For 2006:

Here are two more Guild Light Music CDs to add to your collection!

"LIGHT MUSIC WHILE YOU WORK"

1 Calling All Workers (Eric Coates) excerpt
TIVOLI CONCERT HALL ORCHESTRA Conducted by SVEND CHRISTIAN FELUMB
2 The Band Plays (Reed)
HARRY FRYER AND HIS ORCHESTRA
3 Folie Bergere (from "Three Light Pieces" suite) (Percy Eastman Fletcher)
RICHARD CREAN AND HIS ORCHESTRA
4 "White Horse Inn" Selection (Ralph Benatzky, Robert Stolz)
HARRY FRYER AND HIS ORCHESTRA
5 The Haunted Ballroom - Waltz (from the ballet "The Haunted Ballroom") (Geoffrey Toye)
RICHARD CREAN AND HIS ORCHESTRA
6 In An 18^th Century Drawing Room (Raymond Scott)
REGINALD PURSGLOVE AND HIS ORCHESTRA
7 Tristesse (So Deep Is The Night) (Fryderyk Chopin, arr. Antonio Mario Melfi)
RICHARD CREAN AND HIS ORCHESTRA
8 Rendezvous (Wilhelm Aletter)
HARRY DAVIDSON AND HIS ORCHESTRA
9 Adios, Conchita (Manilla, real name Annunzio Mantovani)
MANTOVANI AND HIS ORCHESTRA
10 Be Honest With Me (Gene Autry, Fred Rose); You Rhyme With Everything That’s Beautiful (Bert Reisfeld, Michael Stoner)
THE STUDIO ORCHESTRA Directed by PHIL GREEN
11 "Lisbon Story" Selection (Harry Parr Davies)
HARRY FRYER AND HIS ORCHESTRA
12 Gaily Through The World (Allan Macbeth)
HARRY FRYER AND HIS ORCHESTRA
13 Bravada (Frederic Curzon)
HARRY FRYER AND HIS ORCHESTRA
14 Fascinatin’ Manikin (William Wirges)
HARRY FRYER AND HIS ORCHESTRA
15 The Call (Van Alstyne)
HARRY FRYER AND HIS ORCHESTRA
16 Bunch Of Roses (Ruperto Chapi, arr. Adolf Lotter)
HARRY FRYER AND HIS ORCHESTRA
17 Valse Septembre (Felix Godin)
HARRY DAVIDSON AND HIS ORCHESTRA
18 Memories of Spain (Clive Richardson, Horatio Nicholls real name Lawrence Wright)
MANTOVANI AND HIS ORCHESTRA
19 Kwang Hsu – Japanese Intermezzo (Paul Lincke)
HARRY FRYER AND HIS ORCHESTRA
20 Schőn Rosmarin (Fritz Kreisler, arr. Roberts)
HARRY DAVIDSON AND HIS ORCHESTRA
21 Ciribiribin (Alberto Pestalozza)
RICHARD CREAN AND HIS ORCHESTRA
22 Tango (Isaac Albeniz)
HARRY DAVIDSON AND HIS ORCHESTRA
23 Thousand And One Nights (Johann Strauss, arr. Ronnie Munro)
RONNIE MUNRO AND HIS SCOTTISH VARIETY ORCHESTRA
24 Demande Et Reponse (from "Petite Suite De Concert") (Samuel Coleridge Taylor)
RICHARD CREAN AND HIS ORCHESTRA
25 "Something In The Air" Selection (Manning Sherwin)
HARRY FRYER AND HIS ORCHESTRA
26 Calling All Workers (Eric Coates)
TIVOLI CONCERT HALL ORCHESTRA Conducted by SVEND CHRISTIAN FELUMB

GUILD LIGHT MUSIC GLCD 5128

Whereas the title of this collection will mean a lot to most readers of this magazine and British people ‘of a certain age’, it is appropriate to offer an explanation to the younger generation and our many friends in countries outside the United Kingdom. When the full misery of the Second World War was becoming all too apparent in the early months of 1940, the BBC (the sole broadcaster at the time) was persuaded that the public needed cheering up, and morale-boosting radio programmes would be an important addition to other forms of popular entertainment such as the cinema and variety theatres. Radio shows were gradually being relayed to factories to relieve the monotony of mass production, especially in the fields of armaments and other essential war supplies, and it was believed that bright and cheerful music might even increase output.

One can imagine the number of meetings and internal soul-searching that must have taken place before the BBC would embark upon such a step. Since its inception in 1922 it had gained a reputation as the guardian of the nation’s morals and this certainly extended to the kind of music that it would allow on its airwaves. ‘Popular’ music was viewed with grave suspicion, even though pre-war commercial broadcasts beamed to Britain from the near continent had demonstrated the public’s appetite for lighter musical fare.

But somehow a programme called "Music While You Work" did survive all the planning obstacles, and the first broadcast took place at 10.30am on Sunday 23 June 1940. It became something of an institution in British broadcasting, where it was to remain in the schedules for an unbroken run of 27 years. When the BBC celebrated its 60^th anniversary in 1982 "Music While You Work" was one of several popular programmes brought back for a few editions, and the positive public reaction resulted in several more ‘returns’ before the very last broadcast was heard in 1995.

The man credited with the original idea – and its successful implementation – was Wynford Reynolds (1899-1958). ‘Live’ musicians were usually engaged for the programme, ranging from solo performers such as organists, to small groups, dance bands, light orchestras and military bands. After some early experiments with light classics the feedback from the factories soon indicated that workers preferred tunes they knew and to which they could sing along. The BBC could not be expected to broadcast to such a restricted formula throughout the entire day - after all, they also had a large audience of listeners in their homes. Gramophone records provided the answer as far as the factories were concerned; when the radio programmes were not suitable for the workforce the Tannoy public address system resorted to records played by one of the staff.

This is when someone at Decca realised that a special series of 78s would fit the bill admirably and their own "Music While You Work" label was born; sensibly they sought Wynford Reynolds’ advice from the outset. These were not intended to be an accurate carbon copy of the BBC broadcasts, and the orchestras on the Decca records (mostly their contract artists) did not necessarily also perform on the radio. But they did succeed in conveying the ‘feel’ of the programme and have provided a fascinating subject for collectors to study over the years.

