The Best of British Light Music
[1] By the Sleepy Lagoon - Eric Coates
(1886 - 1957)
The English composer Eric Coates was a
master of light music, providing material that has formed a stratum in British
musical consciousness through much of the twentieth century. Born in Hucknall,
in Nottinghamshire, he studied first in Nottingham and then at the Royal Academy of Music in London,
where he was a viola pupil of the great Lionel Tertis and a composition pupil
of Frederick Corder. His early professional experience was in theatre
orchestras and, for a time, as member of the Hambourg Quartet, but, after a
spell of service in the Queen's Hall Orchestra, he turned his attention
definitively to light music, winning enormous popularity. His By the Sleepy
Lagoon, a valse serenade written in 1930, is very familiar to addicts of
the BBC programme Desert Island Discs, for many years an introduction to
the voice of Roy Plomley and now to that of Sue Lawley.
[2] Robin Hood Suite: March of the Bowmen -
Frederic Curzon (1899 - 1973)
Dedicated to Marian, his wife, the
three-movement Robin Hood Suite appeared in 1937, the year of Frederic Curzon's
marriage. Donald Curzon has no hesitation in regarding this work as a turning
point in his stepfather's career, and considers it a 'bench-mark' for all that
was to follow. Named after the legendary -or, as some scholars would have it,
not so legendary -outlaw who inhabited Nottinghamshire's sherwood Forest in
medieval times, robbing from the rich to give to the poor, it represents the
composer at the height of his melodic inspiration. The very popular March of
the Bowmen strongly suggests that the archers of Sherwood Forest were no raggle-taggle band of ruffians, but close
relations of the Yeomen of England. It is all good, stiff-upper-lip stuff. The
standard English march format is followed, with a stirring main tune followed
by a contrasting theme, broader and more regal in feel. Both sections are then
repeated, the second being slowed down and given a grandiose, ceremonial
rendition.
[3] Bells across the Meadows - Albert Ketelbey
(1875 - 1959)
Born in Birmingham and later a student at Trinity College in London, Albert Ketelbey was a versatile performer, winning
enormous popularity for some of his descriptive pieces and providing a wealth
of music for the silent films. One of his most popular compositions, Bells
across the Meadows was written in 1921. To modern-day audiences, this work
offers an aural equivalent of a Myles Birket Foster painting of by-gone scenes
-rose-entwined thatched cottages standing amidst gardens full of hollyhocks
with a gentle brook bubbling on its rustic way and cows grazing peacefully in
the pastures beyond. Did such idyllic images ever really exist? It is nice to
think that they did and Bells Across the Meadows certainly helps to
sustain this belief.
[4] Coronation Scot - Vivian Ellis (1903 - 1996)
Vivian Ellis is one of Britain's great song-writers. With such a melodic gift backed
by all the right attributes -harmonic resource, sense of design, ability to set
a scene, and impeccable workmanship -it was natural that his output has also
included a number of light orchestral compositions.
Vivian Ellis was born in Hampstead, London, into a musical family. His grandmother was a pianist
and composer, writing, amongst other things, a comic opera, and his mother was
a fine violinist. He studied composition and piano at the Royal Academy of
Music, the latter under Myra Hess. Recognising that his talents lay in 'light'
rather than symphonic fields his first employment was as a reader and
demonstrator for the London publisher Francis, Day and Hunter. His own
skill as a song-writer was recognised by his late teens and there began a
prolific output of songs and other musical numbers for the stage, working with
the great artists of the day, including Jack Hulbert, Francis Day and Sophie
Tucker. He was only twenty when the great impresario C.B. Cochran invited him
to write for his 1930 Revue and thus began a long and fruitful relationship.
The constant turnover of new revues and musical comedies that characterised
theatre in the pre-war era found Ellis in his element.
[5] Sketch of a Dandy - Haydn Wood (1882 - 1959)
A Yorkshire-man by birth, Haydn Wood moved
with his family to the Isle of
Man at the age of two. A
violinist and composer of prodjgious early talent, he studied at the Royal
College of Music in London, with composition lessons from Stanford,
and he went on to study the violin further in Brussels with Cesar Thomson. A versatile and prolific composer, often in a lighter
vein, with many sentimental ballads to his credit, Haydn Wood enjoyed a long
and successful career. His delightful miniature, Sketch of a Dandy, dating
from 1950 shows, that age had done nothing to diminish the 68-year-old
composer's gift for creating simple, pleasing melodies accompanied by
occasionally piquant harmonies. Wood provided his own brief scenario for this
title gem of light music:
"Conjure up in your mind the gay
nineties and picture a dandy taking his morning constitutional down Bond Street on a beautiful day in Spring. He meets one of his
charming lady friends and exchanges pleasantries with her. He reluctantly
leaves her and strolls on his way."
