CD REVIEW
High Heels
– Favourite Light Classics
Iain Sutherland Concert Orchestra
ALTO ALC 1492
Total playing time
78:45
Released June 2024
This new CD is
especially welcome because –
unlike a few years ago –
there has recently been an almost
total absence of new Light Music
releases, either of restored
material which originally
appeared on '78s', or indeed of
more modern recordings.
The tracks were
laid-down between the years 1983
– 88 and are therefore in
high-quality stereo. They have
been excellently re-mastered for
Alto by our good friend Paul
Arden-Taylor.
Almost all of the
pieces here will be very familiar
to those of us – including
myself – for whom the radio
was a constant companion in 'the
good old days'.
The 'lead' track
is – naturally – High
Heels, by Trevor Duncan.
This was the composer's first big
success way back in the late 40s
/ early 50s, and I well remember
it being very frequently played
on the BBC Light Programme in
those far-off days. I've always
regarded it as being as a sort of
'musical cousin' to David Rose's Holiday
For Strings – which in
fact appears later-on in the
programme. Incidentally, a slight
inaccuracy has crept in to Iain
Sutherland's comprehensive
booklet notes: Trevor Duncan's
real name was in fact Leonard
Charles Trebilco [although
originally Trebilcock].
The next piece is
another from about the same era,
by a composer whose compositions
also regularly graced the
post-WW2 airwaves, Charles
Williams. He seems to have had a
particular fascination for
writing music associated with
transport [e.g. Model Railway,
Trolleybus], but on this
occasion we hear his Rhythm
On Rails. Contrary to
'received wisdom', this was not
in fact used to introduce the
BBC's Morning Music,
although it was often performed
on that programme.
Moving swiftly on,
we have a very generous helping
of seven titles from the pen of
none other than Robert Joseph
Farnon ! Starting with Melody
Fair, the set continues with
Jumping Bean, Peanut
Polka, Colditz March
[TV theme], Derby Day, Portrait
Of A Flirt and finally A
La Claire Fontaine. It is
perhaps difficult to realise in
this day-and-age that these
pieces used to be an ever-present
and wonderful accompaniment to
our daily lives !
The
afore-mentioned Holiday For
Strings by David Rose was
regarded as quite revolutionary
when it was published in 1943 and
once again it enjoyed a
ubiquitous presence on radio
broadcasts for many years. It is
followed by a traditional Spanish
piece, Sabor Flamenco,
in an arrangement by Maestro
Sutherland.
The Irish
Suite by Leroy Anderson
comprises the following
movements:- The Irish
Washerwoman, The
Minstrel Boy, The Rakes
o’Mallow, The
Wearing Of The Green, The
Last Rose Of Summer and
finally The Girl I Left
Behind Me. These are all
traditional Irish tunes, the
spirit of which has been
faithfully captured by Anderson,
notwithstanding that he was
American-born of Swedish parents
!
A complete change
of mood brings us to Mambo
d’Amore by Iain
Sutherland himself, and then a
further David Rose composition, Holiday
For Trombones, almost
certainly written as the sequel
to Holiday for Strings.
Another work
inspired by the Emerald Isle
appears next, The Ring Of
Kerry Suite by Peter Hope,
[who is currently Hon. President
of the Light Music Society]. The
three movements are entitled Jaunting
Car, Lough Leane
and finally Killorglin Fair,
and I venture to suggest that
this is probably the composer's
best-known opus.
The Wright/Forrest
composition Pink Champagne
is heard in a brilliant
arrangement by Wally Stott [later
known as Angela Morley], and the
programme reaches a triumphant
conclusion with Sapphires and
Sables. This is yet another
piece regularly heard on-air, as
it was the signature-tune of its
creator, Peter Yorke, who
conducted his orchestra on
numerous BBC radio broadcasts.
This new release
is a most worthy companion to a
total of four previous Alto CDs
featuring the excellent Iain
Sutherland Concert Orchestra. It
is highly recommended for
inclusion in every serious Light
Music enthusiast's collection.
©
Tony Clayden, June 2024
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