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Reviews
GLCD 5143 THE
GOLDEN AGE OF LIGHT MUSIC
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ANIMAL ANTICS
Vintage Recordings of Animal Melodies is a Delight
Brattleboro Reformer
Thursday, May 29
ANIMAL ANTICS
Guild Light Music gets better with age. To the 42 CDs already in their fabulous
Golden Age of Light Music series, there is now the 43rd: "Animal Antics."
In
the past, the producers at Guild have garnered tracks from 78 rpm and LP
originals from the late 1940s into the middle 1950s, featuring mostly English
bands and orchestras. Each album is devoted to a single composer (Cole Porter,
Richard Rodgers, Haydn Wood), genre (film music, children's tunes), themes (far
away places, music to work by), periods (the 30s, the 50s), and so on.
"Animal Antics" seems to be the most integrated, containing as it does songs
about (right!) animals. Among the 28 selections are "The Waltzing Cat," "The
Donkey Serenade," "Mosquitos' Parade," "Meadow Lark," "Skylark," and "Tiger
Tango." Each is a delight and the entire disc is one of Guild's best. I would
like to see an adult play some of these for a child and ask which animal seems
to be represented by the music. (Multiple choice will help.)
The
dates of these recordings span the years 1931 to 1957--and they all sound as
fresh today as they did back then. Grab this one, especially if there are tiny
tots to hear it. Frank Behrens
MUSIC WEB TUESDAY MARCH 25 2008
Track
Listing:
Bernie WAYNE
(pseudonym
for
Bernard
WEITZNER)
(1919–1993)
Dance Of The Little Pink Horse [02:02]
Leroy ANDERSON
(1908–1975)
The Waltzing Cat (1950) [02:41]
David ROSE
(1910–1990)
My Dog Has Fleas [02:33]
Rudolf FRIML
(1879–1972)
The Donkey Serenade (1912)–introducing Sympathy (arr.
Sidney TORCH
(1908–1990))
[03:08]
Arnold STECK
(pseudonym
for
Major Leslie
STATHAM MBE)
(1905–1974)
Morning
Canter [02:39]
George ROSNER,
Fred
WISE,
Xavier CUGAT
(1900–1990)
Nightingale
(arr.
Percy FAITH)
[03:04]
Oliphant CHUCKERBUTTY
(1884–1960)
Fauns And Satyrs [03:14]
Howard WHITNEY
Mosquitos’ Parade [02:02]
Donald THORNE
(1901–1967)
Dance Of The Three Blind Mice [02:43]
Paul LINCKE
(1866–1946)
The Glow Worm (1902–1940s) [04:16]
Ed
ANDERSON,
Ted
GROUYA
Flamingo (arr.
Richard
JONES)
[02:08]
Jack STRACHEY
(1894–1972)
Lambs In Clover [02:48]
King PALMER
(1913–1999)
Meadow Lark [02:38]
Charles WILLIAMS
(1893–1978)
Snake Charmer [01:27]
Charles Wakefield CADMAN
(1881–1946)
I Hear A Thrush At Eventide (arr.
Cecil MILNER
(1905–1989))
[04:27]
Peter BARRINGTON
(pseudonym for
Felton
RAPLEY)
Peacock Patrol [02:38]
Kermit LESLIE;
Walter LESLIE
(pseudonyms for
Kermit and
Walter LEVINSKY)
Gilbert The Goose [02:19]
Dolf van der LINDEN
(pseudonym for
David
Gysbert van der LINDEN)
(1915–1999) Pelican Parade
[03:00]
Hoagy CARMICHAEL
(1899–1981)
Skylark (arr.
Ron
GOODWIN
(1925–2003))
[02:30]
Eugene ETTORE
Butterfly Fantasy (arr.
