Music for 1940s British Films, Plus Songs for a Change of Seasons

Muir Mathieson

This post supersedes and builds on one from the early days of the blog devoted to music from British films of the 1940s. It now is more than twice as extensive - including 16 examples drawn from the best films composers of the era - Vaughan Williams, Rosza, Addinsell, Mischa Spoliansky, Allan Gray, Bax, Alwyn, Ireland, Charles Williams and Arthur Benjamin - all in vintage performances. These come primarily from two albums, as detailed below.

Also today, to mark the transition between seasons, David F. has provided us with two of his fine compilations.

Summer Turns to Autumn

David has prepared a set of songs both for the waning of summer and for the coming of fall - "A Farewell to Summer" and "Autumn Auguries." These total 60 selections by artists known and obscure, as always well programmed and carefully considered. The downloads (links in comments) include David's thoughts on the music and the seasons.

One of our readers recently called his compilations "brilliant" - and I won't disagree!

'Music for Films' - the Columbia Entré LP

My 2009 post was mainly devoted to an early 50s Columbia Entré LP, Music for Films, which was almost entirely composed of British releases of the 1940s. The various recordings originated with EMI, and included performances by the Queen's Hall Light Orchestra as conducted by Charles Williams or Sidney Torch, and the Philharmonia conducted by Ernest Irving.

Here is what I wrote about these recordings a decade ago, much augmented.

The only well-known item on the record is the one American item, Miklos Rozsa's music from Spellbound, here in a performance led by Charles Williams. 

The best-known composer represented is Ralph Vaughan Williams, whose beautiful score for the Loves of Joanna Godden was almost unknown until a more recent re-recording. Here the music is performed by the Philharmonia and Irving, the music director of Ealing Studios.

 

Ernest Irving and Ralph Vaughan Williams at a recording session

The little-known composer Allan Gray appears with two very effective items - the memorable prelude from Stairway to Heaven and the theme from This Man Is Mine. These pieces are apparently all that was ever recorded of Gray's film music. The composer left Germany after the ascension of the Nazis, as did Mischa Spoliansky, also represented in the collection.

Mischa Spoliansky

Much of the Entré LP, in fact, is devoted to three pieces by the now little-known (but very talented) Spoliansky. His "A Voice in the Night," from Wanted for Murder, is one of the most effective of the many quasi-romantic film concertos that turned up following the 1941 success of Richard Addinsell's "Warsaw Concerto." The album also contains Spoliansky's music from Idol of Paris and That Dangerous Age.

Lord Berners in repose

Finally, the Entré LP includes the Nicholas Nickleby music from the eccentric composer-novelist-painter Lord Berners (Gerald Hugh Tyrwhitt-Wilson), who wrote concert as well as film music and was a friend of Constant Lambert and William Walton. I don't care for Berners' music, but he cut quite a figure!

'Film Music' - the 1947 Decca-London Album

Like EMI, UK Decca was active in the film music realm during the 1940s. I have included a new transfer of a six-sided 78 album, Film Music, from the London Symphony and Muir Mathieson, the music director for a large number of British films.

Mathieson's set is largely given over to composers better known for concert than film music. It leads off with one of the most beautiful themes ever written by Vaughan Williams - the hymn-like Epilogue from the film 49th Parallel.

Arthur Benjamin

Next is what is possibly Arthur Benjamin's greatest hit - the "Jamaican Rhumba" of 1938, which doesn't seem to be film music at all [thanks Boursin for the tip!]. Benjamin's other popular favorite ishis "Storm Clouds Cantata" (not included here), featured at the climactic moments of both versions of Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much.

Sir Arnold Bax's music for the short film Malta G.C. was one of his few scores for the screen. It concludes with an Elgarian march.

William Alwyn

We return to Jamaica for another well-known use of its music, as captured in William Alwyn's score for The Notorious Gentleman. Neither the Alwyn nor Benjamin pieces were what you would call authentic, but are enjoyable nonetheless. Alwyn was equally renowned for his film and concert scores.

The final composer in this set - John Ireland - only composed for one film, The Overlanders, which involved a cattle drive in Australia. (One wonders how they attracted people into the theaters for that scenario.) Ireland was an uneven composer, and this is not among his best work, although it has enjoyed several recordings, all of which I seem to own.

Bonus Items

Richard Addinsell

The talented Richard Addinsell was not represented on either album above, but I have added two of his finest themes as a bonus. First is the original recording of music from Passionate Friends by the Philharmonia Orchestra and Muir Mathieson, which comes from another Entré album that otherwise does not contain film music. (Parenthetically, I saw David Lean's Passionate Friends a long time ago, and remember it as excellent.)

I also wanted to include perhaps the most popular and influential piece of film scoring from that period - Addinsell's "Warsaw Concerto" from Dangerous Moonlight. Here from the original 78, Muir Mathieson conducts the London Symphony with uncredited pianist Louis Kentner.

