The Golden Age of Light Music: The 1930s Revisited

by 1930S REVISITED 3 / VARIOUS

Overview

The Guild label's sizable Golden Age of Light Music series covers the genre known as easy listening music in North America. Many of its releases have been organized thematically and have focused on the music's heyday in the 1940s and 1950s, when it evolved in tandem with sound recording technology. But this disc looks back to the origins of the genre and defines the contents by time period rather than them; the music actually goes back as far as 1927 in the case of Dancing Tambourine, by Jack Hylton and His Orchestra. Guild has already issued a couple of 1930s albums in the series, and this one is the equal of those. If you're looking for an introduction to easy listening music, you might do well to select one of the label's more general anthologies (such as the two volumes of Four Decades of Light Music). Those already immersed in the genre will find several gems in this nicely remastered set, however. Despite the later identification of easy listening with American and Canadian artists, the genre's origins were European, and most of the orchestras represented are British, with a few Continental groups. The sole American orchestra, that of Andre Kostelanetz, offers a small gem: Swamp Fire displays the daring arranging style of composer Hal Mooney later put at the service of singers like Sarah Vaughan. Many of the British pieces make the connections between easy listening and classical music especially clear; at this early stage, what made something "light music" was often short duration rather than musical language, and the "Entrance of the Little Fauns," a French composition rendered by Jack Payne and His BBC Dance Orchestra, offers watered-down Impressionism. Another highlight is the finale, with German composer Eduard Kuenneke conducting his own "Foxtrot" with no less an ensemble than the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. As David Ades points out in his notes, it was surprising that Kuenneke could command such an august group, doubly so considering the 1938 date, by which time American music in general and music with any hint of African-American rhythm in particular were both being strongly discouraged by the Nazi regime. But that just goes to show how pervasive this music was, even in the 1930s, and Guild deserves major credit for rescuing these pieces from the archives.~James Manheim

Product Details

Release Date:	02/09/2010
Label:	Guild / Guild Light Music
UPC:	0795754516326
Rank:	138295

Tracks

1. The Merrymakers - Miniature Overture  - David Ades  - Eric Coates  - Kenneth Grant  -  London Symphony Orchestra
2. Fancy Dress - Suite~Hurly Burly  - David Ades  - Cecil Armstrong Gibbs  - Kenneth Grant  - William Hodgson  -  Regent Concert Orchestra
3. Fancy Dress - Suite~Dusk  - David Ades  - Cecil Armstrong Gibbs  - Kenneth Grant  - William Hodgson  -  Regent Concert Orchestra
4. Fancy Dress - Suite~Pageantry  - David Ades  - Cecil Armstrong Gibbs  - Kenneth Grant  - William Hodgson  -  Regent Concert Orchestra
5. Cydalise et la ch¿¿vre-pied - Ballet~Entance of the Little Fauns  - David Ades  -  BBC Dance Orchestra  - Kenneth Grant  - Henri Mouton  - Jack Payne  - Gabriel Pierne
6. Smoke Gets in Your Eyes  - David Ades  - Kenneth Grant  - Jerome Kern  - Louis Levy  -  Levy  - Peter Yorke
7. Music in the Air~Selection  - David Ades  - Kenneth Grant  - Jerome Kern  -  New Mayfair Orchestra  - Ray Noble
8. The Liberators - March  - David Ades  - Charles Ancliffe  - Jack Frere  - Kenneth Grant  -  London Palladium Orchestra
9. Hearts and Flowers  - David Ades  - Kenneth Grant  -  J.H. Squire Celeste Octet  - Theodore Moses Tobani  - Clarence Willoughby
10. Forest Idyll  - David Ades  -  Esslinger  - Kenneth Grant  - Marek Weber  -  Weber
11. Windjammer Overture  - David Ades  - John Ansell  - Kenneth Grant  - William Hodgson  -  Regent Concert Orchestra
12. Dancing Tambourine  - David Ades  - Kenneth Grant  - Jack Hylton  -  Hylton  - William C. Polla
13. Swamp Fire  - David Ades  - Kenneth Grant  - Andre Kostelanetz  -  Kostelanetz  - Harold Mooney
14. Escapada  - David Ades  -  Ambrose  -  Ambrose Orchestra  - Kenneth Grant  - Sid Phillips
15. Knave of Diamonds  - David Ades  -  Commodore Grand Orchestra  - Kenneth Grant  - Louis Mordish  - Joseph Muscant  - Henry Steele
16. Irving Berlin Waltz Medley  - David Ades  - Irving Berlin  -  Coventry Hippodrome Orchestra  - Kenneth Grant  - Charles Shadwell
17. Cupid's Parade - Fantasy  - David Ades  - Kenneth Grant  -  Little Salon Orchestra  - P. Rivelli
18. Court Ball Dances (Hofball-T¿¿nze)  - David Ades  - Kenneth Grant  - Joseph Lanner  -  Orchestra Mascotte
19. Glamorous Night~Selection  - David Ades  -  Drury Lane Theatre Orchestra  - Kenneth Grant  - Ivor Novello  - Charles Prentice
20. Fata Morgana  - David Ades  - Kenneth Grant  - Carl Robrecht  -  Voss
21. Dance Suite~Finale - Foxtrot  - David Ades  -  Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra  - Kenneth Grant  - Eduard Kunneke

Album Credits

Performance Credits

The Little Salon Orchestra   Orchestra
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra   Orchestra
Ray Noble   Conductor
Andre Kostelanetz Orchestra   Orchestra
Eduard Kuenneke   Conductor
London Palladium Orchestra   Orchestra
Joseph Muscant   Conductor
Louis Mordish   Piano
Commodore Grand Orchestra   Orchestra
Louis Levy's Theatre Orchestra   Orchestra
Coventry Hippodrome Orchestra   Orchestra
William Hodgson   Conductor
J.H. Squire Celeste Octet   Ensemble
Charles Shadwell   Conductor
Jack Frere   Conductor
Regent Concert Orchestra   Orchestra
Ambrose Orchestra   Orchestra
Louis Voss Grand Orchestra   Orchestra
Marek Weber Orchestra   Orchestra
Orchestra Mascotte   Orchestra
New Mayfair Orchestra   Orchestra
London Symphony Orchestra   Orchestra
Louis Levy   Conductor
Ambrose   Conductor
Andre Kostelanetz   Conductor
Jack Hylton & His Orchestra   Orchestra
Marek Weber   Conductor
Eric Coates   Conductor
The BBC Dance Orchestra   Orchestra
Jack Hylton   Conductor
Jack Payne   Conductor
Drury Lane Theatre Orchestra   Orchestra
Charles Prentice   Conductor

Technical Credits

Sid Phillips   Composer
Harold Mooney   Composer
John Ansell   Composer
Charles Ancliffe   Composer
Gabriel Pierne   Composer
Cecil Armstrong Gibbs   Composer
Eduard Kuenneke   Composer
William C. Polla   Composer
Carl Robrecht   Composer
Kenneth Grant   Cover Painting
Charles Shadwell   Composer
Joseph Lanner   Composer
Henri Mouton   Arranger
Theodore Moses Tobani   Composer
Clarence Willoughby   Arranger
Esslinger   Composer
Henry Steele   Composer
Peter Yorke   Arranger
David Ades   Liner Notes
P. Rivelli   Composer
Ivor Novello   Composer
Eric Coates   Composer
Irving Berlin   Original Material
Charles Prentice   Arranger
Jerome Kern   Composer