LEGENDS OF
LIGHT MUSIC
Neil Richardson
NEIL RICHARDSON
By GARETH BRAMLEY
Neil Grant
Richardson (1930-2010), known as
Neil Grant-Richardson from 1990
onwards, was one of the most
prolific library music composers
in the 1970s working mainly with
KPM (Keith Prowse Music) but also
other libraries such as Boosey
& Hawkes-Cavendish (9
themes). Although most of his
output was in this medium he also
contributed to the world of TV
& Film Music – in fact,
some of his KPM themes were used
in many TV / Film / Radio
productions. Robert Farnon –
regarded by most as the greatest
producer of light music of all
time - described Richardson as
‘the finest writer for
strings in Europe’. He had a
great working relationship with
Richard Rodney Bennett, as we
shall learn.
Two of his most
known KPM tunes are
‘Approaching Menace’
(1970) - which was adopted in
1972 as the theme to the
BBC’s long-running quiz show
‘Mastermind’ - and
other programmes around the
world; and ‘The Riviera
Affair’ which has been used
as the theme for WOR-TV’s
‘4 o’clock Movie’
as well as background music to
many other productions. Other
popular KPM tracks were ‘Rio
Magic’;
‘Firebird’;
‘Prestige Production’;
‘Sports Arena’;
‘Jewel of an Evening’;
‘Busy Spectacle’;
‘Girl In the Sun’ and
‘Western Panorama’.
Richardson’s
musical background began when, at
age 8, he became a chorister at
the choir school at Westminster
Abbey and, after leaving the
Abbey school, he won a
scholarship to Lancing College in
Sussex where he was encouraged to
follow a musical career by
Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears.
He continued his music studies at
the Royal College of Music
studying clarinet, piano and
composition with Professor
William Lloyd Webber. During his
National Service he played solo
clarinet with the Band of the
Royal Air Force at Cranwell.
Richardson’s
first job was with music
publishers Chappell from where he
joined the BBC as musical
director of strings. He was
responsible for pieces of library
music for radio, television and
film. He was also in demand for
orchestras such as the London
Symphony and Royal Philharmonic
and contributed to many Radio 2
programmes including the
long-running ‘ String
Sound’. In 1975 he created
the BBC Northern Radio Orchestra
in Manchester and was its
conductor for many years.
Richardson created much of the
BBC Radio Orchestra’s output
during the 70s and 80s. He worked
alongside other arrangers of this
period such as John Fox and David
Snell with some wondrous
arrangements. In the late 80s he
got together with his old friend
Michael Redway to produce the BBC
Radio 2 show ‘Those
Beautiful Ballad Years’, the
songs from which Mike’s own
label, Redrock Records, later
released on CD (see later). The
result was a unique set of
sensitive love songs and old
ballads.
Richardson began
his professional career by
playing saxophone at the
Trocadero Restaurant, London. He
started arranging while playing
for various bands in the West End
and then joined a publishing
house as staff arranger. He has
accompanied many artists such as
Connie Francis; Danny Williams;
Ken Dodd and Rosemary Squires.
Richardson worked with leading
musicians / singers such as
Johnny Mathis; Neil Diamond; Vic
Damone; and George Shearing
– often under his pseudonym
Oscar Brandenburg.
In the 60s
Richardson often used this
pseudonym - a name he shared with
colleagues Johnny Pearson and
Alan Moorhouse for pieces the
famous test-card piece
‘Scotch Broth’. As far
back as 1959, university concert
bands in America were playing his
music. In the 60s and 70s the
Longines Symphonette Society and
Readers Digest presented his work
to American audiences.
Until the 90s
Richardson was an arranger and
conductor of various BBC Radio
and Concert orchestras in London;
and regional orchestras working
on programmes such as
‘String Sound’ and
‘The (BBC) Radio Orchestra
Show’. He also conducted at
numerous radio concerts and
specials. Aside from the music
libraries already mentioned, much
of Richardson’s work is
owned by the BBC –
especially the half hour show
‘Radio Strings’
presented by Steve Race, not to
mention the numerous gala
concerts and other broadcasts.