The first twenty records that were released, starting in 1942, were included in Decca’s usual blue and gold label ‘F’ series of popular 78s and given their own ‘MW’ prefix commencing with MW1. Thereafter all issues were only on the black and white ‘Music White You Work’ label and by September 1943 some 27 discs were available. Following this rather slow start the floodgates opened, and nearly 400 more were to be released before the final ones appeared in January 1947. The series was quickly deleted, and throughout the existence of the label Decca publicity had been sketchy, to say the least. The record buying public was often unaware of what was available, so consequently some of the titles must be quite rare. Some of the later 78s were recorded using Decca’s revolutionary ‘ffrr’ process which remained a closely guarded secret for some while since it had originally been developed to assist the war effort, and the improved sound quality of several of the tracks on this CD demonstrates this.

The choice of music was largely dictated by what was likely to be popular in the factories, although there is evidence that occasional attempts were made to inject some ‘culture’ – a few of the tracks on this CD may well have fallen into that category! Selections (especially from shows) were also well received and it may help to jog some memories to know what was included on the three that have been chosen:

"White Horse Inn" Selection White Horse Inn, Your Eyes, My Song Of Love, Goodbye

"Lisbon Story" Selection Pedro The Fisherman, Never Say Goodbye, Someday We Shall Meet Again

"Something In The Air" Selection Something In The Air, Home, You’ve Done Something To Me, You Happen Once In A Lifetime

The first and second shows are still remembered today but – despite its catchy tunes – "Something In The Air" seems to fallen by the wayside, although it ran for 499 performances during the war. Its composer, Manning Sherwin (1902-1974), was certainly no lightweight - he also wrote The Moment I Saw You and A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square.

When LPs first appeared Decca released a few collections by Harry Fryer (LF1009 & LF1059), Richard Crean (LF1010 & LF10182) and Ronnie Munro (LF1017 & LF1018 etc) which were taken from the MWYW series. One track – Fascinatin’ Manikin – only appeared on LP, but there seems little doubt that it was recorded for the series but never issued. The title may, at first sight, suggest that ‘manikin’ is an American corruption of the French word ‘mannequin’. But a glance at the dictionary confirms that ‘Manikin’ actually refers to a little man or a dwarf – yet another illustration of a title that sits uncomfortably in today’s PC world. The composer William Wirges (1894-1971) was a pianist and bandleader who hailed from Buffalo, USA. He was a member of the legendary Cliquot Club Eskimos during the early days of radio, and eventually accompanied several famous performers – among them Al Jolson. Despite the depression he managed to keep busy as a bandleader on radio during the 1930s, and became a prolific composer, forming his own publishing company.

There are two recordings on this CD that were never issued at all: Rendezvous and Valse Septembre, both presented here for the first time using the original test pressings.

By far the lion’s share of the recordings in this collection feature Harry Fryer (1896-1946) and his Orchestra. Like so many musicians of his era, he found work playing for silent films and gradually progressed to conducting at London theatres and leading venues in and around the capital. He was a regular broadcaster, both before the war and later frequently on radio in "Music While You Work". The London publishers Boosey & Hawkes contracted Fryer in 1941 to conduct for their Recorded Music Library. By the end of the war he had become a household name and there seems little doubt that, had it not been for his death in 1946 aged only 50, his talents would have been much in demand during the post-war years.

Richard Crean (1879-1955) became a familiar name in the 1930s through his association with the London Palladium Orchestra. Prior to that he had travelled widely as Chorus Master with the Thomas Quinlan Opera Company, before accepting a similar position at Covent Garden with Adrian Boult. Then a spell at Ilford Hippodrome in variety led to his appointment in 1930 as conductor of the London Palladium Orchestra which lasted for around five years until he formed his own orchestra which he conducted, on and off, for the rest of his life. For a short while in 1941-42 he conducted the newly-formed BBC Midland Light Orchestra, and like Harry Fryer he was also a contributor to the Boosey & Hawkes Recorded Music Library.

Harry Davidson (1892-1967) enjoyed two successful, and different, careers before and following the Second World War. After various engagements around London and the north-east of England spanning the years 1914 to 1929, he finally secured the highly prestigious appointment as organist at the newly built Commodore Theatre at Hammersmith in London. The Commodore had a fine 18-piece orchestra conducted by Joseph Muscant (1899-1983) and, by the early 1930s, it had acquired a loyal national following for its regular broadcasts. After five years Muscant left to take over the Troxy Broadcasting Orchestra and, in July 1934, Harry Davidson stepped into his shoes. Although the orchestra was disbanded during the war, Davidson managed to keep many of his superb musicians together and soon he was broadcasting regularly, notching up no less that 109 editions of "Music While You Work" during the programme’s first year. In November 1943 his series "Those Were The Days" appeared for the first time, providing listeners at home with a regular helping of melodious old-time dance music. It became a permanent fixture in the schedules with Harry in charge until ill-health forced him to retire in November 1965. But such was its popularity that the programme continued under Sidney Davey for another twelve years.

Reginald Pursglove (1902-1982) was an accomplished violinist who worked with many of the British dance bands in the 1920s and 1930s. During four decades he was heard regularly on the radio fronting various ensembles such as small groups (his contribution to this CD is a good example) right up to light orchestras which gradually assumed greater prominence as dance bands were heard less frequently on the air. His Albany Players (later renamed the Albany Strings) constantly provided top quality light music, but eventually the BBC’s decision to rely less upon live music meant that the orchestra did not survive the 1960s – a fate that was to befall so many of Pursglove’s contemporaries.

Annunzio Paolo Mantovani (1905-1980) was one of Britain’s foremost light orchestras for many years, achieving fame throughout the world through the sales of millions of LPs. What is less generally known about his career is that he contributed four titles to Decca’s Music While You Work series. Two of these rare recordings have already appeared on Guild Light Music CDs – Castiliana and The Spirit of the Matador on ‘Mantovani – By Special Request Vol. 2’ GLCD 5113. The other two – Adios, Conchita (composed by Mantovani) and Memories of Spain finally receive their debut on CD in this collection.

