Virtually every music-lover has heard Arthur Benjamin’s
Jamaican Rumba in one of its many guises. Fewer, alas,
will have engaged with his orchestral and chamber works. However
recent releases from Dutton
Epoch and Lyrita
have brought to the attention of the public a number of important
works which have redefined the composer as being much more than
a ‘one hit wonder’. However, a significant part of Benjamin’s
music has been in the public domain for many years, although
relatively few will have equated them together. Benjamin was
an important and prolific film music composer. Beginning in
1934 with the score for the production of The Scarlet Pimpernel
starring Leslie Howard and Merle Oberon he composed the music
for some twenty films. These included Alfred Hitchcock’s The
Man who knew too much (1934 and 1956), Alexander Korda’s
An Ideal Husband (1947), Above us the Waves
(1956) and A Tale of Two Cities (1959/60). Amongst
the many scores Benjamin composed for ‘shorts’ and documentaries
were Steps of the Ballet, This Modern Age
and The Conquest of Everest. Some of these have become
classics and others have disappeared into the archives and may
be given occasional airings. Unfortunately, few of his film
music scores have survived.
A detailed biography
of the composer by Pamela Blevins can be found on MusicWeb International.
The site also carries a further
account of his life and music. Arthur Benjamin was born
in Sydney, Australia in 1903 and died in London in 1960.
The first tranche of music presented on this CD is derived from
the supremely optimistic score for The Conquest of Everest:
this has been realised as a suite by Marcus A. Caratelli. The
original documentary was made to celebrate the reaching of the
summit in Coronation Year (1953) by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing
Norgay. The film considered the various attempts made over the
years to conquer the mountain. The present Suite has touches
of Vaughan Williams, William Walton and, as Rob Barnett has
pointed out, Korngold. It is really all ‘Boys Own’ stuff.
The next Benjamin score is from the 1934 film The Man who
knew too much starring Edna Best, Leslie Banks and Peter
Lorre. The story is about a man and his wife who received information
about an assassination attempt on a VIP. They soon discover
that their daughter has been kidnapped to keep them quiet. The
present extract is the Storm Cantata which occurs at
the climax of the film. Rob Barnett has noted the influence
of William Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast which was first
heard three years previously. In the 1956 remake of the film,
the composer Bernard Hermann retained this music in his own
score.
The two short extracts from Oscar Wilde’s An Ideal Husband
(1947) conclude the exploration of Arthur Benjamin’s film music.
The ‘Waltz’ is a lovely example of the genre that is more English
than Viennese. The ‘Galop’ is pure fun- a fine romp. It is used
as a kind of leitmotif whenever Hyde Park appears in the film.
These two pieces were salvaged by the composer from the film
score and were re-presented for the concert hall. Bernard Herrmann
recorded them for Decca in the 1970s (review).
What is true for Arthur Benjamin’s reputation is even more pertinent
to the almost totally forgotten Leighton Lucas. I first
came to his music through the fine brass band piece Symphonic
Suite for Brass Band, which is a masterpiece. Other sporadic
CD releases presented his Clarinet
Concerto and ballet suite Ballet
de la reine. Amongst his symphonic repertoire which remains
to be discovered are the Sonatina concertante for saxophone
and orchestra (1939), the Suite française (1940) and
a Cello Concertino dating from 1956. However a brief look at
the Internet Movie Database shows that he wrote the music for
twenty one films. Many of them are ‘household names’ such as
Stage Fright, Ice Cold in Alex, Target
for Tonight and the Yangtse Incident. He also
composed the music to a number of documentary films including
the evocative This is York.
For the curious, Leighton Lucas was born in 1903 and came to
prominence as a member of Diaghilev’s Ballets Russe (1918-21)
and at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre a couple of years later.
His main occupation was conducting. After war service in the
Royal Air Force he continued his career of composing and conducting
alongside educational work with the BBC. He died in London in
1982. A certain generation will recall, unwittingly perhaps,
his title music for the radio series Just William.
The first score from Leighton Lucas on this disc is the The
Yangtse Incident starring Richard Todd and William Hartnell.
This is a true story about an incident in 1949 when a British
warship, HMS Amethyst, came under fire from the Communist Chinese
on the Yangtse River. The Suite is in three parts – the gorgeous
quiet ‘theme’ is followed by a hornpipe. The selection concludes
with the Amethyst March which incorporates ‘Hearts
of Oak’ and other naval references. A great film with excellent
music. In 2010 Dutton
issued a CD including a 1950s recording of music from this film.
The 1950 film Portrait of Clare has been lost in the
mists of time, and from what reviewers said, it is probably
just as well. Lucas took a number of nineteenth-century songs
and piano pieces and orchestrated them. The present example
is Robert Schumann’s Widmung from the song-cycle Myrthen.
It is a good transcription and one hopes that some of the other
pieces may follow suit.
Everyone (I hope) knows that Eric Coates wrote the fine Dam
Buster’s March. However, fewer folk will realise that Leighton
Lucas actually produced the score for the film and incorporated
Coates’ legendary tune into the proceedings. Lucas also composed
his own ‘big tune’ and this is often heard in competition with
the more famous melody as the film progresses.
