2023 Approaching 60,000 reviews and more.. and still writing ...	Search MusicWeb Here

Searching Musicweb Monthly index Recordings of the Year Label index Masterwork index Series index Search engines Review Archive Classical Downloads Jazz Concerts Nostalgia Books Film music Resources Composer pages Tony Duggan's Mahler National Discographies Mark Morris's Guide to C20th Composers Ralph Moore's Surveys Online books Piano Trio Survey Cello Concerto Project Pot Pourri - Early MusicWeb Gerard Hoffnung Arthur Butterworth's columns Philip Scowcroft's British light music Interviews Programme notes MusicWeb Listening Studio Talking about Books Other material Articles Seen & Heard Message Board About Musicweb About Musicweb Contact Musicweb Contributors What they say about us Visitor stats Site Map

Founder: Len Mullenger (1942-2025)                          Editor in Chief:John Quinn

BUY NOW  AmazonUK   AmazonUS

The Hall of Fame: Volume 1 Holiday for Strings (Rose) – Morton Gould and his Orchestra Coronation Scot – Light Orchestra/Charles Williams Serenata (Anderson) – Boston Pops Orchestra/Arthur Fiedler Portrait of a Flirt (Farnon) – Kingsway Symphony Orchestra/Robert Farnon Mad about the Boy (Coward) – Andre Kostelanetz and his Orchestra In Party Mood (Strachey) – West End Celebrity Orchestra/Louis Voss Gracious Gown (Melachrino) – Melachrino Orchestra/George Melachrino Bubbling Over (Gardebylaten) (Olsson, Faith) – Percy Faith and his Orchestra Vanity Fair (Collins) – London Promenade Orchestra/Anthony Collins In a Persian Market (KetèIbey) – New Symphony Orchestra/Stanford Robinson Vilia (Lehár) – Nelson Riddle and his Orchestra Brief Interlude (Wayne) – Music by Camarata Wooden Shoes (Herbert) – Harry Horlick and his Orchestra My Love to You (Fletcher) – Reginald King and his Orchestra Serenade No.1 (Ständchen) (Heykens) – Marek Weber and his Orchestra Wedding of the Rose (Jessel) – Ron Goodwin and his Orchestra An American in Paris (Gershwin) – David Rose and his Orchestra Say it isn't So (Berlin) – Kingsway Symphony Orchestra/Stanley Black Four Centuries Suite, ‘Rhythm’ (Coates) – New Symphony Orchestra/Eric Coates Holiday Spirit (Richardson) – Queen's Light Orchestra/Robert Farnon Outward Bound (Richardson) – Queen's Light Orchestra/Sidney Torch London Fantasia (Richardson) – Columbia Light Symphony/Williams rec. 1930-1954, mono. GUILD GLCD 5120 [77:52]

Error processing SSI file

The majority of tracks on this amply-filled disc are well worn pieces of variety orchestra music that were played on the BBC Light programme in the 1940s and 1950s. Many are familiar even if not known by name. Oddly coupled with these popular pieces are others of an earlier vintage and with more of a traditionally classical image, like Coates’ Four Centuries Suite; Ketèlbey’s In a Persian market (that mirrors the old chestnut ‘In a Monastery Garden’); and Gershwin’s An American in Paris. Out on a limb, perhaps, is Lehár’s Vilja from his operetta, ‘The Merry Widow’ dating from as early as 1905, and clearly not of this genre. The disc includes a first commercial release of Melachrino’s Gracious Gown, a dreamy piece in slow waltz time. Information does not tell us for what or why it was written and recorded. Curious as to the source of Wooden Shoes, I assumed that the Herbert in question is Victor Herbert of The Red Mill fame. I tracked down the piece to a passage in Toymaker’s Workshop from Babes in Toyland. Unlike the Marco Polo version [8.223843] where the Razumovsky Symphony Orchestra is muddied by extraneous and eccentric animal effects, here one can hear the music nicely focused in glorious isolation. The genteel Ständchen’s Serenade No.1 has never been known by name to me yet its appealing bright, catchy rhythm is memorable, not dissimilar from the style of Jessel’s Wedding of a Rose (with prominent harmonising woodwind) that follows. Say it isn’t So is a meandering and disappointing Berlin number that lacks direction or his usual ragtime inspiration. Strachey’s In Party Mood is better remembered as the signature tune of ‘Housewives’ Choice’, or more recently as the theme for ‘The Comic Strip goes to Devon’. Disappointing is Nelson Riddle’s version of Vilja, where violas and cellos dominate the theme line with unclear focus. The soprano’s vocal theme needed a much brighter sound, possibly flute with piccolo doubling. Here the theme is muddy and Riddle’s crude decoration just doesn’t work. The CD makes a point of featuring composer, Clive Richardson, devoting three tracks to him. The first of these tracks, Holiday Spirit, is repetitious and monotonous to the ear. Better are the other two compositions showing a fair degree of good construction, Outward Bound and London Fantasia. The booklet gives scant information on the composers and associated orchestras: it would have helped to say where all these pieces used to feature. Maybe it is somewhat late in the day for Guild to be releasing the more familiar pieces found in this album when Ronald Corp has covered them so admirably in his British Light Music series in modern Hyperion recordings. For me, the real appeal here is to revisit the original wireless recordings as I remember them (lovingly restored by Alan Bunting), and also to put names to the composers of this music we know so well. Raymond J Walker   see also review by Jonathan Woolf   Advertising on Musicweb Donate and keep us afloat   New Releases All Naxos reviews All Hyperion reviews All Foghorn reviews All Convivium reviews All Acis Reviews   All Divine Art reviews   All Lyrita Reviews   Obtain 10% discount

Return to Index

Error processing SSI file