His work with
British orchestras includes
arranging and conducting for the
Royal Philharmonic Pops;
Philharmonia; Bournemouth
Symphony; the aforementioned BBC
Concert Orchestra and BBC Radio
Orchestra; London Symphony
Orchestra and National
Philharmonic.
In the 80s he
conducted the Baltimore Symphony
Orchestra – performing in
three concerts; and presenting a
programme of English music
ranging from Vaughan-Williams,
Gilbert and Sullivan through Noel
Coward to The Beatles. He also
played solo piano and saxophone.
Three concerts were repeated very
successfully in London; and
Hamilton, Ontario; Calgary and
Edmonton in Canada. He also
conducted many other concerts in
Canada and the USA and many
orchestras in Europe including
the Belgian State Radio
Orchestra; Metropole Orchestra in
Holland; Bavarian State Radio
Orchestra; and RTE Concert
Orchestra in Dublin.
His orchestra for
which he conducted, arranged and
played piano was featured
regularly on the BBC. He formed
his own group in 1979 – the
Neil Richardson Singers –
finding work with and producing a
large amount of material for the
American radio networks.
One of
Richardson’s first TV
assignments was music associate
on ‘David Nixon’s Magic
Box’ (1970); and musical
director on an episode of
‘Cribbins’ the same
year. In the 80s he worked on 3
episodes ‘Iris
Williams’ (1981) as m.d.;
conducted 6 episodes of ‘The
Charmer’ in 1987. He worked
on many TV programmes as musical
director including
‘Poirot’ (1990);
‘Poor Little Rich Girl:
‘The Barbara Hutton
Story’ TV Movie and
‘Charmer’ TV
mini-series - both from 1987
– with Richard Rodney
Bennett; the UK’s first-ever
charity Telethon in 1980; and
‘Virtuoso’ the
BBC’s film portrait of
pianist John Ogdon shown as part
of BBC 2’s Screen Two season
in 1989 and scored by Nick Bicat.
Other TV movies were ’The
Attic: The Hiding of Anne
Frank’ (1988); ‘Robert
Palmer: Ridin’ High’
(1992) as musical associate; and
‘Flesh & Blood: The
Hammer Heritage of Horror’ a
TV - documentary from 1994.
For the cinema
Richardson orchestrated and
conducted some of Richard Rodney
Bennett’s film music
including ‘Enchanted
April’ in 1991 and the 1994
film ‘Four Weddings and a
Funeral’– which he also
conducted - and ‘Swann’
(1996). He orchestrated some of
the music for the 1983 production
‘Yor’; and conducted
Douglas Finch’s music for
‘Prairie Doves’ (1998).
In 1980 Richardson
was the m.d. for Britain’s
first ever Telethon and numerous
other TV events including the
Circus World Championship. He was
musical director for Lord
Oliviers’s 80th birthday
concert at the National Theatre
in 1987 and was twice invited by
Lord Mountbatten to conduct
charity gala concerts. He also
wrote many of the arrangements
for the 40th anniversary of the
Queen’s accession to the
throne at Earls Court in addition
to the ‘Impressions –
Jazz Suite’ in 1979: -
Movement: Prelude
– Part I
Movement: Prelude – Part II
Movement: Transition - Part III
– Postlude
Richardson has had
much success writing for choirs
and the world’s leading
vocal groups including The Baylor
University choir; The King
Singers; The Swingle Singers
– writing much of the
material and arrangements for the
latter part of their American
tour of 1979. He arranged a
series of popular songs by
Gershwin, Cole Porter, Jerome
Kern, etc for opera star Maria
Ewing with Richard Rodney Bennett
and the BBC Concert Orchestra,
which formed the second half of a
Promenade Concert. This was later
recorded with the same artists
and the Royal Philharmonic and
presented at the Royal Festival
Hall. In 1992 Richardson prepared
all the music for Robert
Palmer’s concerts at the
Royal Albert Hall.
‘The Riviera
Affair’ (aka ‘Prestige
Production’ originally
appeared on the 1970 KPM album
‘Impact & Action, Vol.