Mischa
MICHAELOFF)
[04:02]
Leroy ANDERSON
Chicken Reel (1946) [02:55]
Robert FARNON
(1917–2005)
Bird Charmer [02:48]
Clyde HAMILTON
(pseudonym for
Cyril
STAPLETON),
Robert EARLEY
(pseudonym for
Robert
Frederick STANDISH
(aka
Bob SHARPLES))
Tiger Tango [02:43]
George LIBERACE
(1911–1983)
Bullfrog On A Spree [02:47]
Norman RICHARDSON
March Of The Penguins [02:13]
H
Ashworth HOPE
The Frolicsome Hare [02:47]
Karl BELL
Frogs’ Wedding [02:44]
Colin WARK
(1896–1939)
Animal
Antics [02:08]
Sidney Bowman (Whitney), Percy Faith (Rosner/Wise/Cugat),
Ron Goodwin
(Carmichael),
Leslie Jeffries (Hope), Kermit Leslie (Leslie),
George
Liberace (Liberace),
Mischa Michaeloff (Ettore), Cyril Stapleton (Hamilton/Earley), Sidney Torch
(Friml), Dolf van der Linden
(van der
Linden), Louis Voss (Chuckerbutty),
Bernie Wayne (Wayne),
Victor Young (Rose)
all
conducting “their own” Orchestras;
Leroy
Anderson and his Pops Orchestra (Anderson),
Boston Pops
Orchestra/Arthur
Fielder (Anderson),
Danish
State Radio Orchestra/Robert Farnon (Steck,
Williams
and
Farnon),
London Palladium Orchestra/William
Pethers (Wark), Dolf van der Linden and his
Metropole
Orchestra (Palmer),
New Concert Orchestra/Jack
Leon (Thorne), R de Porten (Barrington) and Jay Wilbur (Lincke and Cadman),
L’Orchestre Devereaux/Georges
Devereaux (Strachey),
The Pittsburgh Strings/Richard
Jones (Anderson/Grouya),
Central
Band of the RAF/Squadron
Leader A E Sims (Richardson),
Regent Classic Orchestra (Bell).There’s
so much to enjoy in this full and varied programme.
Dance Of
The Little Pink Horse
really sets the tone for what is to come. It’s a delicious little piece, full of
the most felicitous touches of orchestration, and with a most disconcerting
ending. Leroy Anderson is represented by two well known pieces – the graceful
Waltzing Cat and the rumbustious Chicken Reel (in what must be a
creator recording by Fiedler and the Boston Pops from 1948). David Rose’s My
Dog Has Fleas is based on the four notes of the strings of the ukulele and
banjo. This is a most inventive piece.
One of the
real highlights of this disk is Sydney Torch’s marvellous arrangement of Friml’s
lovely Donkey Serenade. We are bombarded these days with orchestral
arrangements of current pop tunes under the title of Symphonic Whoever, the
latest sensation in pop groups, and the arrangements only serve to show what a
paucity of invention there is in much contemporary pop. Here is a classic
arrangement of a great tune which, when shorn of its lyrics, still stands up to
repeated hearings. What a superb musician Sydney Torch was!
Oliphant
Chuckerbutty’s (believe it or not, this is only part of his real name – in full
Soorjo Alexander William Oliphant Chuckerbutty) Fauns And Satyrs has
really caught my attention – what will surprise many is that it is a scherzo
which reminds one of Sibelius and Bantock in its orchestration! But what a
piece!
Dance of
the Three Blind Mice
is a joyful fantasy on the well known nursery rhyme, with a marvellous part for
xylophone. It’s good to hear Paul Lincke’s Glow Worm in a serious
arrangement because the fabulous deconstruction undertaken on it by Spike Jones
and his City Slickers sticks in the mind. But no matter how often I hear this
version I do miss the car horns, pistol shots and ludicrous vocals.
It would be
too easy to simply go through the whole programme telling you how enjoyable each
work is but it’s not really necessary. Pick any piece and you will find
something to enjoy – Jack Strachey’s Lambs in Clover is especially
delightful. There I go again, wanting to describe the music to you.
There’s
nothing profound here, but who needs profundity when there’s such a wealth of
great tunes, fantastic orchestrations, and very high spirits - try the Tiger
Tango for all of these things. What is amazing is that every composer
succeeds in making his presence and personality felt in a matter of a couple of
minutes.
The sound
is very good indeed, considering the various sources for the original material.
The recordings appear to have needed little cleaning up, and we are presented
with clear and clean sound for every track. The notes are pretty good too. This
is another winner in a most enjoyable
series.
Bob Briggs
Page revised Friday May 29 2008
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