GLCD5106 The 1930s.indd - The Classical Shop

ubbling work contains many of the elements of his composing abilities that have appealed to
generations of music lovers, and since the composer himself is conducting the recording on this
CD we can safely assume that we are hearing this delightful work exactly as he would wish.
The Italian violinist Alfredo Campoli (1906-1991) has occupied a warm place in the
affections of British music lovers, since his debut at London’s Wigmore Hall in 1923. He
played in many light orchestras, and was also a prolific broadcaster and recording artist in
his own name. Moths Around The Candle Flame is typical of the many light pieces that
demonstrated the virtuosity of the maestro and the musicians who played with him.
Eduard Künneke (1885-1953) was already respected as a composer of operas and operettas,
when he left Germany to visit America in 1925/26. The influences he encountered in the ‘new
world’ resulted in his Dance Suite for Jazz Band and Orchestra. There is some resemblance
to the experience of Eric Coates in England; both composers appear to have been unafraid to
incorporate some modern jazz styles into their traditional light music. Today these sounds may
appear very dated, but this can be attributed to the fact that jazz has always been a developing
form of music; what is in-style today, is definitely passé tomorrow. Perhaps more surprising
is the fact that Künneke should have been able to conduct an orchestra as prestigious as the
Berlin Philharmonic in this recording from 1938, at a time when the history books tell us that
the political establishment in Germany did not approve of the influence of American styles in
music.
Marek Weber (1888-1964) was a major recording artist in the 1930s. He was born in the
Ukraine, developed his career mainly in Germany, then moved to London to escape the Nazis,
before living briefly in Switzerland then emigrating in 1937 to the USA. A prolific recording
artist in the early 1930s, his orchestra tended to specialist in show selections and novelty pieces
– The Nightingale’s Morning Greeting being a prime example.
Richard Rodgers (1902-1979) was one of America’s leading composers of the 20th
century, and his works embraced a wide spectrum of popular music. Slaughter on Tenth Avenue
was composed for the show “On Your Toes”. Rodgers once said that it was customary to drop
ballet sequences from musicals, but they couldn’t leave out his Slaughter… because it formed
an integral part of the plot. Paul Whiteman (1890-1967) was highly respected for his ability to
8
T he 1930s witnessed a significant change in the way in which most ordinary people
enjoyed their musical entertainment. At the beginning of the century amateur musicmaking
around the parlour piano was a regular occurrence in many homes, but by 1930 radio
broadcasting was starting to make a big impact, and sound recording (which had moved from
acoustic to electrical in 1925) was reaching a standard that most found acceptable. Also the
movies were now accompanied by soundtracks, and musicals were very popular as escapist
entertainment during the miserable years that followed the 1929 Wall Street crash. Music was
now readily available from several reliable sources: the days of the ubiquitous parlour piano
were numbered.
Light Music thrived as a result of these changes, which we would today describe as
technological. Previously orchestras could only be heard if you could afford to visit the concert
hall or variety theatre, or at venues such as the bandstand in the local park and at the seaside.
But now homes could be filled with glorious sounds through the modern miracle of radio,
and the wind-up gramophone became increasingly popular. Although records were now being
recorded electrically, they were usually played at home acoustically, with heavy soundboxes
poised over steel needles which dug into the grooves on the shellac discs to release the music.
Today we regard these ancient machines with a mixture of admiration and horror: admiration
that they often produced amazingly good reproduction, but horror at the damage being done to
the discs themselves.
Record companies deliberately made their products in such a way that the 78s would sound
best when reproduced acoustically. Only later did they respond to the fact that radiograms and
electric record players were gradually making their presence felt as the 1930s drew to a close.
Modern sound restoration engineers have to take this into account, when working on records
from that period.
The wide variety of tracks in this collection reflects the considerable range of musical
riches from which record buyers could choose around seventy years ago. From the small
tea-room ensembles, to the large symphony-size orchestras, these are the sounds that reflect a
decade when music seemed to provide a much-needed antidote to the realities of life in the real
world.
5