II’ – one of four
tracks) and in New York it was
used as the opening theme for
WOR-TV’s late afternoon
movie programme ‘The 4
o’clock Movie’
(1975-82). It was also used as
part of an homage of ‘The 4
o’ Clock Movie’ in the
opening logo for the 2007 film
‘Ocean’s
Thirteen’. NFL Films also
used some of Richardson’s
compositions in its American
football highlight films. This
track first appeared commercially
on the double CD set ‘This
Is Easy’ released in 1996 by
Virgin and again the following
year on one of a set of 4
‘Hotel Easy’ CDs
containing music from the KPM
library - ‘Paco’s
Poolside Bar’.
One of
Richardson’s earliest
accompaniments was the B-side of
the single released by Jimmy
Young in March 1968 on MGM
(‘Silver and Blue’) - a
track called ‘ My Dream of
Love’ which he arranged and
conducted.
EMI’s Music
For Pleasure issued an album in
1971 featuring music from
‘Love Story’ played by
Richardson and his Orchestra
containing 11 tracks. It was also
issued, the same year, in the
States on Wonderland Records. A
further LP of 12 tracks
‘Music from Godfather’
was released in 1972. The vocal
on the track ‘I Have But One
Heart’ was by Rudy Cellini.
Also in 1972 Richardson arranged
and conducted a single on
Columbia with Andy Stewart titled
‘Oh Soldier’ /
‘Farewell My Love’
produced by Walter J. Ridley.
In November 1973
he featured yet another B-side
– the flip of Ronnie
Hilton’s ‘Good, Bad But
Beautiful’ single with his
arrangement of ‘Can Someone
Tell Me How’ again produced
by Ridley for Columbia.
It’s not well
known but the theme from the TV
series ‘Mastermind’ -
‘Approaching Menace’ -
was issued commercially on a
single in July 1977 by Crystal
records b/w a theme composed,
arranged and conducted by John
Hawkins from 1969 - ‘Child
of the Sun’.
‘Approaching Menace’
had originally appeared on the
KPM LP ‘Dramatic
Background’ issued in 1970
– one of three Richardson
tracks. The theme was described
as ‘Insistent slow pounding
rhythm with military undertones
– slow build – tail
end’. Play It Again
pioneered the reissue of rare TV
Themes in the 90s and this theme
finally appeared commercially in
1998 on their 4th volume of
‘The A to Z of British TV
Themes’
1977 also saw EMI
issue two themes from Joe Loss
& His Orchestra – the A
side was Ridley’s
‘Hopscotch’ and the
B-side was his own
‘Swingin’ the
Weasel’. The following year
he arranged and conducted a
single for Pete Murray –
‘Forever Young’ /
‘I’ll Be Alright’
with vocal backing by The
Ladybirds – again on
Columbia. Also in 1978 EMI issued
a single of his arrangement of
Charles Williams’
‘Devil’s Gallop’
which was, at the time, being
used as the theme for Southern
TV’s ‘Dick Barton’
Series. It was flipped with
Walter J. Ridley’s
‘Snowy White Polka’.
Iris
Williams’ single ‘He
Was Beautiful (Cavatina)’
was a big hit in 1978 and it was
Richardson and his orchestra that
backed it. This single based on
the theme from ‘The Deer
Hunter’ film and composed by
Stanley Myers & Iris
Williams) reached No. 18 in the
UK singles charted entering in
October 79. The B-side ‘We
Don’t Make Each Other Laugh
Anymore’ was from the
musical ‘Stan &
Babe’.
In March 1980
Columbia records issued Roger
Whittaker’s ‘Oh
Life’ on a single, which was
another Walter J. Ridley
production arranged by
Richardson.
In the 80s HMV
issued a 12 track LP ‘A Sure
Thing – Music of Jerome
Kern’ featuring Barry
Tuckwell on horn, with
arrangements by Richard Rodney
Bennett and ensemble conducted by
Richardson. A CD was issued in
1996.
The Great British
Music Library issued a rare album
of themes titled ‘The Summer
Knows’ with 12 themes
including ‘ Sunshine of My
Life’; ‘I Can See
Clearly Now’; ‘If You
Leave Me Now’; ‘Fool On
the Hill’; ‘When I Fall
In Love’; and the title
track ‘The Summer
Knows’ from ‘The Summer
of ‘42’.
