Wallace Southam - Songs of a Sunday Composer

Not long ago I presented a recording of English songs by tenor Wilfred Brown on the small Jupiter label. The record was issued by the part-time composer T. Wallace Southam, and included a few of his own works. This post came through the generosity of reader David Leonard, who knew Southam.

David has now graciously provided the even more obscure Songs of a Sunday Composer. The LP is entirely devoted to Southam's songs, composed both in jazz and classical styles. It was issued in 1969 on Turret Records, which was an imprint of London's Turret Book Shop, operated by poet Bernard Stone.

True, Southam was considered an amateur composer, or "Sunday composer," as he termed it. Nonetheless, he was a serious artist who had a gift for setting verse. His works were published by large firms, and are here performed by some of the most noted artists of the time.

The surprise of the record, at least to me, was the accomplished jazz settings. They are performed by well-known English musicians, and sung by Belle Gonzales, a fine vocalist whose name was new to me. She was active in the London cabarets of the time. Leonard Salzedo, better known for classical and film scores, arranged two of these numbers.

The other singers represented are baritones John Barrow and Bryan Drake, and soprano Noelle Barker. All had been members of Britten's English Opera Group; Drake was closely associated with the composer. Barker in particular was noted for her devotion to new music.

Thanks once again to David for offering this rare recording to all of us.

Robert Tear in Songs by Vaughan Williams, Elgar and Butterworth

This recording dates from 1979,  somewhat later than my usual time frame. I transferred it for another forum; in the end it wasn't needed there, but I thought it might be of interest to some here.

Robert Tear
by William Bowyer (1986)

I remember being very excited to acquire the LP when it came out. It was the first recording of a favorite work, Vaughan Williams's "On Wenlock Edge," with orchestral accompaniment in place of the usual piano and string quartet. It also included Elgar and Butterworth songs that had not been recorded before. And it featured an artist I much admire, tenor Robert Tear. I wrote about Tear soon after his death in 2011.

Even so, I must admit that this is not one of his best records. I felt that way nearly 40 years ago and my recent audition has confirmed that belief. Tear adopts a declamatory approach to the Vaughan Williams songs. This probably was because of the orchestral accompaniment replaced the usual chamber ensemble. But the inward Housman settings in particular don't benefit from this extrovert manner.

You may disagree with this assessment, of course. Trevor Harvey in The Gramophone thought that Tear "quite rightly brings out its [i.e., the orchestration's] more dramatic quality." (The download includes the review along with EMI's advertisement from the same issue.)

Harvey also was impressed by the Butterworth settings of W.E. Henley, and by some of the Elgar works. He liked Elgar's settings of his own words that were based on Eastern European folk songs,  but was less taken by the composer's settings of Sir Gilbert Parker's poems. All of these are well handled by Tear.

Vernon Handley

The orchestral accompaniments are beautifully done by the City of Birmingham Symphony, conducted by Vernon Handley, an English music specialist. The late analogue recording is fairly good, although the upper strings can be a bit glassy.

Oddly, Tear re-recorded the Vaughan Williams about three years later with the same orchestra and Simon Rattle. Presumably this was to replace the analogue recording with the new digital variety. EMI has reissued the Rattle version more than once, but the Handley recording not at all.

"On Wenlock Edge" in its piano and string quartet guise has appeared here twice before: the first recording with Gervase Elwes (the work's dedicatee), pianist Frederick Kiddle and the London String Quartet; and in a 1953 effort by Alexander Young, pianist Gordon Watson and the Sebastian String Quartet. Both are excellent.

Howard Swanson and David Diamond

Here is an early 10-inch LP in the American Recording Society (ARS) series mainly devoted to contemporary composers. It presents the first recordings of important works by Howard Swanson (1907-78) and David Diamond (1915-2005), both introduced by Dimitri Mitropoulos.

