Le Reve Passe, Aupres de ma Blonde, Il etait une Bergere, Danse Apache, Sous les Toits de Paris and the famous Can Can. Truly, a fitting climax to our musical tour of the Continent.                                                        David Ades

Page revised Thursday June 14 2007