The Golden Age of Light Music: Strings in Rhythm

• Audio Samples
• Album Summary
• Notes & Reviews
• Also Purchased
• Works Details

Audio Samples

Album Summary

Conductors

• Arlt, Hans-Georg
• Binge, Ronald
• Carroll, David
• Cesana, Otto
• Chacksfield, Frank
• Dragon, Carmen
• Faith, Percy
• Farnon, Robert
• Gleason, Jackie
• Gonzalez, Pepe
• Green, Philip
• Jenkins, Gordon
• Kaempfert, Bert
• Kelly, Monty
• Kostelanetz, Andre
• Love, Geoff
• Martin, Ray
• Melachrino, George
• Mooney, Hal
• Muller, Werner
• Paramor, Norrie
• Riddle, Nelson
• Silvester, Victor
• van der Linden, Dolf
• Weston, Paul
• Yorke, Peter
• Zacharias, Helmut

Ensemble

• 

Composers

• Hal Mooney (1911 - 1995)
• Kay Fitch
• Anonymous, Mexican
• Joe Heyne
• George Gershwin (1898 - 1937)
• Josef Strauss (1827 - 1870)
• James Van Heusen (1913 - 1990)
• Lennie Hayton (1907 - 1971)
• Georges Boulanger (1893 - 1958)
• Dave Dexter, Jr.
• Ernesto Lecuona (Composer) (1895 - 1963)
• J.S. Zamecnik
• Otto Cesana (1899 - 1980)
• Agustín Lara (1897 - 1970)
• Jakob Gade (Composer) (1879 - 1963)
• Cole Porter (1891 - 1964)
• Eros Sciorilli
• Jerome Kern (1885 - 1945)
• Matos Rodriguez (1897 - 1948)
• Franz Lehár (1870 - 1948)
• Eugene Ford
• Ray Martin (1918 - 1988)
• Ralph Rainger (1901 - 1942)
• James Mundell Lowe
• Victor Herbert (1859 - 1924)
• Gordon Jenkins (1910 - 1984)
• Duke Ellington (1899 - 1974)
• Noël Coward (1899 - 1973)

Notes & Reviews:

There is plenty of rhythm on offer in this collection of the Guild Light Music Series, from Latin American dances to quicksteps, slow foxtrots, polkas and other surprises.

Notes & Reviews:

Guild's The Golden Age of Light Music series continues apace with Strings in Rhythm, a survey of mostly Latin and popular material recorded by pop orchestras between 1953-1959 with an emphasis on big string sections. Getting those big string sections to move was quite a challenge, and this disc makes it clear: certain orchestras could do it better than others. For example, the blazing "Habañera" from Victor Herbert's opera Natoma as arranged by Percy Faith lifts right out of its chair and flies out the window. However, nothing here can really be described as "sludgy"; perhaps "sedate" would best describe some of the slower, less uptempo numbers -- annotator and compiler David Ades never scrapes the trough so deeply that the slime comes up. And certain slower numbers can be catchy and ingratiating, such as Hal Mooney's "Cancer," taken from the 1958 album Musical Horoscope, which contained a piece devoted to each sign of the Zodiac. Still, the Latin-themed pieces and those with at least a beat are the ones that catch your ear the most: Monty Kelly's "Neapolitan Nites Mambo" (after J.S. Zamecnik); Frank Chacksfield's jaunty take on the popular Bing Crosby number "Swinging on a Star"; Nelson Riddle's classy rethinking of the old 1927 hit "Rain"; and unexpected, delightful obscurities like German orchestra leader Helmut Zacharias' saucy retrofit of Ernesto Lecuona's tango "Maria La O." Although much of the album grooves at least to some extent and Alan Bunting's transfers of these vintage recordings are first-rate, one should know what one is in for; some of this material was once marketed as "easy listening," and if that doesn't appeal to your taste, then this won't. For anyone else, however, it should prove satisfactory and, in the main, highly entertaining. ~ Uncle Dave Lewis

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Works Details

Herbert, Victor : Natoma :: Habañera

• Conductor: Percy Faith
• Running Time: 2 min. 50 sec.
• Period Time: Post Romantic
• Form: Opera/Operetta
• Written: 1911

Heusen, James Van : Swinging On A Star (used in the film "Going My Way")

• Conductor: Frank Chacksfield
• Running Time: 2 min. 43 sec.
• Period Time: Modern
• Written: circa 1944

Porter, Cole : You do something to me, song (from "Fifty Million Frenchmen")

• Conductor: Victor Silvester
• Running Time: 2 min. 4 sec.
• Period Time: Modern

Jenkins, Gordon : In the Heat of the Day, for pops orchestra

• Conductor: Gordon Jenkins
• Running Time: 2 min. 43 sec.
• Period Time: Modern

Hayton, Lennie : Greenwich Village, for orchestra (for the film Invitation)

• Running Time: 3 min. 30 sec.
• Period Time: Modern

Sciorilli, Eros : La Colpa Fu, for pops orchestra

• Conductor: George Melachrino
• Running Time: 1 min. 48 sec.

