Victor YOUNG
(1900 – 1956) Stringin’ Along [3:20]
Will JASON
& Val BURTON
Penthouse Serenade [2:51]
Trevor DUNCAN
(pseudonym for Leonard
Charles TREBILCO) (1924 –
2005) Mam’selle Moderne [2:48]
Kermit LESLIE
& Walter LESLIE
(pseudonyms for Kermit
and Walter LEVINSKY)
Rainy Afternoon [3:22]
Reginald KING
(1904 – 1991) Heading for Home [2:45]
GIRAUD
A New Born Love [2:17]
Ronald BINGE
(1910 – 1979) Man In A Hurry [2:41]
Leo LeFLEUR
Wedding of the Violins [3:16]
Paul LINCKE
(1866 – 1946) Whirl of the Waltz
[3:12]
FONTAINE &
SPEGUEL Aperitif [3:11]
Vincent YOUMANS
(1898 – 1946) Carioca (1934)
[2:16]
Otto CESANA
Devotion [2:44]
Peter DENNIS
(pseudonym for Dennis
BERRY) Fresh Up [2:56]
Lewis Wolfe
GILBERT (1886
– 1970) & Henry
R STERN (b 1874) By Heck
[2:00]
Oscar HAMMERSTEIN
II (1895 – 1960) & Johann
STRAUSS II (1825 – 1899)
I’m In Love with Vienna [2:19]
Emile DELTOUR
& Fud CANDRIX
Polka for Strings [2:11]
George MELACHRINO
(1909 – 1965) Gay Romance [3:44]
Xavier CUGAT
(1900 – 1990), Fausto
CURBELO (b 1915) (arranged
by Laurie JOHNSON)
Tentacion de Amor [2 :46]
Ray MARTIN
(1918 – 1988) Six Proud Walkers
(Theme from the BBC TV serial) [2:49]
Vivian ELLIS
(1903 – 1996) Flight 101 [2:47]
Ray MARTIN
Ballet of the Bells [2:14]
Bernie WAYNE
(pseudonym for Bernard
WEITZNER) (1919 – 1993) Zsa-Zsa
[2:30]
Frank PERKINS
(1908 – 1998) The Frustrated Floorwalker
[2:58]
David ROSE
(1910 – 1990) Bordeaux [2:40]
Robert FARNON
(1917 – 2005) Moomin [2:30]
George FRENCH
Bobby Sox [2:05]
John Pi SCHEFFER
(1909 – 1988) Apple Flap [2:48]
Guy Pierre
LAFARGE The Little Ballerina
[2:38]
Alfonzo D’Artega (Lefleur); Jackie Brown
(Ballet of the Bells); David Carroll
(Lafarge); Otto Cesana (Cesana); Emile
Deltour (Aperitif); Richard Hayman (Hayman);
Andre Kostelanetz (Youmans); Guy Luypaerts
(Giraud); Kermit Leslie (Leslie); Werner
Muller (Penthouse Serenade); David Rose
(Rose); Dolf Van Der Linden (Candrix,
Dennis, Scheffer); Bernie Wayne (Wayne);
Victor Young (Young) all with their
"Own" Orchestra; Ray Martin And his
Concert Orchestra (Six Proud Walkers);
Frank Perkins And his Pops Orchestra
(Perkins); Georges Tzipine and his Salon
Orchestra (Stern); Ambrose and his Orchestra
with Strings/Laurie Johnson (Cugat);
Danish State Radio Orchestra/Rovert
Farnon (Ellis, Farnon); London Promenade
Orchestra/Eric Rogers (Lincke); The
Melachrino Orchestra/George Melachrino
(Melachrino); L’orchestre Devereaux/Georges
Devereaux (French); Regent Classic Orchestra
(King); Stuttgart Radio Orchestra/Kurt
Rehfeld (Binge, Duncan)
Perhaps the time has
come when we can paraphrase, like the
advertisement for a certain beer, and
drawl that this is ‘probably the best
Light Music series in the world.’ It’s
certainly the most extensive and is
also compiled with a curatorial sense
for the themes involved – seemingly
inexhaustible but then someone has to
sit down to do the hard work and collate
the things, so it’s hardly automatic.
This latest entrant’s
title is pretty self-explanatory. Many
of the names of the composers and orchestras
will be very familiar to initiates of
the genre and to adherents of the series
in general. Victor Young kicks things
off with fanciful string work in the
title track, the B section of which
is a luscious intermezzo for solo violin
(Young was himself a violinist) and
then comes a dollop of Rachmaninovian
piano to liven things still further.
It’s a locus classicus of packing in
a veritable symphony of moods and impressions.
Werner Muller unveils a very suave Penthouse
Serenade – one can imagine the à
la mode 1956 furnishings from this ultra
sleek number; the musical equivalent
of Ernő
Goldfinger’s furniture. By comparison
there’s a bright, sprightly and brisk
offering called Mam’selle Moderne
from Kurt Rehfeld and his Stuttgart
band; the number was written by Trevor
Duncan. Note the elegant pizzicati.
Kermit Leslie contributes
a very glamorous MGM waterfall of a
piece, shot through with romantic reverie
and that in its turn is immediately
contrasted with the Regent Classic Orchestra’s
spruce Heading for Home, on the
esteemed Bosworth label.
Variety within the
sub-genre, as one can tell, is the name
of the game. Rehfeld appears again with
a very witty and pictorial Binge number
Man in a Hurry – the poor chap
keeps getting stopped en route. From
the busy annoyances of him we flee to
the glittering imprecations of Wedding
of the Violins and then on to visit
the spicy Latin charms of Aperitif.
George Tzipine makes a welcome appearance
directing his Salon orchestra. Aficionados
will remember that he made solo records
as a violinist for Pathé, Odeon
and Parlophone. His band has an easy
swing and sports some fine winds and
harp.
Ambrose swivels his
hips – impeccably, naturally – for some
Latin-Americana on Tentacion de Amor
but I can’t say I much warmed to
Bernie Wayne’s Zsa-Zsa. I know
the Great Gabor could be cheesy but
there really is a grim (dubbed?) choir
to lessen the spirits. Robert Farnon’s
Moomin re-establishes humour
and confidence. And we end with a Tchaikovsky-doffing
The Little Ballerina.
Plenty of vibrant vitality
then in this issue. The transfers are
good, the notes even better.
Jonathan Woolf
see also review
by Bob Briggs
GUILD LIGHT MUSIC GLCD 5146 [77:36]
