Notes and Editorial Reviews
Bright and Breezy is an installment in the Guild label's exhaustive survey of the genre known as light music in Britain and (since the 1960s) easy listening in North America. The Guild series is a superb accomplishment, combining research, musical sensitivity, and engineering skills in the service of an almost-forgotten genre. The roots of easy listening music lay in the incidental music played by hotel, cafe, and cinema orchestras in the first few decades of the 20th century, and the genre lasted well into the 1970s as the careers of such figures as Percy Faith, Mantovani, and André Kostelanetz neared their ends. Except for two 1930s recordings, which are interesting but don't quite fit with the rest of the music, the pieces on
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Bright and Breezy all date from between 1957 and 1960. The collection is somewhat random, and they're certainly not all bright and breezy. This is the period in which the style entered a somewhat extreme phase as it attempted to compete with the carnality of rock & roll, and unusual orchestral effects were the order of the day. Sample the contribution by the Starlight Symphony under British conductor Cyril Ornadel (who lived until 2011); his version of Begin the Beguine, track 12, with its multiple instrumental layers arising out of the opening Latin percussion, would have been well known to American audiences. Latin influences appear in several pieces, and cinematic styles are heard in many more, such as the Melachrino Orchestra's Ragazza Romana (track 5). One attraction of this disc is the inclusion of several groups from non-English-speaking countries, such as the Brussels New Concert Orchestra (represented twice) and the miniature light-music symphony at the end by Ernst Fischer, played by a German group conducted by Bruno Seidler-Winkler. This may not be the ideal place to start with Guild's series (shoot for A First A-Z of Light Music, or one of the 1940s or 1950s collections), but the already converted will find many pleasures here.
- James Manheim,
All Music Guide
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Works on This Recording
1.
Bright and Breezy, for pops orchestra by Peter Dennis
Period: Modern
Length: 3 Minutes 5 Secs.
2.
Theme ("The Jealous Lover") from the film "The Apartment" by Charles Williams
Conductor:
Billy Vaughn
Period: Modern
Written: circa 1949
Length: 2 Minutes 24 Secs.
3.
Carnival by Bob Russell
Conductor:
Les Baxter
Period: Modern
Length: 2 Minutes 46 Secs.
4.
Paint Your Wagon: They Call the Wind Maria by Frederick Loewe
Conductor:
Robert Farnon
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1951; USA
Length: 2 Minutes 19 Secs.
5.
Ragazza Romanza, for pops orchestra by P. Roberts
Conductor:
George Melachrino
Period: Modern
Length: 2 Minutes 34 Secs.
6.
Painted Carousels, for pops orchestra by Anthony Mawer
Conductor:
Phillipo Andez
Period: Modern
Length: 2 Minutes 30 Secs.
7.
Misty, song by Erroll Garner
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Knightsbridge Strings
Period: Modern
Written: 1954; United States of Ame
Length: 3 Minutes 0 Secs.
8.
Toy Town Trumpeters, for pops orchestra by William Davies
Conductor:
Josef Weinberger Verlag
Period: Modern
Length: 2 Minutes 45 Secs.
9.
Tiger Bay, theme from the film by Laurie Johnson
Conductor:
Philip Green
Period: Modern
Length: 2 Minutes 58 Secs.
10.
Midi-Midinette, for pops orchestra by Christian Bruhn
Performer:
Sir Chauncey ()
Period: Modern
Length: 2 Minutes 41 Secs.
11.
Jubilee: Begin the beguine by Cole Porter
Conductor:
Cyril Ornadel
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1935; USA
Length: 4 Minutes 37 Secs.
12.
E Bello, for pops orchestra by D. Vignali
Conductor:
George Melachrino
Period: Modern
Length: 3 Minutes 4 Secs.
13.
Bambalina, for orchestra by Vincent Youmans
Conductor:
Reg Owen
Period: Modern
Length: 1 Minutes 54 Secs.
14.
Kristina, for pops orchestra by Maurice Grabmann
Period: Modern
Length: 2 Minutes 56 Secs.
15.
Sea Shore, for pops orchestra by Robert Farnon
Performer:
Walter Landauer (Piano),
Marjan Rawicz (Piano)
Conductor:
Angela Morley
Period: Modern
Length: 3 Minutes 22 Secs.
16.
Stringendo, for pops orchestra by Ivor Slaney
Conductor:
Hugh Granville
Period: Modern
Length: 1 Minutes 42 Secs.
17.
Place du Tertre, for orchestra by Arthur D. Charlier
Period: Modern
Length: 2 Minutes 44 Secs.
18.
Dancing Daffodils by Johnny Steggerda
Conductor:
Guy Luypaerts
Period: Modern
Length: 2 Minutes 20 Secs.
19.
Up and Coming, for pops orchestra by Cyril Watters
Period: Modern
Length: 2 Minutes 40 Secs.
20.
Spanischer Zigeunertanz (Spanish Gypsy Dance), for orchestra by Pascual Marquina
Conductor:
Jacques Leroy
Period: Modern
Written: Spain
Length: 1 Minutes 44 Secs.
21.
San Francisco (Title track for the 1936 film) by Bronislaw Kaper / Walter
Conductor:
Carmen Dragon
Period: Modern
Written: circa 1936
Length: 2 Minutes 47 Secs.
22.
Sweet Sue (Just You) by Victor Young
Conductor:
Jack Hylton
Period: Modern
Written: 1928
Length: 4 Minutes 11 Secs.
23.
Summerdance, for orchestra by Hugo Alfvén
Conductor:
Hugo Alfvén
Period: Modern
Length: 2 Minutes 2 Secs.
24.
South of the Alps, suite for orchestra by Ernst Fischer
Conductor:
Bruno Seidler-Winkler
Period: Modern
Length: 13 Minutes 16 Secs.
25.
Theme from La Dolce Vita by Nino Rota
Performer:
Manuel & the Music of the Mountains ()
Period: Contemporary
Written: 1959
Length: 2 Minutes 16 Secs.
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