GLCD 5135 Four Decades of Light Music - Volume I 40s 50s Reviews & Broadcast

THE GOLDEN AGE OF LIGHT MUSIC Four Decades of Light Music - Volume 1I 1940s & 50s MEREDITH WILLSON AND HIS ORCHESTRA - PHILIP GREEN AND HIS ORCHESTRA - ROYAL AIR FORCE CENTRAL ORCHESTRA Conducted by W/Comd. R.P. O’DONNELL - QUEEN’S HALL LIGHT ORCHESTRA Conducted by CHARLES WILLIAMS - ALBERT SANDLER AND HIS PALM COURT ORCHESTRA - NEW CENTURY ORCHESTRA Conducted by SIDNEY TORCH - LEW STONE AND HIS CONCERT ORCHESTRA - PERCY FAITH AND HIS ORCHESTRA -  - CHARLES SHADWELL AND HIS ORCHESTRA - DAVID CARROLL AND HIS ORCHESTRA (Harp solo by PETER EAGLE) - ROGER ROGER AND HIS CHAMPS ELYSEES ORCHESTRA - LAURIE JOHNSON AND HIS ORCHESTRA - RICHARD SHORES AND HIS ORCHESTRA - WALLY STOTT AND HIS ORCHESTRA - WERNER MÜLLER AND HIS ORCHESTRA - ALFREDO ANTONINI AND HIS ORCHESTRA - BOSTON ‘POPS’ ORCHESTRA Conducted by ARTHUR FIEDLER GERALDO AND HIS NEW CONCERT ORCHESTRA - KINGSWAY PROMENADE ORCHESTRA Conducted by STANLEY BLACK - ROBERT FARNON AND HIS ORCHESTRA - RAY MARTIN AND HIS CONCERT ORCHESTRA - CHARLES DORIAN AND HIS ORCHESTRA - LEROY ANDERSON AND HIS “POPS” CONCERT ORCHESTRA - FRANK CHACKSFIELD AND HIS ORCHESTRA - THE MELACHRINO STRINGS Conducted by GEORGE MELACHRINO - LOUIS VOSS AND HIS ORCHESTRA 01 March For Americans (Ferdé Grofé) 05 Fascination (F.D. Marchetti) 10 Down With The Curtain (Charles Shadwell) 11 Bali Ha’i (from “South Pacific”) (Rodgers, Hammerstein arr. Carl Stevens) 27 Sport And Music (Lothar Brühne)

Contents:

The first volume in this survey of “Four Decades of Light Music” (1920s and 1930s – Guild GLCD 5134) witnessed a gradual transformation from the sedate styles prevalent at the dawn of sound recording, to the full influence of the jazz era as it permeated many forms of music with composers such as Eric Coates warmly embracing it in their creations. The changing styles are even more apparent in this volume, where there is evidence that the 1940s still produced performances reminiscent of a more genteel era before the composers, arrangers and conductors of the 1950s began more fully to exploit the exciting opportunities offered by high fidelity sound.

      Light music during World War 2 tried to provide a measure of reassurance during a terrible period by retaining many of the characteristics of previous, more peaceful times, yet it was not possible to eliminate the influences for change. Radio was the main source of entertainment in the home, and record sales were still struggling to reach the figures seen in the late 1920s before the great depression dealt such a knockout blow to the economies of the developed world. It was hardly surprising that record companies would ‘play safe’ by concentrating on 78s of music that would be familiar through the radio and films, and many regular broadcasters on both sides of the Atlantic were placed under contract by the leading labels.

      One of the recurring problems in providing notes to accompany compilations featuring many different composers and orchestras is that it is not possible to do full justice to them all. Regular collectors of this Guild ‘Golden Age of Light Music’ series will already have seen potted biographies of many of the musicians featured on this CD so it seems only fair that precedence should be given to highlighting some of the lesser-known talents whose work may not previously have been included.

      Meredith Willson (1902-1984) does not strictly fit the afore-mentioned criterion, but the opening track is of special interest since it comes from a patriotic collection he recorded in 1941 which reappeared on one of the first LPs issued by US Decca in 1949. Considering how famous Willson would become as a composer in his own right (his 1957 musical “The Music Man” was a massive hit on Broadway and, later, a Hollywood film) it is surprising than none of the ten works grouped under the title “Modern American Music” came from his own pen. Nine titles all began with the word ‘American’ but the one exception was March For Americans by Ferdé Grofé. His full name was Ferdinand Rudolph von Grofé (1892-1972) and he composed this march for his son, also called Ferdinand. During the 1920s and into the 1930s he was pianist and arranger with the Paul Whiteman orchestra, and his greatest personal success was his “Grand Canyon Suite” (1931).

      Volumes could be written about Charles Williams (1893-1978) (real name Isaac Cozerbreit) who began his career accompanying silent films, then played violin under the batons of Beecham and Elgar. Right from the start of the ‘talkies’, he provided scores for numerous British films, and his Dream Of Olwen is still remembered long after the film in which it appeared – “While I Live”. In 1960 he topped the American charts with his theme for the film “The Apartment”, although in reality the producers had resurrected one of his earlier works Jealous Lover which itself originated in a British film “The Romantic Age” (1949) starring Mai Zetterling and Petula Clark.  By far the greatest volume of his composing skills was employed in mood music, providing hundreds of works for Chappell alone, many of them also conducted by him. Devil’s Galop will forever remind schoolboys of the 1940s of “Dick Barton – Special Agent”, while early television viewers in Britain became familiar with Girls in Grey, the theme for BBC newsreels while The Young Ballerina accompanied the famous ‘Potter’s Wheel’ TV interlude. The Old Clockmaker on this CD was chosen as the theme for a popular Children’s Hour radio series “Jennings At School” in the 1940s.