Stage Fright was a film produced by Alfred Hitchcock
in 1950. It is a crime story about a struggling actress and
her efforts to prove the innocence of a friend who has been
accused of murdering a high society entertainer. It has a big
cast-list including Marlene Dietrich, Alastair Sim and Richard
Todd. The music nearly, but not quite, becomes Leighton Lucas’s
Warsaw Concerto. It is romantic, well written and finely
scored. Just a pity he did not produce a Piano Concerto!
Ice Cold in Alex tells the tale of a group of military
personnel who make a long and arduous journey across the desert
during the Second World War. It stars Anthony Quayle, Sylvia
Syms and John Mills. The title is derived from Mills’ character
dreaming of an ice-cold beer on reaching the sea port of Alexandria.
The present suite begins with the Prelude, continues with the
very romantically scored love-scene between Mills and Syms:
this is music that is more at home in the Hollywood than in
the desert. The Suite concludes with a march in the very best
tradition.
The music for the British Transport Film production of This
is York is one of the best scores for this type of now-nostalgic
documentary. The film tells the story of a day in the life of
York railway station, although there are scenes in the town
and further afield. It is seen through the eyes of the station-master.
This is at times an almost impressionistic score that also has
a very good locomotive sound created by the orchestra that is
as impressive as Honegger’s Pacific 231. According
to the liner-notes, this is the only full film score by Leighton
Lucas to have surfaced so far.
The CD ends with the ‘March-Prelude’ from the 1941 film Target
for Tonight. This film described the preparation for an
air raid over Germany. Interestingly, each part in the documentary
was played by the man or woman who actually did the job, although
names were changed for security reasons. This short piece combines
a number of themes from the film with the excellent march tune.
It definitely nods to Walton more than to Eric Coates. I guess
it is just a bit too short to really get into, but is enjoyable
all the same.
As with all the Chandos Film music series discs this is a superb
achievement. When one bears in mind that most of the music presented
here has been arranged, transcribed or written down from hearing
the soundtracks one realises just how much work has gone into
making this CD the success it is. All the music is beautifully
played by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and their conductor
on this occasion, Rumon Gamba. This selection of tunes is surely
a good distillation of the full film scores. The sound quality
is excellent. As always the sleeve-notes are excellent – however,
please Chandos do not use white text over pictures of grey backgrounds.
It is very difficult to read. However the large number of ‘stills’
from the films makes a fascinating commentary on the music.
One can only hope that this CD will encourage performers and
record producers further to explore the music of Arthur Benjamin
and Leighton Lucas.
John France
See also the review by Rob
Barnett
Chandos
Movies review page
Full Track-List
Arthur Benjamin (1893-1960)
premiere recording
Suite from 'The Conquest of Everest' (1953) 9:34
Reconstructed by Marcus A. Caratelli
Orchestrated by Marcus A. Caratelli and Christoph Schürmann
1 I Title Music - 1:50
2 II Walls that Surpass the Imagination - 0:46
3 III The Great Lift - 2:27
4 IV Top of the World and Final Bars 4:30
5 The Storm Clouds Cantata from 'The Man Who Knew Too Much'
(1934) 7:44
Edited by Philip Lane
Abigail Sara mezzo-soprano
Rob Court organ
Côr Caerdydd
Adrian Partington guest chorus master
Gwawr Owen conductor
Waltz and Hyde Park Galop from 'An Ideal Husband' (1947) 7:11
6 I Waltz 5:30
7 II Hyde Park Galop 1:41
Leighton Lucas (1903-1982)
Portrait of the Amethyst from 'Yangtse Incident' (1957) 6:49
Reconstructed by Philip Lane
premiere recording
8 1 Theme - 1:12
Sarah-Jayne Porsmoguer cor anglais
premiere recording
9 2 Hornpipe 1:51
premiere recording in this version
10 3 The Amethyst March 3:45
premiere recording in this version
11 Dedication from 'Portrait of Clare' (1950) 3:38
Arrangement by Leighton Lucas of 'Widmung' from Myrthen, Op.
25 by Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
premiere recording in this version
12 Prelude and Dam Blast from 'The Dam Busters' (1954) 5:15
Reconstructed and arranged by Philip Lane
13 Stage Fright Rhapsody from 'Stage Fright' (1950) 4:54
Reconstructed by Philip Lane
Catherine Roe-Williams piano
Suite from 'Ice Cold in Alex' (1958) 9:19
Reconstructed by Philip Lane
premiere recording
14 1 Prelude 2:08
premiere recording
15 2 Love Scene 4:21
premiere recording in this version
16 3 March 2:48
premiere recording
This Is York (1953) 9:26
Edited by Malcolm Riley
17 Opening Titles - 1:47
18 Setting the Path - Diagram Lights - 1:51
19 Thornton-le-Dale - 1:30
20 Smoking Engine - Pan across York - Committee Room - Portraits
- Railway Museum 4:17
premiere recording in this version
21 March-Prelude from 'Target for Tonight' (1941) 3:04
Reconstructed by Philip Lane
Abigail Sara (mezzo); Rob Court (organ)