The Golden Age of Light Music: Orchestral Gems in Stereo

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

Audio Samples

Album Summary

Conductors

• Arlt, Hans-Georg
• Barker, Warren
• Baxter, Les
• Binge, Ronald
• Bregman, Buddy
• Cugat, Xavier
• De Vol, Frank
• Dragon, Carmen
• Faith, Percy
• Farnon, Dennis
• Green, Philip
• Jenkins, Gordon
• Jones, Leslie
• Mancini, Henry
• Melachrino, George
• Mooney, Hal
• Morely, Angela
• Riddle, Nelson
• Rose, David
• Salinger, Conrad
• Silvester, Victor
• Trotter, John Scott
• Weston, Paul
• Yorke, Peter

Ensembles

• 
• 101 Strings Orchestra
• Victor Silvester & His Silver Strings

Composers

• Nicholas Roubanis
• Einar Aaron Swan
• Noël Coward (1899 - 1973)
• Hal Mooney (1911 - 1995)
• Henry Mancini (1924 - 1994)
• Max Steiner (Composer) (1888 - 1971)
• Tolchard Evans (1901 - 1978)
• Charles Trénet (1913 - 2001)
• Robert Farnon (Composer/Conductor) (1917 - 2005)
• Ivor Novello (1893 - 1951)
• R. Sylviano
• Ernesto Lecuona (Composer) (1895 - 1963)
• Billy Mayerl (1902 - 1959)
• Dave Dreyer
• Emmanuel Chabrier (1841 - 1894)
• Jerome Kern (1885 - 1945)
• Les Baxter (1922 - 1996)
• Fats Waller (1904 - 1943)
• Cole Porter (1891 - 1964)
• David Rose (1910 - 1990)
• Nelson Riddle (1921 - 1985)
• Jay Livingston (1915 - 2001)
• Diego Calcagno
• Jule Styne (1905 - 1994)
• Harry Warren (Composer) (1893 - 1981)

Notes & Reviews:

This latest Guild CD in The Golden Age of Light Music Series attempts to recreate the excitement felt by record collectors around 50 years ago as they scanned the lists of new releases to see what new "Orchestral Gems in Stereo" were being offered by their favorite conductors.

Notes & Reviews:

Ahh, the glory of stereo -- it is so difficult to impart what a difference it made when it first became generally available on records in 1958; for audio nuts, it was a dream come true, whereas for the common listener, stereo was a little slower to catch on. Of course, many decades have gone by since, and no record company in their right mind would issue something new in mono, and when they did stop mentioning that a given album was in stereo, it had become the accepted standard. Guild's The Golden Age of Light Music series issue Orchestral Gems in Stereo hearkens back to that first blush when stereo was available for the first time, and the recordings included reflect such infatuation; the horns in Paul Weston's take on Jerome Kern's "She Didn't Say Yes" are on the opposite side of the stage from the strings, certainly not the way it would be in reality, but this is a reality created expressly for stereo. Not all of the selections sparkle; Warren Barker's "Just a Kiss Apart" is trapped in the maudlin sludge of the smarmy side of the easy listening genre like a pachyderm sinking in the La Brea tar pits, and the future Angela Morley's (née Wally Stott) rendering of Fats Waller's "Chelsea" is led by dreamy trumpet and is as lush as extra thick carpeting. But certain other pieces -- and there are 25 of them here -- are quite commendable; while John Scott Trotter's version of "Misirlou" will probably never rock you like Dick Dale's, it's still plenty spicy, and the little trails of melodic weirdness in Les Baxter's "Shooting Star" well succeeds in lifting the piece out of the category of the merely ordinary. With a little patience and some measure of understanding of the light music genre, Guild's The Golden Age of Light Music: Orchestral Gems in Stereo should deliver some thrills and entertainment, even if you find yourself moving it forward a track or two at some point during the program.

