The Golden Age of Light Music: Bright & Breezy

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 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

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Works Details

Dennis, Peter : Bright and Breezy, for pops orchestra

Running Time: 3 min. 5 sec.
Period Time: Modern

Williams, Charles : Theme ("The Jealous Lover") from the film "The Apartment"

Conductor: Billy Vaughn
Running Time: 2 min. 24 sec.
Period Time: Modern
Written: circa 1949

Russell, Bob : Carnival

Conductor: Les Baxter
Notes: This work was written in collaboration with Harry Warren (Composer) (1893 - 1981).
Running Time: 2 min. 46 sec.
Period Time: Modern

Loewe, Frederick : They Call the Wind Maria, song (from "Paint Your Wagon")

Conductor: Robert Farnon
Running Time: 2 min. 19 sec.
Period Time: Modern

Roberts, P. : Ragazza Romanza, for pops orchestra

Conductor: George Melachrino
Running Time: 2 min. 34 sec.
Period Time: Modern

Mawer, Anthony : Painted Carousels, for pops orchestra

Conductor: Phillipo Andez
Running Time: 2 min. 30 sec.
Period Time: Modern

Garner, Erroll : Misty, song

Ensemble: Knightsbridge Strings
Running Time: 3 min. sec.
Period Time: Modern
Written: 1954

Davies, William : Toy Town Trumpeters, for pops orchestra

Conductor: Josef Verlag
Running Time: 2 min. 45 sec.
Period Time: Modern

Johnson, Laurie : Tiger Bay, theme from the film

Conductor: Philip Green
Running Time: 2 min. 58 sec.
Period Time: Modern

Rota, Nino [Composer] : Theme from La Dolce Vita

Performer: Manuel & the Music of the Mountains
Running Time: 2 min. 16 sec.
Period Time: Modern
Written: 1959

Bruhn, Christian : Midi-Midinette, for pops orchestra

Performer: Sir Chauncey
Running Time: 2 min. 41 sec.
Period Time: Modern

Porter, Cole : Jubilee

Conductor: Cyril Ornadel
Running Time: 4 min. 37 sec.
Period Time: Modern

Vignali, D. : E Bello, for pops orchestra

Conductor: George Melachrino
Running Time: 3 min. 4 sec.
Period Time: Modern

Youmans, Vincent : Bambalina, for orchestra

Conductor: Reg Owen
Running Time: 1 min. 54 sec.
Period Time: Modern

Grabmann, Maurice : Kristina, for pops orchestra

Running Time: 2 min. 56 sec.
Period Time: Modern

Farnon, Robert : Sea Shore, for pops orchestra

Performers: Marjan Rawicz (Piano); Walter Landauer (Piano)
Conductor: Angela Morley
Running Time: 3 min. 22 sec.
Period Time: Modern

Slaney, Ivor : Stringendo, for pops orchestra

Conductor: Hugh Granville
Running Time: 1 min. 42 sec.
Period Time: Modern

Charlier, Arthur D. : Place du Tertre, for orchestra

Running Time: 2 min. 44 sec.
Period Time: Modern

Steggerda, Johnny : Dancing Daffodils

Conductor: Guy Luypaerts
Running Time: 2 min. 20 sec.
Period Time: Modern

Watters, Cyril : Up and Coming, for pops orchestra

Running Time: 2 min. 40 sec.
Period Time: Modern

Marquina, Pascual : Spanischer Zigeunertanz (Spanish Gypsy Dance), for orchestra

Conductor: Jacques Leroy
Running Time: 1 min. 44 sec.
Period Time: Modern

Bronislaw Kaper / Walter : San Francisco (Title track for the 1936 film)

Conductor: Carmen Dragon
Running Time: 2 min. 47 sec.
Period Time: Modern
Written: circa 1936

Young, Victor : Sweet Sue (Just You)

Conductor: Jack Hylton
Running Time: 4 min. 11 sec.
Period Time: Modern
Written: 1928

Hugo Alfvén (1872 - 1960) : Summerdance, for orchestra

Conductor: Hugo Alfvén
Running Time: 2 min. 2 sec.
Period Time: Post Romantic

Fischer, Ernst : South of the Alps, suite for orchestra

Conductor: Bruno Seidler-Winkler
Running Time: 13 min. 16 sec.
Period Time: Modern

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