[6] The Westminster Waltz - Robert Farnon (b. 1917)
Canadian by birth, Robert Farnon had an
active career in broadcast music in his native country before the war and
military service that took him to England as conductor
of the Canadian Band of the Allied Expeditionary Forces. Here he won immediate
popularity for his compositions, arrangements and performances, much in demand
as a musical director and as an exponent of light music. Probably the
best-known of all Farnon's compositions, the exhilarating Westminster Waltz dates
from 1956, and was the recipient of that year's coveted Ivor Novello Award for
light music. No prizes are offered for recognising the source of the very
opening bars, but the lilting main theme is 100% original Farnon. The
close-harmony scoring of strings and woodwind and skilful use of sequences are
wholly typical of the composer, serving as unmistakable stylistic fingerprints.
[7] Little Suite: March - Trevor Duncan (b.
1924)
Trevor Duncan, a veteran composer, balance
engineer wit~ the BBC, describes his Little Suite as absolute music. The
use of the march by BBC Television for its Dr. Finlay's Casebook series
resulted in numerous commercial recordings. The Scottish setting for the Finlay
stories convinced listeners that the inspiration came from north of the border,
but Duncan insists that he was thinking of England, not Scotland, when he penned this miniature
masterpiece.
[8] Sailing By - Ronald Binge (1910 - 1979)
About the most difficult thing to compose
is a tune which is both simple and memorable. Easy-to-Iisten-to easy-to-forget
tunes abound, but Sailing By has that extra quality that makes it stay
in the memory. To be technical, Sailing By is a tune whose every note is
taken from the notes of the chords that propel it. The genius though, having
set the simplest of accompaniments to lilt the tune along, is to enrich the
melody by way of felicitous orchestration: the rise and fall of the flute
figurations which introduce the piece and feature throughout as fill-ins at the
ends of phrases; the undulating clarinets which become more busy and join in
the flutes' ornamentations as the climax is reached. All that, with a
persuasive title, made this piece an ideal choice for a BBC Television
documentary on an International Balloon Race. This was a programme without
dialogue and the interest engendered by the music made it an overnight success.
For several years countless numbers of listeners have unwound from the stress
of the day to the relaxing strains of this melody, as the final item before
close-down of the BBC Radio 4 programmes of the day.
[9] Jamaican Rumba - Arthur Benjamin (1893 -
1960)
Arthur Benjamin has suffered -if that is
the word -from having produced one piece of music, Jamaican Rumba, so
successful as to tend to divert interest away from his substantial achievements
elsewhere.
Benjamin was born in Sydney, but for most of his life was based in England. He studied piano and composition under Stanford at
the Royal College of Music, London from 1911. After service in the 1914-18
Great War he returned to Australia as a teacher of piano at Sydney
Conservatorium, then took a similar post at the Royal College of Music in London, having come back to England in 1921.
As a composer Benjamin covered a wide span,
from his more 'serious' works, his operas The Tale of Two Cities (1950)
and Tartuffe (1960) by way of a Piano Concertino and other
orchestral works as well as chamber music, songs and piano music, to a
significant number of works in lighter vein.
Benjamin's work as examiner for the
Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music took him overseas, and his travels
in Latin America bore fruit in a number of vocal and
instrumental works, Caribbean influence being perhaps the most dominant.
Jamaican Rumba, in its original form written for Joan and
Valerie Trimble, a two- piano duo popular before, during and after the second
world war, was so successful world-wide it earned for the composer an annual
barrel of rum given by the Jamaican authorities in recognition of the fame he
had brought to their island!
[10] London Suite: Knightsbridge March - Eric Coates
It was the London Suite, more than
any other, which finally made Eric Coates a familiar name with the general
public. The composer wrote it during the autumn and early winter of 1932,
finishing it on 25th November of that year and following what was now, for him,
a tried and trusted format, the three-movement suite. The inspiration, came
quite simply from the vistas available to him from his top-floor Baker Street apartment. In varying degrees of detail, he was able
to pick out the theatre roofs and the fruit and vegetable market in Covent
Garden to the east; the unmistakable outline of Big Ben and the Houses of
Parliament at Westminster would have been visible to the southeast, while to
the southwest, across the green expanse of Hyde Park, Knightsbridge would have
stood out quite clearly.
