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A Little Light Music: Gershwin, Leroy Anderson, Bernstein and Shostakovich: London Phoenix Orchestra, Levon Parikian, Cadogan Hall, London, 24.2.2009 (BBr)

Gershwin: Girl Crazy Overture (1930), An American in Paris (1928)
Leroy Anderson: Forgotten Dreams (1954), Sandpaper Ballet (1948), Serenata (1947)
Bernstein: Candide Overture (1956)
Shostakovich: Jazz Suite No.2 (actually Suite for Light Orchestra) (1938), Tahiti Trot, op.16 (1928)


Like the expression film music, light music is too often seen as a pejorative term, signifying music of no great consequence and being beneath the interest and scope of lovers of real classical music. Nothing could be further from the truth. The great Ernest Tomlinson, the father of British light music, said that the thing which makes light music what it is, is that the tune is more important than what you do with it.

Tonight we had so many tunes that were so good and enjoyable that we didn’t care what the composers did with them, we were simply there to have a good musical time. And what a time we had. Starting with the Girl Crazy Overture – which is simply a pot–pourri of the best tunes in the show – we had two delicious Leroy Anderson miniatures, perfect in their composition, and not the most obvious choices from this prolific composer. Forgotten Dreams is a beautiful solo for piano, Satie–like in its simplicity, which is well known even if you don’t know the title, and the hilarious Sandpaper Ballet which was given with great play concerning the soloists – Parikian, who introduced the show from the podium, told us that his three protagonists were the Sandpapier Soloists from Baden Baden Baden Baden. Now, I know that I failed geography at school but I do know that there is no such place as Baden Baden Baden Baden; I think that our conductor was making a joke here. But that was the tone of the evening, and Parikian’s spoken introductions were delightfully comic, and pleasingly brief, putting the music into context and keeping a party spirit throughout.

As conductor, Parikian impressed with his minimal movement and direct gestures. He seldom used his left hand, except for the odd bit of expression and the aiding of tempo changes, relying entirely on his baton and eyes to convey to his players his intentions.

The two biggest works on offer were the eight movement Suite for Light Orchestra of Shostakovich – there has, for some years, been confusion about his work which was pretty conclusively cleared up when the real Jazz Suite No.2 was premiered at the last night of the 2000 Proms – and Gershwin’s American in Paris. The Shostakovich isn’t really for light orchestra, it’s for a big band, with saxophones, and its eight movements are racey and wistful by turns. Parikian characterised each piece well, pointing the delightful quirks of orchestration and melody. After five movements he turned to the audience, which had applauded enthusiastically after each piece, telling us that there were only three to go! We didn’t care, it could have gone on for as long as it cared to!

An American in Paris is a difficult work to bring off, being episodic in nature and loose in construction – Gershwin was not strong on form in his music – and what was interesting about tonight’s performance was that Parikian gave each section it’s own flavour, which in looser hands could have made a mess of the construction, and more than successfully molded them all into one very satisfying whole. The famous homesick blues section was particularly laid back and nostalgic.

This was a most enjoyable show of very serious light music. The brass section was magnificient – especially the horn section which displayed such exuberance – the enlarged woodwinds, with saxophones, were graced with the gorgeous oboe of Helen Mansfield, and the percussion section, aided by the Sandpapier Soloists from Baden Baden Baden Baden playing other instruments, had an high old time of it. My only complaint is that the orchestra was understrung – a couple of extra desks of 1^st and 2^nd violins, another of violas and cellos and an extra bass would have made all the difference. That said, in tutti passages the whole band made a wonderfully large and full sound.

I would like to suggest that as this was such an enjoyable show I would love to hear these musicians in a show of music for dance or jazz band and orchestra - Eduard Künneke’s Tänzerische Suite (Concerto in five movements for jazz band and large orchestra), Ernest Tomlinson’s Symphony '65, for big band and orchestra and the Matyas Seiber/John Dankworth Improvsiations for jazz band and orchestra. What a fabulous show this orchestra would make of that!

Bob Briggs


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