Philip Green (1910-1982) was one of Britain’s most prolific musicians and some of his numerous recordings have already appeared in this series. He made a large number of MWYW 78s, but most of them were without strings so they fall outside the scope of this CD.

Ronnie Munro (1897-1989) started his career playing piano in various clubs and bands in London before eventually working regularly with EMI – particularly the HMV ‘house’ orchestra The New Mayfair Orchestra. He contributed numerous arrangements for top recording bands such as Jack Hylton, Lew Stone, Percival Mackey, Ambrose and Henry Hall. In 1940 he was appointed conductor of the BBC’s newly-formed Scottish Variety Orchestra, and Thousand and One Nights is typical of the kind of music for which they became known.

Ironically, although the MWYW series eventually ran to over 800 sides, there never was a complete version of its famous signature tune Calling All Workers and the truncated version which appeared as part of a medley was played by a studio band, not an orchestra. Eric Coates wrote this piece in 1940 in response to a request from his wife Phyllis. She was actively working for the Red Cross making hospital supplies, and she wanted a catchy march to which she and her colleagues could work. What have been described as ‘sewing machine patterns’ accompany the fine trio tune, making this the ideal number to suit the conditions in so many wartime factories.

Other recordings of this piece during the 1940s are surprisingly few and, apart from the famous Eric Coates recording which has already appeared on numerous CDs, the only similar orchestral recording we have found is the 1948 one featured here by the Tivoli Concert Hall Orchestra. This seems to be a rare 78 which will be known to very few collectors outside Denmark, so it is hoped that it will be accepted as a reasonable substitute giving an accurate representation of how the signature tune sounded on BBC broadcasts when "Music While You Work" featured a light orchestra.

Brian Reynolds is the acknowledged expert on the BBC’s "Music While You Work" programme and his recent book has proved invaluable in assisting in the preparation of these notes. "Music While You Work – An Era in Broadcasting" is published in England by The Book Guild Ltd, ISBN 1 84624 004 2.

"BEYOND THE BLUE HORIZON"

1 Beyond The Blue Horizon (Richard A. Whiting, W. Franke Harling, Leo Robin)
THE MELACHRINO ORCHESTRA Conducted by GEORGE MELACHRINO
2 Blue Star (theme from the TV series "Medic") (Victor Young, Edward Heyman)
VICTOR YOUNG AND HIS ORCHESTRA
3 Blue Blues (Helmut Zacharias, Gunther Franzke, Aldo Von Pinelli)
HELMUT ZACHARIAS AND HIS MAGIC VIOLINS
4 Flying Colours (Roger Barsotti)
QUEEN’S HALL LIGHT ORCHESTRA Conducted by ROBERT FARNON
5 Out Of The Blue (Robert Busby)
QUEEN’S HALL LIGHT ORCHESTRA Conducted by SIDNEY TORCH
6 Pink Lady Waltz (Ivan Caryll, real name Felix Tilkins)
THE MELACHRINO STRINGS Conducted by GEORGE MELACHRINO
7 Blue Skies (Irving Berlin, arr. Robert Farnon)
ROBERT FARNON AND HIS ORCHESTRA featuring DAVE GOLDBERG, guitar
8 Royal Blue Waltz (Lambrecht, real name Mantovani)
MANTOVANI AND HIS ORCHESTRA
9 The White Scarf (Edgar Bainton)
THE MASQUERADERS
10 Blue Velvet (Joyce Cochrane, arr. Sidney Torch)
L’ORCHESTRE DE CONCERT Conducted by PAUL O’HENRY
11 Mood Indigo (Duke Ellington, Irving Mills, Barney Bigard)
ANDRE KOSTELANETZ AND HIS ORCHESTRA
12 Blue Is The Night (Fred Fisher)
GORDON JENKINS AND HIS ORCHESTRA
13 Black Narcissus (Oliver Armstrong, real name Graham Whettam)
CELEBRITY SYMPHONIC ENSEMBLE
14 Red Pagoda (Philip Green)
L’ORCHESTRE DEVEREAUX Conducted by GEORGES DEVEREAUX
15 Blue Mink (Peter Yorke)
DANISH STATE RADIO ORCHESTRA Conducted by ROBERT FARNON
16 Blue Sapphire Tango (Bernard Monshin)
BERNARD MONSHIN AND THE CONCERT TANGO ORCHESTRA
17 Deep Purple (Mitchell Parish, Peter De Rose, arr. Angela Morley))
WALLY STOTT AND HIS ORCHESTRA
18 The Black Mask Waltz (Carr)
FRANK CHACKSFIELD AND HIS ORCHESTRA featuring WINIFRED ATWELL, piano
19 Blue Parakeet (Dominico Savino)
ROMA SYMPHO-POP ORCHESTRA Conducted by DOMINICO SAVINO
20 Red Shawl (Carr, Temple)
PHILIP GREEN AND HIS ORCHESTRA
21 Golden Fiction (Peter Dennis, real name Dennis Alfred Berry)
DOLF VAN DER LINDEN AND HIS METROPOLE ORCHESTRA
22 Red River Jig (Arthur Benjamin)
NEW CONCERT ORCHESTRA Conducted by JACK LEON
23 Red Lips (Wilfred Burns, real name Bernard Wilfred Harris)
LOUIS VOSS AND HIS ORCHESTRA
24 Blues In The Night (Johnny Mercer, Harold Arlen)
ANDRE KOSTELANETZ AND HIS ORCHESTRA
25 Under A Blanket Of Blue (Marty Symes, Al J. Neiberg, Jerry Livingston)
LEROY HOLMES AND HIS ORCHESTRA
26 Blue Night (Sidney Torch)
SIDNEY TORCH AND HIS ORCHESTRA
27 Little Brown Jug – Fantasy Ballet (Trad. arr. George Melachrino)
THE MELACHRINO ORCHESTRA Conducted by GEORGE MELACHRINO

GUILD LIGHT MUSIC GLCD 5129

Inspiration can strike creative people in many different ways and arguably it is the most essential ingredient towards achieving success in one’s chosen field of endeavour. Some professional writers set themselves a target to produce a certain amount of work each day, following which they reward themselves with a period of enjoyment in other areas. A few find that sleep can produce their best work, and they always keep a notebook by the side of the bed.

