Notes and Editorial Reviews
BRITISH LIGHT MUSIC PREMIERES
•
Gavin Sutherland, cond; Paul Murphy, cond;
1
Royal Ballet Snf
•
DUTTON
7170 (76:40)
TOMLINSON
Rhythmic Overture,
“Highway to the Sun.”
Lakeside Idyll. Heart’s Awakening.
HELY-HUTCHINSON
Overture to a Pantomime.
1
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PARKER
Elizabethan Express.
1
LORD
Court Dances. Celtic Suite.
HEDGES
West Oxford Walks.
MARTELLI
Celebration Day.
LANGLEY
Ballet Suite
From the very opening measures of Ernest Tomlinson’s galvanizing
Rhythmic Overture
(really a kind of miniature tone poem depicting a fast Italian auto trip), we are launched on a resilient and iridescent cloud of unmitigated auditory joy. Listening to this truly blockbuster piece, there can be no doubt that Tomlinson (b. 1924) is now the reigning dean of British light music. His abundant “Highway to the Sun” testifies to both his thematic serendipity as well as his mastery of orchestral color. It is followed by two shorter but no less inspired works—the intuitive and evocative
Lakeside Idyll
and the lovely romantic
Heart’s Awakening
, an excerpt from his one-act opera “Head of the Family.” While the now-legendary Robert Farnon (1917–2005) kept one foot firmly planted in the world of commercial pop and jazz, one can discern in Tomlinson’s output his ultra-sophisticated and wide-ranging awareness of 20th-century music in all its many forms. Would that someday we might have recordings of his two symphonies, both written in the l960s.
This third volume of British Light Music Premieres lives up to its promise of “discovery” by offering two splendid suites by a pupil of Tomlinson’s, Phillip Lord (1930–1969), here making his first appearance on disc. And what an exceptional talent was cut off at such a tragically early age! Both the three
Court Dances
and
Celtic Suite
draw upon that great civilized tradition stretching from Sullivan and German through Haydn Wood and Montague Phillips and eventually on to Tomlinson himself to give us prime examples of that echt-British brand of elegant and expressive light concert music.
All the other composers selected for this program are shown at the peak of their capacities: the delicately scored
Overture to a Pantomime
by the South African Victor Hely-Hutchinson (1901–1947), best known as the composer of the perennial
Carol Symphony
; film composer Clifton Parker (1905–1989), whose spirited
Elizabethan Express
is adapted by producer Philip Lane from one of Parker’s scores for a British National Railways documentary; Anthony Hedges (b. 1931) is represented by the slyly jazzy little suite,
West Oxford Walks
, expanded from its original string-quartet setting; horror-film composer Carlo Martelli’s momentous
Celebration Day
overture; and an utterly beguiling
Ballet Suite
by BBC producer James Langley (1927–1994), which is chockfull of appealingly paradigmatic ideas.
This most generous and consistently distinguished collection is tossed off by the Royal Ballet Sinfonia with their customary spontaneity and panache.
An essential “light” release.
FANFARE: Paul A. Snook
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Works on This Recording
1.
Rhythmic Overture "Highway to the Sun" by Ernest Tomlinson
Conductor:
Gavin Sutherland
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Royal Ballet Sinfonia
Period: 20th Century
Written: England
2.
Lakeside Idyll by Ernest Tomlinson
Conductor:
Gavin Sutherland
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Royal Ballet Sinfonia
Period: 20th Century
Written: England
3.
Heart's Awakening by Ernest Tomlinson
Conductor:
Gavin Sutherland
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Royal Ballet Sinfonia
Period: 20th Century
Written: England
4.
Overture to a Pantomime by Victor Hely-Hutchinson
Conductor:
Paul Murphy
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Royal Ballet Sinfonia
Period: 20th Century
Written: England
5.
Elizabethan Express by Clifton Parker
Conductor:
Paul Murphy
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Royal Ballet Sinfonia
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1954; England
Notes: Arranger: Philip Lane.
6.
Court Dances by Phillip Lord
Conductor:
Gavin Sutherland
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Royal Ballet Sinfonia
Period: 20th Century
Written: England
7.
Celtic Suite by Phillip Lord
Conductor:
Gavin Sutherland
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Royal Ballet Sinfonia
8.
West Oxford Walks by Anthony Hedges
Conductor:
Gavin Sutherland
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Royal Ballet Sinfonia
Period: 20th Century
Written: England
9.
Celebration Day by Carlo Martelli
Conductor:
Gavin Sutherland
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Royal Ballet Sinfonia
Period: 20th Century
Written: England
10.
Ballet Suite by James W. Langley
Conductor:
Gavin Sutherland
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Royal Ballet Sinfonia
Period: 20th Century
Written: England
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