In 1993 Neil
conducted an entire album of
music with the Philharmonia
Orchestra for Silva Screen
Records ‘Dracula: Classic
Scores from Hammer Horror’
featuring music from the Dracula
series of films and other Hammer
classics such as ‘Hands of
the Ripper’; and
‘Vampire Circus’. This
was originally released as
‘Music From Hammer
Films’ on LP and CD in 1989.
Flyback issued
‘Test Card Classics: The
Girl, The Doll, The Music’
in 1996 with Brandenburg’s
‘Angry’; ‘My
Girl’s Come Back’; and
‘Going Places’ (and
there’s a 13 minute tribute
of these themes on You Tube!).
Their follow-up releases in 1997
‘Big Band Width: Test Card
Classics 2’ featured
‘Fings Ain’t Wot They
Used To Be’; ‘Swinging
Affair’; and his co-composed
‘ Scotch Broth’. The
same year they issued
‘It’s Easy Volume 1:
High Life’ which repeated
‘ Angry’; ‘My
Guy’s Come Back’ and
David Gold’s ‘Going
Places’. 1996’s
‘Sound Gallery CD from EMI
(Studio Two) featured the track
‘The Riviera Affair’
among its 24 tracks but it was
omitted from the soundtrack album
of the film in which it featured
- ‘Oceans Thirteen’.
Koch Jazz issued a
CD in 1998 licensed from TMD
Records in the Netherlands.
‘A Beautiful
Friendship’ featured the
Netherlands Metropole Orchestra
conducted by Jerry Van Rooyen
with The Neil Richardson Singers
conducted by Richardson. It
included ‘With You I’m
Born Again’; ‘Even
Now’; ‘When I Fall In
Love’; ‘These Foolish
Things’; ‘Smoke Gets In
Your Eyes’; ‘Cry Me a
River’; ‘I Love
Paris’ and many others.
In 2001 Steven
Wills’ Winchester Hospital
Radio label issued a CD of
library themes ‘Girl In a
Suitcase’, which included
Richardson’s ‘Music To
Drive By’ and ‘A Well
Swung Fanfare’ under his
alias of Brandenburg - reissued
in 2009 with additional tracks by
other artists. WHR also issued
‘Standby For Swing’ in
2005 featuring 14 tracks by
Brandenburg and His Orchestra.
Again all these tracks were from
the KPM vaults. All other tracks
were by The Gentle Giants
featuring Ray Davies. Other
releases featuring Brandenburg
& His Orchestra were an LP
titles ‘Big Band Hits’
and ‘The Golden Years of
Springs’.
Apollo Music
issued a CD in 2006 titled
‘Radio Visual One’
which contained a track
Richardson had composed for
Mozart Edition –
‘Sounds Latin’- played
by the Richard Neilson Group.
In 2009 ‘Rio
Magic’ was used in the film
‘OSS 117: Lost In Rio’
and issued on the commercial CD
‘Music For TV Dinners: The
60s’ on Scamp in 1997.
December 2009 saw the release of
5 download only CDs on Redrock
Records by Richardson and His
Orchestra and Singers. Each
contained 13 tracks.
Volume 1 –
Day By Day
Volume 2 – PS I Love You
Volume 3 – Love On the Rocks
Volume 4 – I Love Paris
Volume 5 – New Kid In Town
Eight more tracks
by the Neil Richardson New Sound
(‘Brass Christmas’)
were made available for download
only in August 2010 by Mood
Media. Also that year Vocalion
issued a sumptuous CD of tracks
from the KPM ‘1000
Series’ of LPs issued
between 1970 and 1976 (‘Time
to Fly’) which included
three of Richardson’s
compositions: ‘Busy
Spectacle’, ‘Jewel of
Evening’, and ‘Fun In
the Sun’ taken from the 1970
LP ‘Open Air’.
A very recent
double CD released in June 2012
by Soul Jazz Records highlights
Richardson’s ‘Guide
Path’, which he wrote for
KPM, just one of 36 instrumental
gems from top artists including
numerous ‘library’
compositions.
Richardson spent
his retirement in Spain where he
died on 8 October 2010 aged 80.
Copyright ©
Gareth Bramley – February
2013
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