In the case of this collection of light pieces it is colours that have set the creative juices flowing. If we were hoping that a wide selection featuring every colour in the rainbow would produce a balanced mix of enjoyable melodies our aspirations were soon dashed. Composers, it seems, have a thing about the colour blue. A glance through the list will reveal a few others, but the blues win the race by a mile. Reds come probably in second place, but the rest are mere stragglers. Rather than try to redress the balance by slotting in some inferior greens and yellows it was decided that the quality of the music alone should be the determining factor.

So by now it will come as no surprise that one of the best-known ‘blue’ numbers opens the CD, with a sparkling arrangement (probably by William Hill Bowen) of Beyond The Blue Horizon. George Melachrino (1909-1965) helped the song to become popular again in the mid-1950s, but it was Jeannette MacDonald who introduced it to appreciative cinema audiences in the 1930 musical "Monte Carlo". Melachrino returns with two further colours in this collection: Ivan Caryll’s Pink Lady Waltz and finally the maestro’s own inventive arrangement of the traditional English air Little Brown Jug which brings this CD to a fitting finale. ‘Ivan Caryll’ was a nom-de-plume adopted by Felix Tilkins (1861-1921), a Belgian composer who studied at the Liège Conservatoire then moved to London in 1882. He served as the musical director at the Gaiety and Lyric theatres, and among his best-known works were "A Runaway Girl" and "The Pink Lady" which he wrote in 1911 after moving to America. The song achieved further success when revived in "Ziegfeld Follies of 1931".

"Medic" was a popular American television series that first appeared in 1954 with Richard Boone starring as Dr. Konrad Styner. Victor Young’s theme eventually became popular as Blue Star when Edward Heyman added the lyrics. Victor Young (1900-1956) excelled as a violinist, arranger, film composer, songwriter, conductor and record producer. This wide experience in all forms of music, from his first hit song, ‘Sweet Sue, Just You’ in 1928 to his tremendous score for "Around the World in 80 Days" in 1956, was exceptional even by Tin Pan Alley and Hollywood standards, all the more so because his international reputation was achieved in such a short lifetime. Like so many of his contemporaries, he found work with various dance bands of the 1920s and 1930s, before eventually ending up in Hollywood, where he discovered the ideal outlet for his melodic gifts.

Helmut Zacharias (1920-2002) was a German child prodigy who rose to prominence in the 1950s when the American Forces Network in Frankfurt described him as ‘the best jazz violinist in the world’. During his long career he composed over 400 works and his album sales exceeded 13 million.

During the 1940s the Queen’s Hall Light Orchestra was the ‘house’ orchestra making hundreds of recordings for the Chappell Recorded Music Library. It always boasted the finest light music composers, arrangers and conductors, and two of the very best were Robert Farnon (1917-2005) and Sidney Torch (1908-1990) whose careers have already been well documented in previous Guild Light Music CD booklets.

Several names on this CD are new to Guild, and next we spotlight Edgar Leslie Bainton (1880-1956) who composed The White Scarf. He was born in London and, after studying composition at the Royal College of Music under Sir Charles Villiers Stanford (winning the Tagore medal), he was appointed to the Newcastle-upon-Tyne Conservatoire of Music where he eventually became principal in 1911. As conductor of the Newcastle Philharmonic Orchestra he was visiting the Bayreuth festival in Germany when the First World War broke out, and he was interned for the duration in Ruhleben camp. In 1918 he was invalided to The Hague before resuming his responsibilities in Newcastle. A prolific composer of choral, symphonic and chamber works, he was also in demand as an examiner and made several tours overseas, including Australia where he eventually settled in 1934. One report credited him with "enriching the musical life of Sydney at a time when it was suffering from starvation".

‘Oliver Armstrong’ is a pseudonym of Wiltshire born Graham Dudley Whettam (b. 1927) who is largely remembered among classical music devotees for his "Sinfonia Intrepida" although his total output exceeded sixty works including five symphonies. He also wrote a "Fantasy" (1953) for the harmonica virtuoso Tommy Reilly, and much of his music has been published by his own company Meriden Music. For a while he worked in film music and is credited with cues for productions such as "Fabian of Scotland Yard" and "The Adventures of Tin Tin". In 1953 J. Arthur Rank commissioned Whettam to write the orchestral score for the internationally renowned film "Genevieve" starring Kenneth More and Kay Kendall, although it was Larry Adler’s harmonica theme that became popular. Black Narcissus is one of several works that Whettam contributed to the De Wolfe Recorded Music Library in the 1950s, both under his real name and also as ‘Oliver Armstrong’. He also used the pseudonyms ‘Montague Swinton’ and ‘Howard Woodstock’.

Domenico Savino (1888-1973) also composed as D. Onivas (his surname reversed). Born in Taranto, Italy, he moved to the USA in the 1920s where he was especially active in films for two decades, although much of his work was uncredited. He appears to have been an astute businessman who composed a vast amount of music which produced a comfortable income, allowing him to indulge his passion for more serious music in later life.

Bernard Monshin (1914-1988) will still be a familiar name to British radio listeners from the late 1930s onwards. A frequent broadcaster, he usually fronted ensembles where the repertoire favoured tangos and the other Latin-American music that was so popular at the time. He also achieved success as a composer (Blue Sapphire was one of many with a Latin feel) and in his later career he became a respected ‘fixer’ providing orchestras as required by television and films.

Arthur Benjamin (1893-1960) will forever be associated with his highly successful ‘Jamaican Rumba’, published in 1938, which has tended to eclipse his other achievements. Born in Sydney, Australia, he was determined to pursue his ambition of studying music in London, and in 1911 he became yet another future composer who was to be grateful that he had benefitted from the wisdom of Sir Charles Villiers Stanford. He himself ultimately became a professor of the piano at the Royal College of Music in 1926, where one of his students was Benjamin Britten. During the 1930s his own compositions started to become noticed including a violin concerto and a comic opera. He enjoyed writing for the stage, and eventually produced five operas although the last was incomplete at the time of his death. Classical pieces embraced works for piano, violin, voila, oboe and a harmonica concerto for Larry Adler. In 1934 Benjamin wrote his first film scores "The Scarlet Pimpernel" and Alfred Hitchcock’s "The Man Who Knew Too Much"; he continued working in films until 1957 notably "The Conquest of Everest" (1953).

