December
2019
BBC Genome
has made 1950s Radio Times
magazines
available online for the first
time!
Time to unwrap
your early Christmas gift from
BBC Genome: the full pages of
Radio Times from the 1950s.
In their latest blog, they reminisce
about that distant decade....
The decade that
changed TV - BBC reveals Radio
Times magazines from the 1950s: https://twitter.com/i/status/1208688700567228417
Find the 1950s
Radio Times issues here: https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/issues#decade-1950
October 2019
BBC
NORTHERN IRELAND LIGHT ORCHESTRA
- A NEW DOUBLE CD FROM THE N.D.O
PROJECT
Following their
successful series of recordings
of the BBC Northern Dance
orchestra, Scottish Variety
Orchestra and Midland Radio
Orchestra, the N.D.O Project are
now pleased to present their
latest recording - a double CD of
the erstwhile BBC Northern
Ireland Light Orchestra which
provided light music several
times a week to listeners of the
BBC for over thirty years. Having
been involved in selecting the
tracks, I could be accused of
bias when I say that the 56
tracks on this album, all taken
from vintage radio programmes
such as 'Morning Music' and
'Melody on the Move' probably
represent the finest collection
of tuneful light music that you
are ever likely to encounter on
CD.
This is the music
with which many of us grew up,
good tunes composed by such
talented musicians as George
Melachrino, Sidney Torch, Peter
Yorke, Ron Goodwin and many
others. Most of the conductors
who fronted this orchestra over
the years are represented, in
particular their founder
conductor David Curry, whose
arrangements of Irish traditional
tunes became world famous and are
included on this CD.
Copies are
available by contacting the NDO
project at ndoinfo@virginmedia.com
If you are local
to Manchester, there is normally
1 copy at Johnny Roadhouse's shop
123 Oxford Road,
All Saints,
Manchester
M1 7DU.
Tel 0161 273 1111
to check for stock on all NDO
project CDs
Brian Reynolds
August 2019
The John
Wilson Orchestra - Prom 30: The
Warner Brothers Story
19:30 Friday 9th
August 2019 - Royal Albert Hall
Ten years since
their first Proms appearance
together, John Wilson and the
John Wilson Orchestra present an
evening of sumptuous
technicoloured scores from the
Golden Age of Hollywood
cinema.With music from films
including The Sea Hawk, The
Constant Nymph, Calamity Jane, A
Streetcar Named Desire and Harry
Potter.
TV Broadcast on
BBC Four at 8pm
Broadcast live on
BBC Radio 3 at 7.30pm and
recorded for future broadcast on
BBC Radio 2.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0007dcn
June 2019
Review of
The Aspidistra Drawing Room
Orchestra Concert- Lauderdale
House, Monday 27th May 2019
For enthusiasts of
traditional light music like
myself, there is only one place
to go on the second Bank Holiday
in May, and that's Lauderdale
House in Highgate, North London,
to hear the wonderful Aspidistra
Drawing Room Orchestra recreating
the sounds of a by-gone age - but
somehow making it just as
acceptable to a modern audience
as it was to their forbears.
Indeed, good music can never
'date' - that which was deemed
'good' in its heyday will always
be good; time cannot change that!
Adam Bakker, the
Orchestra's founder and director,
was worried that, because his
computer had 'wiped' their
mailing list and they had been
unable to notify regulars of the
concert, this might result in a
low turnout.
In fact, the
opposite was true as a record
number of people attended, with
many having to stand!
You don't go to an
Aspidistra concert to hear all
your favourite pieces, because
the orchestra make a point of
playing neglected compositions
-often the lesser known numbers
by famous composers, or
Continental items which have
rarely been heard in Britain.
Vocal items are
beautifully executed by Liz
Menezes and Camilla Cutts. Liz,
who has also played second violin
in the orchestra for many years,
has now been promoted to leader -
and what a splendid job she made
of it! The orchestra (despite
being essentially amateur)
sounded professional and as good
as I've ever heard it!
Some of the
better-known items were Charles
Williams' Girls in Grey,
Ernest Tomlinson's Mississippi
Melody, Howard Whitney's Mosquito's
Parade and Cafe Bonheur
by accordionist, Henry Krein.
There was also an intriguing
piece by Julio Cesar Ibanez
called Der Student Geht
Vorbei which I immediately
recognised as Cupid's Army!
It is by no means unusual for
music to be given a different
title when published in another
country.
As usual with
these concerts, time passed very
quickly and we can only look
forward to more of the same next
year.
© Brian Reynolds
2019
June 2019
Doris Day
has passed away at the age of 97
Doris Day [born
April 1922] recently passed away
[May 13th 2019] at the age of 97.
The American
actress, singer and animal
welfare activist, [who had been a
member of The Robert Farnon
Society], was the subject of a fullsome tribute
in Journal into Melody issue
158, March 2004, by Richard
Hindley
In a subsequent
edition [issue 160, September
2004], there was a further news
item regarding an
honour Doris received from the US
President in June of that year.
We are grateful to
Tony Foster for bringing these to
our attention and are very
pleased to reproduce them in our
Articles section - click here!
May 2019
A Hound
and a Horn
An article by
Brian Willey about the history of
'Nipper', the HMV listening dog,
was published in the October 2018
edition of 'Best of British'
magazine and can be found
in the articles section
of this website. It is reproduced
here by kind permission of Brian
Willey.
April 2019
The Farnon
Musical Lineage
An interview with
Thomas Farnon by Dan Adams has
been posted in the articles section
of this website. The article
originally appeared in the Spring
2019 edition of the Light Music
Society Magazine and is
reproduced by kind permission.
February 2019
News from
Iain Sutherland
 Iain Sutherland
has been awarded the Gold Badge
of Merit by the British Academy
of Songwriters, Composers and
Authors for Lifetime Achievement
and his unique contribution to
British music.
He is a Featured
Artist on Classic FM.
Recent recordings
include:-
“Sailing By: 25 British
Light Classics”. Iain
Sutherland Concert Orchestra.
ALC1392. Feb.2019.
“Bernstein: Broadway to
Hollywood”Hannover
Philharmonie. Somm 5002. Aug.
2018.
[see CD review section]
Forthcoming
release May/ June 2019:-
“Love and War”: The
Greatest Classical Album of Film
Music … Ever!”
(Mozart; Walton; Prokofiev;
Korngold; Khachaturian; Williams;
Steiner; Goodwin).
January 2019
Michel
Legrand (1932-2019)
Michel Legrand,
who died on 26th January at the
age of 86, was a prolific
composer of music for over 250
films.
An obituary by
Anthony Wills can be read here and Anthony will
be paying tribute to Michel
Legrand at the next London Light
Music Meetings Group gathering on
Sunday May 5th 2019.
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