Light Music

This second collection features some more weighty examples of composers conducting their own works for posterity. The opening track is a significant work for British cinema of the 1930s. When Sir Arthur Bliss composed the music for the film of H.G. Wells’ 1933 novel “The Shape Of Things To Come” it proved to be the most important score provided up to that time for a British film. When the film appeared, the music was widely acclaimed and Bliss recorded part of the score for commercial release on Decca, but he did not include the famous ‘March’. This omission was finally rectified in the late 1950s. Other composers represented by their film music are Alfred Newman, Philip Green, Leighton Lucas and Hubert Bath. Among the lesser heard items is some ballet music by Ivor Novello, and a suite of Yorkshire Folk Tunes by Arthur Wood, who composed the signature tune for ‘The Archers’ on BBC Radio.

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