      Albert Sandler (1906-1948) is remembered by many of the older generation in Britain through his BBC broadcasts “Grand Hotel” from 1943 to 1948. The music featured was known as ‘Palm Court’ and Sandler’s own 1945 Columbia recording of Fascination is typical of a style that surprisingly still survived for quite a while after the war, although it had its roots decades earlier – Sandler himself had been musical director of the Grand Hotel, Eastbourne from 1924 to 1928.

The theme of the 1939 World’s Fair in New York was ‘The World of Tomorrow’ and this possibly inspired Jack Beaver (1900-1963) to compose his inspirational piece for one of the first 78 rpm discs recorded at EMI’s Abbey Road studios in 1946 that launched the new Mood Music Library by the London publishers Francis, Day & Hunter. It was used for a while in the USA as the theme music for “Superman” on television.

      Lew Stone (1898-1969) was one of Britain’s top dance band leaders during the 1930s, and like many of his peers he occasionally strayed into light orchestral territory. His band included many of the finest instrumentalists around, and Stone often used to arrange his own music. Unfortunately it has not been possible to discover who may have been responsible for scoring Turkish Patrol, which was recorded on 24 January 1941.

      Percy Faith (1908-1976) was born in Toronto, Canada, and originally he expected that his musical career would be as a concert pianist. But he injured his hands in a fire, which forced him to turn to composing, arranging and conducting. During the 1930s his programme “Music By Faith” was carried by the Mutual network in the USA, which prompted offers of work south of the border. In 1940 he moved permanently to the USA where he quickly established himself through radio and recordings. From the 1950s onwards his fame spread internationally, due to the great success of his numerous long playing albums. Unlike most of his contemporaries, Faith arranged all his own material, and his exciting and vibrant scores made his work stand out among the rest.

      During the war HMV issued several 78s on a special Royal Air Force label printed in blue and gold. RAF 7 featured the RAF Central Orchestra playing two of Eric Coates’ lesser known compositions, Song Of Loyalty and Over To You – the latter was used by BBC Television as the signature tune for a series of outside broadcasts called “Saturday Night Out” in the 1950s.

      Charles Murray Winstanley Shadwell (1898-1979) could be heard regularly on BBC radio broadcasts during the 1940s, notably “ITMA” and “Music Hall” – the latter always ended with his own march Down with the Curtain. Another Shadwell composition is Lulworth Cove (the orchestral version is on GLCD 5107, while organist Reginald Foort joins the BBC Variety Orchestra conducted by Charles Shadwell on GLCD 5126).

      The high fidelity sound that burst upon the 1950s is vividly illustrated with Bail Ha’i. David Carroll (b. 1913) was musical director of Mercury Records from 1951 to the early 1960s, during which time he accompanied many of the label’s contract singers as well as making some instrumental recordings of his own. Several of his LPs had a ‘dance’ theme, often including his own compositions, and he employed the cream of Chicago’s session musicians. Some people regard him as one of the pioneers of exploiting stereo sound to enhance his orchestral scores, and this 1956 recording gives an idea of what he would achieve a few years later.

      Richard Warren Shores (1917-2001) was a veteran composer for films and television of the 1960s and 1970s, and among his best-remembered works are his scores for many episodes of “The Man From UNCLE” and “Hawaii Five-O”. His career, in the eyes of the film industry, was launched through the album called “Emotions” which he composed and conducted for Mercury Records in the mid-fifties, with titles expressing vastly diverse feelings such as Surprise – the amusing track chosen for this CD.

      Alfredo Antonini (1901-1983) was born in Italy and studied at the Milan Conservatory under Toscanini. By the 1930s he had established himself as both a composer and conductor and became well-known to the American public through his radio programmes in the 1940s – notably with the CBS Symphony, the CBS Pan American Orchestra and the Columbia Concert Orchestra. He worked with many leading singers, and frequently appeared at the top concert halls in the Americas. In the 1950s his television shows brought classical music to the masses, and his programmes with stars such as Julie Andrews, Eileen Farrell and Beverly Sills received critical acclaim.

      For many years Arthur Fiedler (1894-1979) was always linked in the mind with The Boston ‘Pops’ Orchestra, although in Britain its records were released under the name Boston ‘Promenade’ Orchestra, which seemed more in keeping with its repertoire. It took quite a long while before the American term ‘Pops’ Orchestra finally gained acceptance elsewhere. At the time when Look Sharp Be Sharp was recorded, Leroy Anderson was the full-time arranger, so it seems most likely that he was responsible for this inventive score. Such was its popularity that it managed to reach No. 34 in the Cash Box Top 50 in August 1954. During the post-war years, Anderson enjoyed considerable fame with his own compositions, sometimes introduced to the public by the Boston ‘Pops’, but more often through his recordings with his own ‘Pops’ Concert Orchestra. Forgotten Dreams was a worldwide minor hit in 1955, and it demonstrated the versatility of the composer whose many varied works included Belle Of The Ball, Blue Tango and Sleigh Ride.

      Lack of space sadly does not permit detailed notes this time on Philip Green, Sidney Torch, Robert Farnon, Stanley Black, Wally Stott and the other great musicians on this CD whose work will already be familiar to collectors of the Guild ‘Golden Age of Light Music’ CDs. Their contribution to the Light Music repertoire of the 1940s and 1950s cannot be overstated, yet it must be acknowledged that everyone involved in offering such enchanting music to the world during those momentous decades is deserving of our sincere appreciation.                                                                                                             © David Ades, 2007

Page revised Tuesday August 07.2007