‘Peter Dennis’ hides the true identity of Dennis Alfred Berry (1921-1994), who also composed (sometimes in collaboration with others) under names such as Frank Sterling, Charles Kenbury and Michael Rodney. He was born in London and in 1939 was employed by Francis, Day & Hunter as a copyist before moving on to Boosey & Hawkes as a staff arranger. Then he was taken on by publishers Lawrence Wright followed by Paxton Music as their representative based in Amsterdam. Paxton had a thriving mood music library, but a ban by the Musicians’ Union at the end of the 1940s meant that London publishers could no longer record in Britain. Paxton decided that their mood music 78s should be recorded in the Netherlands by Dolf van der Linden and his Metropole Orchestra, and Berry’s experience proved very useful in setting this up. He returned to the London office in 1949 and was responsible for producing numerous titles issued by Paxton during the 1950s. This did not prevent him from writing for other libraries such as De Wolfe and Charles Brull, and at the end of the 1950s Dennis Berry was head-hunted to start the Southern Library of Recorded Music (now owned by BMG) which issued its first recordings on 78s in 1960. Eventually he emigrated to South Africa, before finally returning to England to do freelance work including some film commissions in Germany.

Bernard Wilfred Harris, better known as ‘Wilfred Burns’ (1917-1990) was another prolific composer of mood music who, like Dennis Berry, remained a backroom-boy for much of his career, although his name was seen on screen in a number of films. As a teenager he was a church organist and in 1936 joined the Army as a bandsman in the 4^th Queens’ Own Hussars. He was posted abroad in November 1940 and captured in Greece the following April. Shrapnel wounds had destroyed his left eye, and damaged his hand and arm. He was a prisoner of war for two and half years, during which time he set up and ran a prisoners' band in which all the players had little or no sight, using instruments supplied by the Red Cross. After the Second World War ended he composed numerous pieces of mood music for various music publishers, and also worked at Elstree studios before eventually becoming a freelance film composer and musical director. His first of over twenty films was around 1949, with his final score in the 1970s. His best-known was probably the large screen version of the popular television series "Dad’s Army" in 1971.

The final colourful tally reveals fourteen blues, with just four reds and the assorted rest ‘also rans’ - with not a green in sight. Perhaps inspiration is colour blind.

David Ades

For 2006:

Two more CDs in Guild Music’s landmark "Golden Age of Light Music" series are due to be released during September. David Ades reports…

"SOLOISTS SUPREME"

1 Don’t Blame Me (Jimmy McHugh, Dorothy Fields)
ROBERT FARNON AND HIS ORCHESTRA featuring DAVE GOLDBERG, Guitar
2 Dance Of The Three Old Maids (Reginald Porter-Brown)
CAMARATA AND HIS ORCHESTRA featuring REGINALD KELL, clarinet
3 All The Things You Are (Jerome Kern)
RIAS DANCE ORCHESTRA Conducted by WERNER MULLER featuring MACKY KASPAR, trumpet
4 "Last Rhapsody" – Theme from (Reynell Wreford)
SIDNEY TORCH AND HIS ORCHESTRA featuring EDWARD RUBACH, piano
5 Skeleton In The Cupboard (Arnold Steck, real name Leslie Statham)
DANISH STATE RADIO ORCHESTRA Conducted by ROBERT FARNON featuring xylophone
6 Today And Every Day (Sue Terry, Eileen Sears)
JACKIE BOND, alto saxophone, AND HIS ORCHESTRA
7 "High And The Mighty" Film Theme (Dimitri Tiomkin, Ned Washington)
VICTOR YOUNG AND HIS SINGING STRINGS featuring whistling by MUZZY MARCELLINO
8 Valse Des Folies (B.C. Hilliam)
SIDNEY TORCH AND HIS ORCHESTRA featuring piano
9 The Elephants’ Tango (Bernard Landes)
RAY MARTIN AND HIS CONCERT ORCHESTRA featuring French horns
10 Latin Lady (Harry Michaels, Sherman Feller)
HUGO WINTERHALTER AND HIS ORCHESTRA featuring guitar
11 Elaine (from film "Violettes Imperiales") (Fr. Lopez)
HUGO WINTERHALTER AND HIS ORCHESTRA featuring HENRI RENE, musette accordion
12 Goodbye John (Alec Wilder)
PERCY FAITH AND HIS ORCHESTRA featuring MITCH MILLER, cor anglais and oboe
13 Huckleberry Finn (Richard Hayman)
RICHARD HAYMAN AND HIS ORCHESTRA featuring RICHARD HAYMAN, harmonica
14 Margot’s Minuet (Gus Mortimer, Ted Gilbert, Sydney Norman)
EDDIE CALVERT, trumpet, with NORRIE PARAMOR AND HIS ORCHESTRA
15 Somewhere Beyond The Stars
RONNIE RONALDE, whistling, with ROBERT FARNON AND HIS ORCHESTRA
16 Song Of The Maggie (from film "The Maggie") (John Addison, Jack Fishman)
SIDNEY TORCH AND HIS ORCHESTRA featuring tuba
17 Stranger Than Fiction (The Big Guitar) (Howard Shaw, real name Malcolm Lockyer)
SIDNEY TORCH AND HIS ORCHESTRA featuring BERT WEEDON, guitar
18 Buglers’ Holiday (Leroy Anderson)
LEROY ANDERSON AND HIS ‘POPS’ CONCERT ORCHESTRA featuring ROBERT CUSUAMO, CARL POOLE & MELVIN SOLOMON, trumpets
19 Laughing Violin (Kai Mortensen)
CHARLES WILLIAMS AND HIS CONCERT ORCHESTRA featuring REG LEOPOLD, violin
20 First Theme (Joe Henderson)
LAURIE JOHNSON AND HIS ORCHESTRA featuring JOE ‘MR PIANO’ HENDERSON, piano
21 Lulworth Cove (Charles Shadwell)
BBC VARIETY ORCHESTRA Conducted by CHARLES SHADWELL featuring REGINALD FOORT at the BBC Theatre Organ
22 Valse Vanite (Rudy Wiedoeft)
PETER YORKE AND HIS CONCERT ORCHESTRA featuring FREDDY GARDNER, alto saxophone
23 Allah’s Holiday (Rudolf Friml)
SAVOY HOTEL ORPHEANS Directed by CARROLL GIBBONS featuring SIDNEY TORCH, organ
24 Hejre Kati (Jeno Hubay)
RAFAEL MENDEZ, trumpet, with VICTOR YOUNG AND HIS ORCHESTRA
25 Second Rhapsody (George Gershwin)
PAUL WHITEMAN AND HIS CONCERT ORCHESTRA featuring ROY BARGY, piano