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Also Purchased

Works Details

Evans, Tolchard : Lady of Spain (Linda española)

• Conductor: Carmen Dragon
• Running Time: 3 min. 48 sec.
• Period Time: Modern
• Written: 1931

Kern, Jerome : She Didn't Say Yes, song (from "The Cat and the Fiddle")

• Conductor: Paul Weston
• Running Time: 2 min. 25 sec.
• Period Time: Modern

Styne, Jule : Gentlemen Prefer Blondes :: Just A Kiss Apart

• Conductor: Warren Barker
• Running Time: 3 min. 9 sec.
• Period Time: Modern
• Written: 1949

Charles Trénet (1913 - 2001) : La Mer (Beyond the Sea)

• Conductor: Xavier Cugat
• Running Time: 2 min. 57 sec.
• Period Time: Modern
• Written: circa 1946

Baxter, Les : Shooting Star, for orchestra

• Conductor: Les Baxter
• Running Time: 1 min. 56 sec.
• Period Time: Modern

Warren, Harry : Our Love Affair (written for An Affair To Remember, 1957)

• Conductor: Conrad Salinger
• Running Time: 3 min. 3 sec.
• Period Time: Modern

Farnon, Robert : Mr. Punch, for orchestra

• Conductor: Leslie Jones
• Running Time: 2 min. 39 sec.
• Period Time: Modern

Waller, Fats : Chelsea, for jazz ensemble

• Conductor: Angela Morely
• Running Time: 3 min. 41 sec.
• Period Time: Modern

Roubanis, Nicholas : Misirlou, song (for the film Pulp Fiction)

• Conductor: John Trotter
• Running Time: 2 min. 49 sec.

Novello, Ivor : Glamorous Night, for orchestra

• Conductor: Peter Yorke
• Running Time: 2 min. 24 sec.
• Period Time: Modern

Porter, Cole : After you, who?, song (from "Gay Divorce")

• Conductor: Victor Silvester
• Ensemble: Victor Silvester & His Silver Strings
• Running Time: 2 min. 13 sec.
• Period Time: Modern

Swan, Einar Aaron : When your lover has gone

• Conductor: Gordon Jenkins
• Running Time: 2 min. 31 sec.
• Period Time: Modern

Sylviano, R. : Le Premier Rendezvous

• Conductor: Hans-Georg Arlt
• Running Time: 2 min. 21 sec.
• Period Time: Modern

Rose, David : Majorca, for orchestra

• Conductor: David Rose
• Running Time: 7 min. 13 sec.
• Period Time: Modern

Noël Coward (1899 - 1973) : I'll Follow My Secret Heart, song (from "Conversation Piece")

• Conductor: Philip Green
• Running Time: 3 min. 23 sec.
• Period Time: Modern

Lecuona, Ernesto : Damisela encantadora, song for voice & piano (or orchestra)

• Conductor: Percy Faith
• Running Time: 2 min. 35 sec.
• Period Time: Modern

Riddle, Nelson : Sea of Dreams, for orchestra

• Conductor: Nelson Riddle
• Running Time: 2 min. 39 sec.
• Period Time: Modern

Mooney, Hal : Dreamland USA, for orchestra

• Conductor: Hal Mooney
• Running Time: 2 min. 51 sec.
• Period Time: Modern

Mayerl, Billy : Marigold, a syncopated impression for piano

• Conductor: Ronald Binge
• Running Time: 2 min. 40 sec.
• Period Time: Modern
• Written: 1927

Livingston, Jay : Que será, será, song

• Conductor: Frank De Vol
• Running Time: 2 min. 40 sec.
• Period Time: Modern

Mancini, Henry : Mostly For Lovers, for orchestra

• Conductor: Henry Mancini
• Running Time: 3 min. 4 sec.
• Period Time: Modern

Dreyer, Dave : Cecelia, for orchestra

• Conductor: Dennis Farnon
• Notes: This work was written in collaboration with Herman Ruby.
• Running Time: 2 min. 48 sec.

Calcagno, Diego : La vita e'un Paradiso di Bugie, song

• Conductor: George Melachrino
• Running Time: 3 min. 6 sec.

Steiner, Max [Composer] : A Summer Place :: Theme

• Conductor: Percy Faith
• Running Time: 2 min. 18 sec.
• Period Time: Modern
• Form: Film Score
• Written: 1959

Chabrier, Emmanuel : España, rhapsody for orchestra (also vers. for 2 pianos)

• Ensemble: 101 Strings Orchestra
• Notes: Composition written: 1883.
• Running Time: 6 min. 51 sec.
• Period Time: Post Romantic
• Written: 1883