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composer Lotar Leonard Olias (1913-1990).
Londoner Frederic Curzon (1899-1973) devoted his early career to working in the theatre and like so
many of his contemporaries he gradually became involved in providing music for silent films. As well as
being a fine pianist and a conductor, he also played the organ, and his first big success as a composer was
his “Robin Hood Suite” in 1937 from which comes March Of The Bowmen on Guild GLCD5106. This
encouraged him to devote more of his time to writing and broadcasting, and several of his works have
become light music ‘standards’, notably The Boulevardier (GLCD5177), Dance of an Ostracised Imp
and the miniature overture Punchinello. He was eventually appointed Head of Light Music at London
publishers Boosey and Hawkes, and for a while was also President of the Light Music Society. He wrote
a large amount of ‘mood music’ himself – his setting of Over The Hills And Far Away being a typical
example of his style.
Before he gained recognition for his more serious music, Sir Malcolm Arnold, CBE (1921-2006)
was much in demand as a film composer. His most famous work was on “The Bridge On The River
Kwai” (1957) but he seemed equally at home on small budget British movies, such as “Whistle Down
The Wind”. Mystery surrounds the performers of the title music, The Wayfarers, with some writers
suggesting that the similarity to the film soundtrack could point to Arnold himself conducting a small
group of musicians for the Decca recording.
Regular collectors of this Guild series of CDs will already be familiar with the music of Trevor
Duncan (real name Leonard Charles Trebilco, 1924-2005). His beautifully crafted compositions continue
to appear on new CDs, and this time it is his dreamy pastoral tone poem Meadow Mist that enhances
this collection. He was working as a BBC sound engineer in the late 1940s when one of his first
compositions, High Heels (on Guild GLCD 5124) made the light music world sit up and take notice.
Eventually his successful and prolific output mushroomed to such an extent that he had to give up his
‘day job’ at the BBC, and also find several different publishers simply because he was writing too much
for just one to handle.
Ronald (Ron) Alfred Goodwin (1925-2003) was a brilliant British composer, arranger and conductor,
whose tuneful music reached the furthest corners of the world. As he gained recognition for his original
compositions he became in demand for film scores, and one of his earliest major commissions was
“Whirlpool” in 1959, from which we hear the main theme.
many pre-war British films (usually without any credit on-screen) honed his talents as an arranger and
composer. His London Fantasia (on Guild GLCD5120) was widely praised, and thereafter his work was
regularly commissioned by many leading publishers – Saga Of The Seven Seas being a good example of
his penchant for melodies with a nautical theme.
Leroy Anderson (1908-1975) is probably the best-loved American light music composer of his
generation. For many years he was the chief arranger for the Boston Pops, and its famous conductor,
Arthur Fiedler, introduced many Anderson novelties to an appreciative world. He was so prolific that
some of his numbers have tended to become overlooked, such as the tender Summer Skies.
Wandering The King’s Highway, which appears to have been composed in the 1930s by Leslie
Coward, owed much of its popularity to the recording by the famous Australian bass-baritone, Peter
Dawson (1882-1961).
Sigmund Romberg (born Siegmund Rosenberg, 1887-1951) excelled at writing operettas – that once
popular mainstay of the music scene that is now almost forgotten. “The New Moon” in 1928 contained
two numbers which have become standards, partly through their unlikely attraction to jazz musicians –
Lover Come Back To Me and Softly As In A Morning Sunrise. The latter receives a mystical arrangement
by William Hill Bowen (1918-1964) for the famous British orchestra conducted by George Melachrino
(1909-1965).
The American popular and operatic singer James Melton (1904-1961) introduced September In The
Rain in the 1937 movie “Melody For Two”. Our version is arranged and conducted by Ronald Binge
(1910-1979), destined to remain forever remembered as the gifted arranger who designed the ‘cascading
strings’ effect for Mantovani, but his true achievements deserve far greater recognition.
Percy Faith (1908-1976) hardly needs any introduction to Guild ‘regulars’. Born in Toronto, Canada,
in 1940 he moved permanently to the USA where he quickly established himself through radio and
recordings. From the 1950s onwards his fame spread internationally, due to the great success of his
numerous long playing albums. Unlike most of his contemporaries, Faith arranged all his own material,
and his compositions such as Blue Is The Night confirm his mastery of the light orchestra.
The composer of Whirlwind, Eric Spear (1908-1966), will forever be associated with the theme for
the TV series “Coronation Street”, but this was only one of many light music works he wrote. Midnight
Blue, on a Ron Goodwin (1925-2003) 78, was included on Guild GLCD 5111, and his other works
Clive Richardson (1909-1998) was best-known as a pianist during his early career, but working on reissued on Guild include Proud As A Peacock (GLCD5160) and Stratosphere (GLCD5183).
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