Guild Light Music GLCD 5126

This selection has gradually evolved from observations by Alan Bunting that a good number of pieces of Light Music seem to feature a soloist as an important part of the work. If the title conjures up mental images of just a violin and piano you can certainly think again: these are performances of great variety often displaying real virtuoso performances, and if you still need convincing of the importance of some of these compositions just check the details for track 25!

Sometimes the instrumentalist is given due credit on the record label, but sadly there are many instances where these fine musicians remain anonymous. Happily this is not the case with the talented guitar player Dave Goldberg who was a key member of the Robert Farnon Orchestra during a short period from the late 1940s onwards. For a while he was in the famous Ted Heath Band and he travelled with them for a US tour in the early 1950s, deciding to stay and see if he could launch a new career in North America. Two of his recordings with Farnon had attracted some attention when released on a London 78 – cat. No. 1063, recorded 3 February 1950 (London was the US arm of British Decca), although for some reason his name in America was changed to Dave Gilbert. One of the numbers on that 78 was our opening track Don’t Blame Me where the Goldberg guitar certainly comes into its own. (The track on the other side, Blue Skies, will be on a Guild CD to be released later this year). He returned to Britain and played with the Geraldo Band at their famous Monte Carlo season in 1957, but he gradually became disenchanted with the developing musical scene and died at an early age from a drugs overdose.

Reginald Kell (1906-1981) is widely regarded as one of the most influential clarinettists of his era. He won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music from 1929 to 1932 where he studied with Haydn Draper. He was reputedly the first clarinettist who could play in tune from top to bottom and he was the first prominent player to apply vibrato consciously and consistently to his tone, in which respect he modelled himself on his colleague the oboist Leon Goossens. Sir Thomas Beecham selected Kell as first clarinet for the London Philharmonic before World War II and the Royal Philharmonic after it. In 1948 he left England to live in the USA, and was so highly regarded that even the great Benny Goodman (1909-1986) studied classical clarinet with him in 1949. Reginald Kell toured widely giving many concert performances before retiring at the early age of 51. Between 1950 and 1957 he made some landmark recordings with American Decca, one of which was The Dance Of The Three Old Maids by the organist Reginald Porter Brown (1910-1982). This is one occasion where Kell strayed from his usual classical music territory.

Space does not permit detailed pen portraits of all the soloists featured in this collection; a few are mentioned below and some extra information will be found in the booklet notes.

Edward Rubach is remembered for his many broadcasts as a pianist, sometimes as a duo with Robert Docker. He was in regular demand as a session musician – for example in "Music While You Work" broadcasts with Fred Alexander and the Gerald Crossman Players; he occasionally fronted his own group called The Novelairs. Rubach’s many recordings (sometimes anonymously) included top orchestras such as Ron Goodwin and the Sidney Torch 78 in this collection. His compositions Polka Piquant, The Belle of Brazil and Sentimental Gypsy were all once popular as light orchestral pieces.

Muzzy Marcellino (1912-1997) was as a very accomplished whistler and record companies, film studios and ad agencies usually called upon him whenever a whistler was required.

Henri René (1906-1993) was born and raised in Germany, where he studied piano at Berlin's Royal Academy of Music; he emigrated to the US during the mid-1920s, appearing with a series of orchestras before returning to Berlin a few years later to serve as an arranger with a German record label. René came back to the States in 1936 to accept the position of musical director with RCA-Victor's international arm; in 1941 he also formed his own musette orchestra which specialised in music with a continental flavour.

Mitch Miller (b.1911) was one of the world’s finest oboe players, having performed with leading orchestras, often as a soloist, across the USA. During the 1930s he worked with Gershwin and was praised for his work as oboe soloist with the CBS Symphony Orchestra. When he joined Columbia Records as an Artists and Repertoire Manager one of his first recruits was Percy Faith. The beautiful violin which blends so beautifully with Miller’s cor anglais in Goodbye John is played by George Ockner, concert master of Percy Faith’s orchestra for many years. Miller himself was responsible for many chart singles and he also hosted his own highly rated network television show. During his years at Columbia he was credited with having established long playing records as the preserve of adults, consigning the singles market to the younger generation.

Richard Hayman (b. 1920) started at the age of 18 as a harmonica player in Borrah Minevitch’s Harmonica Rascals, but he wisely decided to concentrate more on arranging and conducting.

Ronnie Ronalde began his professional career with Steffani and his Silver Songsters, but this was just a prelude to his great success from the 1950s onwards as an accomplished whistler who could also yodel and sing. Now living in Queensland, Australia, he still retains many loyal fans, and continues to perform occasionally.

Eddie Calvert (1922-1978) was born in Preston, Lancashire and his future was assured when an enthusiastic radio announcer described him as ‘The Man With The Golden Trumpet’ – a description that stuck for the rest of his glittering career.

Bert Weedon (b. 1920) became one of Britain’s best-known guitar players during the 1950s. His fame spread internationally, and he still performs in many parts of the world.

Reginald Leopold (1907-2003) was much in demand as a lead violinist throughout his career. From the 1920s onwards he rubbed shoulders with many fellow musicians who would eventually rise to the top of the profession, so it was natural that the likes of Carroll Gibbons, George Melachrino and Robert Docker would be happy to engage him for their broadcasts over several decades. Leopold himself took the limelight for his 17-year association with BBC Radio’s famous programme "Grand Hotel", and in the happy days when light music formed a staple diet of radio broadcasting he directed ensembles such as his own Players, the London Light Concert Orchestra and the London Studio Players. He continued broadcasting until well into the 1980s, then finally retired to his home town of Brighton where he died aged 95.

