From stage glcd5152 [BBr]: Classical CD Reviews - March 2009 MusicWeb-International

In many ways this is the archetypal light music disk. It’s exactly what many people would think of when the words light music are mentioned – orchestral arrangements of show and film tunes in lush, string dominated sound, with a discreet drum-kit somewhere in the background in the up tempo numbers.

Richard Rodgers’s June Is Bustin’ Out All Over – a real rollicking tune from Carousel – is the perfect example of this; it’s a very racy arrangement. Henry Mancini’s theme for the film The Glenn Miller Story contains a lovely trombone line and some fulsome strings, but no feeling of the dance band which Miller led, and surely that is what this film theme should be doing. Isn’t it? The selection from Guys and Dolls is most welcome. For me, this is the Broadway show, great tunes, fabulous characters, stunning dialogue and lyrics and music which you never tire of hearing. Geraldo’s orchestra makes a glorious sound in this exciting arrangement. Harold Arlen’s It’s Only A Paper Moon, (what a tune!), receives a fast, pizzicato, treatment from David Rose in what, I assume, must be one of his own arrangements. Bob Farnon’s version of Secret Love is splendid and the theme from Anastasia is restrained and rather tender, despite the Hollywood hothouse sound.

Both Ivor Novello and Nino Rota receive supreme service from the great Sidney Torch – the selection from The Dancing Years is most welcome here for Novello seems to have fallen from favour in recent years and his voice has been silenced. Herman Hupfield’s classic As Time Goes By found popularity through it’s inclusion in the film Casablanca, but it was written some ten years before Bogart told Sam to play the tune, telling him “You played it for her, you can play it for me!” The rest is history.

Old Devil Moon gets the treatment from Morton Gould and it’s followed by a delicious performance of Arthur Freed’s Wedding of the Painted Doll. The two Percy Faith arrangements are excellent examples of the arranger’s art, especially the tune from My Fair Lady which I would never have thought would get this treatment, and what a delightful version this is.

The final six tracks are all music for film and present such a variety of styles – Newman’s Désirée is a French waltz, Young’s Samson And Delilah is all brawn to start with, then mock Eastern, and a big finish. Melachrino’s dark Secret Waltz has a hesitation about it which is most beguiling. Then comes one of the most famous piece of music for film written by and Englishman – Carriage and Pair, a most delightful interlude in a still entertaining film. Addinsell’s The Passionate Friends is a fine score, for a somewhat dull film, and it’s good to be able to hear this excerpt from it for, apart from a single cue on an ASV disk we never get to hear it, except when the film is run on TV. To end, a long dance piece from a film musical set in Edinburgh! Despite Brodszky’s being born in Odessa, this music is as British as you could hope for; 1950s big band sound, huge orchestration and good fun.

This is another success for this series, and perhaps there is a little more variety in this issue because of the source material; none of these pieces were written as library music, they all had a separate life on stage or in the cinema. Very enjoyable.

Bob Briggs