[11] In a Monastery Garden - Albert Ketelbey
It was the Characteristic Intermezzo, In
a Monastery Garden published
in 1915, which was primarily responsible for launching Ketelbey into the
forefront of light music composers. It is instructive to note that, whereas in
its day this delightful miniature inspired tears of emotion, in our own time
the music is more likely to induce tears of laughter and hoots of derision at
its apparent excessive sentimentality and naive effects, especially the bird
calls. Whether this is due to shortcomings on the part of the composer or
prevailing cynicism amongst contemporary audiences is a question on which the
present writer prefers not to make judgement. Little is left to the imagination
as realistic avian impersonations issue forth and male voices (those of the
gentlemen of the orchestra, if Ketelbey's instructions are followed to the
letter) enter with a sequence of "Kyrie Eleison" at the point in the
score marked "Chant Religioso. Sing in imitation of monks chanting in the
distance". The composer himself provided a description of the piece:
"The first theme represents a poet's
reverie in the quietude of the monastery garden amidst beautiful surroundings
-the calm serene atmosphere -the leafy trees and the singing birds. The second
theme in the minor expresses the more 'personal' note of sadness, of appeal and
contrition. Presently, the monks are heard chanting the "Kyrie Eleison"
with the organ playing and the chapel bell ringing. The first theme is now
heard in a quieter manner as if it had become more ethereal and distant; the
singing of the monks is again heard -it becomes louder and more insistent,
bringing the piece to a conclusion in a glow of exultation." What more
could a listener desire!
[12] Little Serenade - Ernest Tomlinson (b.
1924)
The delightful miniature, Little
Serenade, one of the most popular pieces, began life as part of The
Story of Cinderella, dating from 1955. It occurs early in the tale where
Prince Charming meets Cinderella though, of course, she is as yet unaware of
his true identity. He is struck by her beauty and charm and offers her a
serenade which duly develops into a love duet. The veteran composer Ernest
Tomlinson subsequently adapted this extract as an independent concert item, in
which guise it has been performed countless times. It has been used as a
signature tune for at least five different programmes and the composer himself
reckons to have made at least thirty assorted arrangements.
[13] Roses of Picardy - Haydn Wood
Roses of Picardy remains one of the best known of all Haydn
Wood's compositions. It is essentially a sentimental ballad and dates from
1916, a period when its message seemed particularly cogent and its music
provided an escape from the robust songs of war current at the time.
[14] Puffin' Billy - Edward White (1910 - 1994)
A self-taught violinist, Edward White also
played the saxophone and clarinet in different West End orchestras, an ideal environment in which he was able to develop his
natural ability as a composer and arranger. Composition assumed an ever more
important part in his professional life and Puffin' Billy must be one of
his best known works, used for a Saturday morning BBC programme, Children's
Favourites.
[15] Elizabethan Serenade - Ronald Binge
Ronald Binge's Elizabethan Serenade was
first played by the Mantovani orchestra in 1951, reflecting the optimism of the
new Elizabethan age that was then beginning, with the coronation of Queen
Elizabeth n.
[16] Tom Jones Waltz - Edward German (1862 -
1936)
Edward German occupies a very special place
in lighter English music, known above all for his popular light operas. Tom
Jones, written in 1908, is based on the famous eighteenth century novel by
Henry Fielding, with the waltz-song for Sophia, the heroine, a high point in the whole work.
[17] Vanity Fair - Anthony Collins (1893 - 1964)
Principal viola-player in the London
Symphony Orchestra, Anthony Collins moved from London
to America, seeking a career in film music, which he
was able to pursue successfully in Hollywood. His Vanity
Fair recalls the world of Thackeray's novel of that name, evoking the
spirit of early nineteenth century England.
[18] Marigold - Billy Mayerl (1903 - 1959)
A leading figure in British ragtime, Billy Mayerl,
at first as a pianist, occupied a significant place in the world of British
light music. He played with the Savoy Orpheans in the first British performance
of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue and scored a phenomenal success with his
hit Marigold, a piece with which his name is inextricably associated.
[19] In a Persian Market - Albert Ketelbey
(1875 - 1959)
Ketelbey followed the success of earlier
light character pieces with his orientalising In a Persian Market, published
in 1921, and evoking the world of caravansaray, camel-trains, beggars, and a
beautiful Persian princess, as the caravan passes.
[20] The Dam Busters March - Eric Coates
The Dam Busters March is from the film, The Dam Busters, a
story of war-time daring, as British airmen bomb a dam in occupied Europe, a hazardous exploit. The film score is dominated by
the well known March, which has, since then, enjoyed an independent existence.
Notes by Tim McDonald, Ernest Tomlinson,
Keith Anderson, David Ades and Philip Lane