Joe Henderson (1920-1980) was a popular pianist in Britain during the 1950s, and at one time he worked closely with Petula Clark. His biggest hit was Trudie in 1958 which won an Ivor Novello Award.

Reginald Foort (1893-1980) is still highly regarded among enthusiasts of theatre and cinema organs which reached a peak in their popularity during the 1930s. He became one of the most recorded organists in history, and made numerous broadcasts for the BBC. In 1951 he left England and settled for the rest of his life in the USA.

Freddy Gardner (1911-1950) was a true master of the saxophone, and his recordings continue to amaze for their brilliance. It was said that he found notes on the instrument that weren’t supposed to be there, and towards the end of his career he became closely associated with the fine Peter Yorke Orchestra, heard on this CD.

Sidney Torch (1908-1990) was a talented organist long before his post-war career as one of Britain’s top composers and conductors of light music from the late 1940s onwards. On 14 February 1932 in the Regal Cinema, Marble Arch, he was with Carroll Gibbons and the Savoy Hotel Orpheans in what the label described as a ‘concert version’ of a popular number at the time, Rudolf Friml’s Allah’s Holiday.

Rafael Mendez (1906-1981) was regarded as one of America’s finest trumpeters of his generation and he also composed many pieces, often designed to show off his instrument. In 1961 he wrote a text book Prelude to Brass Playing which has been in demand by aspiring trumpeters ever since.

Roy Bargy (1894-1974) joined the Paul Whiteman Orchestra in 1928 and eventually became second in command within the band. During the 1940s he was regularly conducting various bands for radio broadcasts, and in 1943 he became Jimmy Durante’s musical director – a job which lasted for 20 years. Gershwin’s famous Rhapsody In Blue was such a big success that the composer was under constant pressure to come up with a sequel; in the event his Second Rhapsody has been described as one of his least famous concert works. Certainly it is not as recognisable as its predecessor, but it is still a piece of great merit which listeners should find increasingly enjoyable as they become more familiar with it. This treasured 12" Brunswick 78 has been patiently residing on a shelf in my record collection for more years than I care to admit, and I have probably only played it previously a handful of times. Working on this project I have come to know this work much better, and I can honestly say that I appreciate it more with each hearing. I do hope that readers will get the same enjoyment from it as I have. I have seen it described as being more akin to film music than the concert hall, but whatever label you happen to attach to it this is surely a work of great merit, and it is almost like discovering a long lost masterpiece by one of the last century’s truly great composers.

It has its origins in a 1931 film "Delicious" starring Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell, and has been variously called ‘Manhattan Rhapsody’, ‘New York Rhapsody’ and even ‘Rhapsody in Rivets’. Gershwin said that he felt his ultimate choice of Second Rhapsody was "much simpler and more dignified." Although the work received its official premiere performance on 29 January 1932 by the Boston Symphony Orchestra under Serge Koussevitzky and Gershwin himself on piano, there was an earlier NBC radio concert on June 26 1931 with Gershwin and a 55-piece studio orchestra. The composer made no commercial record of it himself but eventually Paul Whiteman (1890-1967) did commit the work to disc on 23 October 1938 in Decca’s New York studios, making several cuts and a certain amount of re-scoring. Gershwin had died a year previously from a brain tumour, so he was never to hear the first important recording of this work by a conductor who had played such a pivotal role in bringing his music to an appreciative public.

The Great Light Orchestras Salute COLE PORTER

1 Begin The Beguine (from "Jubilee" - 1935)
GUY LUYPAERTS AND HIS ORCHESTRA
2 Night And Day (from "The Gay Divorce" - 1932)
ANDRE KOSTELANETZ AND HIS ORCHESTRA
3 I Concentrate On You (from "Broadway Melody of 1940")
GORDON JENKINS AND HIS ORCHESTRA
4 Just One Of Those Things (from "Jubilee" - 1935)
ROBERT FARNON AND HIS ORCHESTRA
5 I Love Paris (from "Can-Can" – 1953)
EDDIE BARCLAY AND HIS ORCHESTRA
6 All Through The Night (from "Anything Goes" - 1934) (arr. Percy Faith)
PERCY FAITH AND HIS ORCHESTRA
7 Anything Goes (from "Anything Goes" - 1934); You’re The Top (from "Anything Goes" – 1934)
GUY LUYPAERTS AND HIS ORCHESTRA
8 "Kiss Me Kate" (1948) selection (arr. Angela Morley)
SIDNEY TORCH AND HIS ORCHESTRA
9 C’est Magnifique (from "Can-Can" - 1953)
MANTOVANI AND HIS ORCHESTRA
10 Easy To Love (from "Born To Dance" - 1936)
STANLEY BLACK AND HIS ORCHESTRA
11 I Get A Kick Out Of You (from "Anything Goes" - 1934)
DAVID ROSE AND HIS ORCHESTRA
12 I Love You (from "Mexican Hayride" - 1944) (arr. Percy Faith)
PERCY FAITH AND HIS ORCHESTRA
13 I’ve Got You Under My Skin (from "Born To Dance" - 1936)
STANLEY BLACK AND HIS ORCHESTRA
14 In The Still Of The Night (from "Rosalie" - 1937)
GORDON JENKINS AND HIS ORCHESTRA
15 Love For Sale (from "The New Yorkers" – 1930)
THE PITTSBURGH STRINGS arranged and conducted by RICHARD JONES
16 Wunderbar (from "Kiss Me Kate" – 1948)
MANTOVANI AND HIS ORCHESTRA
17 What Is This Thing Called Love? (from "Wake Up And Dream" - 1930); You Do Something To Me (from "Fifty Million Frenchmen" - 1929)
GUY LUYPAERTS AND HIS ORCHESTRA
18 Blow, Gabriel, Blow (from "Anything Goes" - 1934)