Swanson's Short Symphony, composed in 1948, was premiered by Mitropoulos with the New York Philharmonic in 1950. Here, the attractive work is performed by an orchestra directed by Dean Dixon. It is likely one of the Viennese ensembles that were busy in the recording studios throughout the 1950s.

Whatever their identity, the orchestra plays well for Dixon, particularly in the beautiful slow movement.

Howard Swanson

This circa 1952 recording was quickly succeeded by a Vanguard LP with Vienna State Opera Orchestra under Franz Litschauer, a reading I have not heard.

ARS followed up on this Swanson composition with another LP that included his Seven Songs, along with works by Roger Goeb and Ben Weber. I have that album and will transfer it later, along with a recording of Swanson's "Night Music" conducted by Mitropoulos.

David Diamond, 1955

David Diamond's Rounds for String Orchestra is possibly his best known work, commissioned by Mitropoulos when the conductor was still in his 20s. The ARS recording is, I believe, its first, and would be soon be joined by competing versions led by Vladimir Golschmann and Izler Solomon. The ARS recording is conducted by the underrated Walter Hendl, leading what is likely another Viennese orchestra.

The music is fascinating, with the formal structure providing ample opportunity for both extraordinary lyricism and exhilarating orchestral virtuosity.

The sound is very good. [Note (June 2023): this recording has been newly enhanced by ambient stereo.]

Two 'Harlow' Scores, from Hefti and Riddle

Screen siren Jean Harlow had been dead for nearly three decades when Hollywood suddenly decided that her story was so compelling it demanded two separate "Harlow" biopics, which reached theaters about a month apart in 1965.

Neither film was very successful, although the second and glossier version, with Carroll Baker in the lead, fared better with critics than the quickie that cast Carol Lynley as the ill-fated star.

Fortunately for us, the separate producers (who reputedly hated one another) saw fit to engage two of the best musicians then working, Neal Hefti and Nelson Riddle, to handle the scores. Today's post provides the resulting soundtrack LPs. Both are highly enjoyable.

Lobby card

Hefti helmed the Carroll Baker film, producing a characteristic score that does not attempt in any way to capture the musical styles of the 30s, at least in the cuts heard here. The LP goes so far as to include 60s-esque tunes titled "Carroll Baker A-Go-Go," with prominent electric guitar and organ, and "Lonely Girl Bossa Waltz."

But then, the LP is labelled "Music from the Score of the Motion Picture," so what we hear on the record may be at some distance from what moviegoers experienced. For example, Bobby Vinton sang the theme song over the titles, where here on the album it is handled by a chorus. The lyrics were by Livingston and Evans, a fact only mentioned on the label. Side note: Burt Bacharach and Hal David wrote two songs for the picture, "Harlow" and "Say Goodbye," which weren't used.

The best known tune on the record is "Girl Talk," which achieved some renown as a pop song after acquiring Bobby Troup's notoriously sexist lyrics. The LP version is instrumental, so as a bonus I have added Tony Bennett's superb rendition, also arranged and conducted by Hefti. Here, as elsewhere in the score, the composer achieves memorable results from simple, repetitive riffs.

Lobby card

Nelson Riddle had no such pop success with his competing score for the Carol Lynley "Harlow." His efforts were not notably improved by a few flowery songs from pop producer Al Ham, with lyrics by Marilyn and Alan Bergman. The vocal versions of the songs are beautifully done by Mary Mayo, Ham's wife.

Riddle's own material is gorgeous as always, notably "Come to Me." He uses some period effects in the score, although he undershot the mark with "Wake Up." Its wah-wah trumpet and banjo are more reminiscent of the 20s than the 30s.

If neither musical score recaptured the time in which Harlow lived, the same may be true of the films themselves. Baker and Lynley were beautiful women and accomplished actors, but neither captured Harlow's unique look, with penetrating eyes set off by platinum hair, arched eyebrows and bow lips, nor her charisma. Those were Harlow's alone.

Baker, Harlow, Lynley