May 2025

Sophisticated Harmony

The lives and music of six great British arrangers

Oliver Lomax
Foreword by Dick Walter

Arrangers were once the backbone of the music business. They were the ones behind the scenes – the archetypal backroom boys – who spent hours in solitude, often working to crushing deadlines, scribbling notes onto score paper which would subsequently be heard in myriad contexts: behind a singer or vocal group; or as an accompaniment to comedians, variety acts, all types of pop group, contestants on gameshows … You name it, and the arrangers had to be able to score it, in any style and for any instrumental combination – for TV, radio, documentaries, films, theatre, records – and it always had to be good and delivered on time. In other words, they had to be completely flexible and utterly professional.

"Arrangers are the people who can transform a single, frequently uninteresting line of music into a glorious, unforgettable, and transformative aural experience," explains the arranger Dick Walter in the Foreword to Sophisticated Harmony, a new book in which Oliver Lomax pays tribute to the arrangers’ art, focusing on six British arrangers who worked on London's thriving music scene of the 1950s, '60s, '70s, and '80s. "They provide all the accompanying material: the rich string chords, the punchy brass figures, the swirling saxophones, the intricate woodwind figures, the interesting contrapuntal lines – and they often change the rudimentary chords initially provided into whatever suitable harmonic material the job calls for."

Each arranger featured here had his own niche. Ronnie Hazlehurst became synonymous with television through his role as the BBC’s Music Advisor to the Light Entertainment Group. So too did Anthony Isaac, though his specialist area was drama. Trevor Bastow and Steve Gray both built up large catalogues of library compositions, while Gray's skill as a big band writer enabled him to pursue a separate career in Europe. After working in the American television industry, Dick Doerschuk came to London where he spent two decades arranging for TV and radio. And major artists on both sides of the Atlantic benefitted from Peter Knight's brilliant orchestrations, among them the Carpenters, Barbra Streisand, and Harry Secombe. Drawing on interviews with their closest family, friends, and colleagues, Oliver Lomax builds up a picture of not only the arrangers themselves, but also the circumstances that shaped their musical development.

Moreover, there is insight into the rigours of writing music for television – especially the BBC's prodigious light entertainment output – as well as radio, documentaries, and recorded music libraries, including interviews with session players, technicians, and producers who were involved in these areas.

This, then, is a vivid account of a fascinating era of music-making, given from the arrangers' perspective – the people who were at the heart of the music business and the wider entertainment industry.

Release date to be advised...

Full information on the Dutton Vocalion website

May 2025

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May 2025

Ronald Corp OBE
1951-2025

It is with great regret that we record the death of Ronald Corp, OBE, who passed away suddenly on May 7th 2025, aged 74.

LLMMG attendees will remember that Ronald was our guest at the meeting in May 2024 and is of particular interest as the creator of a series of six Light Music CDs, four of British and one each of European and American compositions. These were on the Hyperion label, and featured his New London Orchestra, with which he made many other recordings. He specialised in Choral Music and ran two choirs in London.

A prolific composer himself, Ronald was ordained as an Anglican priest in 1999, latterly serving at the Church of St Alban the Martyr In Holborn.

An obituary for Ronald Corp can be found in our Obituaries Section.

Tony Clayden
May 2025

May 2025

New CD from Gavin Sutherland

The new album by GAVIN SUTHERLAND conducting THE FAST TUNES ORCHESTRA and ROYAL BALLET SINFONIA.
Newly recorded at Abbey Road Studios

available from Ebay on CD or Double LP

52 tracks (see Ebay item descriptions for full details)

March 2025

Legends of Light Music

All of the articles in the above category, which appeared on the RFS website over the years, have now been reproduced and posted in the 'Articles' section of the LLMMG website for easy reference.

March 2025

RFS Website

Due to insurmountable technical problems, Geoff Leonard, who has run the website of the former Robert Farnon Society for the last ten years, has been obliged to permanently shut the site down.

I am pleased to inform you that I have been able to acquire the entire set of data files, as a result of invaluable assistance from Jonathan Burns, and with due thanks to Geoff Leonard.

These will now be held as an archive; no further additions will be possible, but they will soon be accessible via the LLMMG website.

Tony Clayden
14/03/2025

March 2025

Robert Walton

It is with great sadness that I have just learned of the death – in Ireland – of Robert Walton, which occurred about six months ago.

Robert had been a stalwart member of the former Robert Farnon Society for many years and – after having retired to the 'Emerald Isle' – he maintained a steady stream of contributions to the RFS website, which were always of great interest.

An obituary can be found in the 'Obituaries' section here.

Tony Clayden
14/03/2025

March 2025

For information about past and upcoming episodes of Friday Night is Music Night on BBC Radio 3 you can follow this link: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001xmxc/episodes/player

It shows previous episodes which are still available for replay via BBC Sounds (for up to 30 days after broadcast).

30th May 2025 at 7.30pm
Paris in the Jazz Age
The BBC Concert Orchestra, live from Alexandra Palace, with violinist and conductor Fiona Monbet, in Gershwin's American in Paris, and clarinettist Giacomo Smith in works by Ellington, Reinhardt and Debussy.
A Friday Night is Music Night featuring French music and jazz from the early years of the 20th century. The orchestra is joined by the effortlessly virtuosic clarinettist Giacomo Smith.
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002cjd3

13th June 2025 at 7.30pm
Opera Gala (repeat)
Soraya Mafi and Nicky Spence join conductor John Andrews and the BBC Concert Orchestra in a gala evening of operatic favourites, recorded in the grounds of Hampshire's West Green Opera in July 2024.
Presented by Petroc Trelawny.
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0025llf

January 2025

Laurie Holloway
(1938-2025)

The composer, pianist and musical director Laurie Holloway has died at the age of 86.

An obituary by Anthony Wills can be found in our Obituaries section, HERE

January 2025

"The History of the Northern Dance Orchestra"

The BBC Northern Dance Orchestra was a big band run by the BBC and formed in 1956 as the successor to the BBC's Northern Variety Orchestra. Known to listeners as the NDO, it broadcast on the radio daily, usually from recordings made at the Playhouse Theatre in Hulme, Manchester, and on many trips to halls throughout the UK.

The NDO project produced for Serenade Radio — 3 x one hour programmes on the NDO and NVO, with contributions from people who knew and worked with the bands, and lots of great music!

Listen here!

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