ANDRE KOSTELANETZ AND HIS ORCHESTRA
19 You’d Be So Nice To Come Home To (from "Something To Shout About" - 1942) (arr. Percy Faith)
PERCY FAITH AND HIS ORCHESTRA
20 Do I Love You? (from "Du Barry Was A Lady" – 1943)
GLENN OSSER AND HIS ORCHESTRA
21 Cole Porter Suite Night And Day, I Get A Kick Out Of You, My Heart Belongs To Daddy, In The Still Of The Night, Let’s Do It, I’ve Got You Under My Skin, Don’t Fence Me In, Anything Goes
LOUIS LEVY AND HIS "MUSIC FROM THE MOVIES"

Guild Light Music GLCD 5127

Somewhat surprisingly, this collection of fabulous melodies wasn’t as easy to compile as Alan Bunting and myself originally imagined when we started on this project. We knew which ones we would like to include, but it wasn’t always easy to find suitable non-vocal recordings. Probably the main reason was that so many Cole Porter creations are admired equally for their lyrics, as well as the music, and performers (and record companies) usually chose to offer collectors both. In the end we did manage to find some excellent performances from 1955 and earlier (the sound copyright deadline), although we were somewhat frustrated that some fine albums from later in the 1950s were just beyond our reach.

The Guild "Golden Age of Light Music" series prides itself for offering collectors often rare recordings restored to today’s high standards, with the minimum amount of interference to alter the original performance as captured by sound engineers of the time. Very occasionally some modest enhancements are made in an effort to achieve a uniform sound quality which does not vary too much between different tracks, although this can sometimes be difficult to achieve when one considers that some collections may contain 78 rpm discs made almost 30 years apart.

In the case of this Cole Porter collection we are bracing ourselves for some criticism from purists who feel that not a note of the original performance should be changed, but we are fully prepared to stand by our decision to allow a few edits in order to make the music more complete.

These edits mainly involve the three tracks featuring the Guy Luypaerts Orchestra. The music originally appeared as one continuous suite, with some titles not coming to a satisfactory ending on their own, but merging into the next melody. Because we wished to include some compositions not available to us from other sources, the decision was taken to make edits as necessary so that the music could be enjoyed in a complete form. The Louis Levy selection has also been edited to remove one number which already appears elsewhere on the CD. Levy’s version of Begin The Beguine has been omitted in favour of the exciting Guy Luypaerts version which opens the collection as there wasn’t room to include both of them. Luypaerts cleverly incorporates snatches of a number of Porter tunes which set the tone for the entire CD.

Cole Porter was one of the finest of that elite group of 20^th century songwriters whose melodies entertained the entire world. Not only did he compose the music, but he also wrote the catchy lyrics which were often far more clever than the average listener appreciated at the time (Irving Berlin was the only other major composer who preferred to write the words to accompany his melodies). Today we can only marvel at the way in which Porter introduced unbelievable rhymes and hidden innuendoes, which occasionally may have lost their full meaning in later years when referring to personalities of a bygone era. He was also a master of the double entendre which often went over the heads of many listeners lacking his sophistication.

Happily Porter’s music still stands up well without the lyrics, and in the hands of the gifted arrangers represented in this collection these are surely miniature masterpieces – priceless examples of the superb music just there for the taking over fifty years ago.

Students of Porter’s life and career have been well served with biographies in recent years (over ten at the last count) and readers of Journal Into Melody may care to get out their copies of issue 167 and read again Murray Ginsberg’s affectionate portrait (page 18).

Making his debut on a Guild Light Music CD is Guy Luypaerts (b. 1917) who was born in Paris to Belgian parents during the First World War. He became known in French musical circles and conducted an orchestra called the Nouvelle Association Symphonique de Paris. This was in the era when live music featured prominently on the radio, and his broadcasts with this orchestra resulted in invitations to conduct other radio orchestras in European cities. He worked with Edith Piaf, Georges Guetary, Charles Trénet and Yves Montand and also had a reputation as a jazz pianist.

Two other orchestras are also appearing on a Guild Light Music CD for the first time – Eddie Barclay and Glenn Osser.

Eddie Barclay (1921-2005) (real name Edouard Ruault – he changed it in 1944 when he came into contact with American liberation forces) was famous in France for two reasons: his music, and his nine wives. His career took off at the end of World War 2 when he realised that his jazz with a French flavour was much in demand. He launched what he claimed to be the first discothèque, Eddie's Club, based on the American clubs that had opened to serve US military personnel, and started his own band in 1947. Gradually he began extending his talents into conducting and record production for several leading singers, and eventually he formed Barclay Records. Thanks to his contacts with the American record industry he was able to take a leading role in the production and distribution of LP records in France where he became known as the ‘king of microgroove’.

Glenn Osser (b. 1914) (real name Abraham Osser) became a familiar name in the USA during the 1950s for his work on various television shows, although he first came to prominence though his close association with Paul Whiteman for whom he provided arrangements and often conducted the orchestra, usually for the vocalists. Other top bands which used his scores included Les Brown, Jan Savitt, Bob Crosby, Bunny Berigan and Charlie Barnet. For much of his career he freelanced as a conductor and arranger, and became closely associated with the "Miss America" beauty pageants for many years.

The other conductors in this collection will be familiar to JIM readers, and their impressive careers do not need to be examined again on this occasion. But we would like to mention the track featuring the great orchestra fronted by Sidney Torch (1908-1990), who distinguished himself in two musical spheres. In his early years he gained a reputation as a brilliant cinema organist, but in the second half of his career he switched to writing and conducting Light Music, with even greater success. As well as his conventional work for radio and commercial records, he became a master of composing, arranging and conducting Mood Music (now better known as Production Music) for London publishers Chappell & Co. and Francis, Day & Hunter. His "Kiss Me Kate" selection includes most of the popular numbers from the show including Another Opening Another Show, So In Love, Wunderbar, Always True To You In My Fashion and Why Can’t You Behave. It is notable for being an early example of the considerable arranging talents of Angela Morley (b. 1924) who at the time was working as ‘Wally Stott’. Angela is now recognised as one of England’s foremost composers, and her work in Hollywood (assisting John Williams on "Star Wars" is one prime example) has placed her at the forefront of her profession. Torch’s 78 of "Kiss me Kate" seems to be quite hard to find, so hopefully its inclusion on this CD will please his many aficionados who may have missed it previously.

David Ades