Ellington, Duke : In a Sentimental Mood

• Conductor: Philip Green
• Running Time: 3 min. 1 sec.
• Period Time: Modern

Boulanger, Georges : Da Capo

• Conductor: Hans-Georg Arlt
• Running Time: 2 min. 10 sec.
• Period Time: Modern

Kern, Jerome : In Love in Vain, song (from "Centennial Summer")

• Conductor: Paul Weston
• Running Time: 2 min. 51 sec.
• Period Time: Modern

Noël Coward (1899 - 1973) : Poor little rich girl

• Conductor: Peter Yorke
• Running Time: 2 min. 30 sec.
• Period Time: Modern

Dexter, Dave, Jr. : Sunset on the Tiber, for pops orchestra

• Conductor: Norrie Paramor
• Running Time: 2 min. 47 sec.

Rodriguez, Matos : La Cumparsita, for tango orchestra

• Conductor: Carmen Dragon
• Notes: Composition written: 1917.
• Running Time: 5 min. sec.
• Period Time: Post Romantic
• Written: 1917

Mooney, Hal : Cancer, for pops orchestra (from "Musical Horoscope")

• Conductor: Hal Mooney
• Running Time: 3 min. 2 sec.
• Period Time: Modern

Lecuona, Ernesto : Maria la O, zarzuela

• Conductor: Helmut Zacharias
• Notes: This selection is a mono recording.
• Running Time: 2 min. 26 sec.
• Period Time: Modern
• Written: 1929-1930

Franz Lehár (1870 - 1948) : Dein ist mein ganzes Herz (You Are My Heart's Delight) (from "Das Land des Lächelns")

• Conductor: Geoff Love
• Notes: This selection is a mono recording.
• Running Time: 2 min. 59 sec.
• Period Time: Post Romantic
• Form: Vocal

Fitch, Kay : I Love You Sweetheart Of All My Dreams

• Conductor: Ronald Binge
• Notes: This selection is a mono recording.
• Running Time: 2 min. 30 sec.

Zamecnik, J.S. : Neapolitan Nites Mambo, for pops orchestra

• Conductor: Monty Kelly
• Notes: This selection is a mono recording.
• Running Time: 3 min. 10 sec.
• Period Time: Modern

Ford, Eugene : Rain

• Conductor: Nelson Riddle
• Notes: This selection is a mono recording.
• Running Time: 2 min. 28 sec.

Anonymous, Mexican : La Cucaracha

• Conductor: Pepe Gonzalez
• Notes: This selection is a mono recording.
• Running Time: 1 min. 53 sec.
• Period Time: Baroque

Cesana, Otto : Let's Beguine, for pops orchestra

• Conductor: Otto Cesana
• Notes: This selection is a mono recording.
• Running Time: 2 min. 39 sec.
• Period Time: Modern

Martin, Ray : Tango of Regret, for pops orchestra

• Conductor: Ray Martin
• Notes: This selection is a mono recording.
• Running Time: 2 min. 11 sec.
• Period Time: Modern

Heyne, Joe : La Petite Gavotte, for pops orchestra

• Conductor: Dolf van der Linden
• Notes: This selection is a mono recording.
• Running Time: 2 min. 40 sec.
• Period Time: Modern

Agustín Lara (1897 - 1970) : El Horizonte, for pops orchestra

• Conductor: Bert Kaempfert
• Notes: This selection is a mono recording.
• Running Time: 2 min. 47 sec.
• Period Time: Modern

Rainger, Ralph : I Wished On The Moon

• Conductor: Jackie Gleason
• Notes: This selection is a mono recording.
• Running Time: 3 min. 5 sec.
• Period Time: Modern

Gershwin, George : Girl Crazy

• Conductor: André Kostelanetz
• Notes: This selection is a mono recording.
• Running Time: 2 min. 55 sec.
• Period Time: Modern
• Written: 1930

Gade, Jakob : Glamour, tango for pops orchestra

• Conductor: Werner Muller
• Notes: This selection is a mono recording.
• Running Time: 3 min. 52 sec.
• Period Time: Modern

Lowe, James Mundell : Sugar Loaf, song

• Conductor: David Carroll
• Notes: This selection is a mono recording.
• Running Time: 2 min. 13 sec.
• Form: Vocal

Strauss, Josef : Feuerfest, Op. 269

• Conductor: Robert Farnon
• Running Time: 2 min. 52 sec.
• Period Time: Romantic
• Written: 1870