As a final bonus, I have included the "Dream of Olwen" music from While I Live, another notable quasi-concerto of the period. The composer was Charles Williams, who conducted several of the works on the Entré LP above. In this recording William Hill-Bowen was the pianist, with George Melachrino leading his orchestra on an HMV 78.

All transfers are from my collection, except for the bonus items, which are remastered from lossless needle-drops from CHARM and the Internet Archive. The sound is good in all cases.

Lambert Conducts Warlock, Delius and Lambert

The composer-conductor Constant Lambert has been a periodic subject of posts hereabouts. Today he takes on the music of two people he knew well - "Peter Warlock" (Philip Heseltine) and Frederick Delius, along with his own most famous composition, "The Rio Grande."

Peter Warlock

Philip Heseltine by Gerald Brockhurst

In the 1920s, the young Lambert (1905-1951) was a close friend of the composer Philip Heseltine (1894-1930), who published his music under the name "Peter Warlock," supposedly because of his affinity for the occult.

Heseltine was principally known for his brilliant songs, which have appeared here more than once. His song cycle "The Curlew," set to Yeats, is one of the finest in the English language. Both "The Curlew" and the first work on today's program, the Capriol Suite, betray the influence of Vaughan Williams. The Suite was supposedly based on Renaissance dances, but it is more Warlock's work than any ancient source material.

The second Warlock work is his Serenade to Frederick Delius on His 60th Birthday, from 1922. Heseltine was a confirmed Delius disciple earlier in his life. Although the influence had faded by the time this music was written, this particular piece is a conscious homage to the older composer, and makes a good segue between Warlock's music and Delius' own.

These recordings were made at Abbey Road with the Constant Lambert String Orchestra in 1937.

Frederick Delius

Frederick Delius by Achille Ouvré

In 1938, Lambert was again in Abbey Road, this time with the London Philharmonic and Delius' most famous work, "On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring."

He returned to the studio in 1941 for two interludes from Delius opera, the Serenade from Hassan in Thomas Beecham's edition and "La Calinda" from Koanga as arranged by Eric Fenby. This time the orchestra was the Hallé and the site was the Houldsworth Hall in Manchester.

All these works are nicely handled and the recordings are more suitably atmospheric than those done in 1937.

Lambert's The Rio Grande

Vocal score

Lambert was well aware of currents in music, and was particularly inspired by what he considered jazz. He had been very impressed with the short-lived Florence Mills, whom he had seen in the West End revue Blackbirds in 1926. The composer wrote, "The colour and rhythm of the singing was an absolute revelation of the possibilities of choral writing and this Rio Grande is the first example of a serious and perfectly natural use of jazz technique in a choral work."

All this may be true, but the first name that comes to mind when listening is Gershwin. The writing in the important piano part is Gershwinesque in its rhythms and phrasing. The critic Angus Morrison also cites Liszt's Faust Symphony as a direct influence. Lambert was fond of Liszt; he mined the Abbe for the ballet music Apparitions, done for Sadler's Wells and for a setting of the Dante Sonata for piano and orchestra.

Sacheverall Sitwell

As we have seen before on this blog, Lambert was close with the Sitwells, serving both as conductor and reciter in William Walton's various settings of Edith's Façade. For 1928's The Rio Grande, Lambert set a poetic exercise in exoticism by Sacheverall Sitwell. The poet moved the Rio Grande from North America to South America for the purpose of his verse, and imagines a dream world of dancing and revelers.

"The music of The Rio Grande no more represents any actual scene or event than the poem that inspired it," wrote Lambert. "It is an imaginary picture that it conjures up, a picture of the gay life of a riverside town which may be in either South or North America, as the listener chooses to fancy."

Kyla Greenbaum

The poetry is atmospheric, if dated, but you would have a hard time telling from the woolly diction of the Philharmonia Chorus and even at times the well-known contralto Gladys Ripley. I've included the text for those who want to understand the words. 

The Philharmonia Orchestra plays well for Lambert. The stand-out performance is by pianist Kyla Greenbaum, one exposed slip aside. She did not have a big career, but on this evidence, was a fine talent.

For this recording, Lambert returned to Abbey Road in early 1949, two years before his early death. The recording is good. My transfer of The Rio Grande comes from a 1950s LP reissue on UK Columbia. The other works were remastered from lossless transfers found on Internet Archive and CHARM.

The Original 'Victory at Sea' and More Re-ups

A few reuploads for you today, all remastered to taste (my taste, that is), and presented to you via the original posts. The highlight is the spectacular original 1953 recording of Victory at Sea.

 Click on the headers below to go to the original post for each item.

Victory at Sea

Richard Rodgers' memorable score for the television documentary series Victory at Sea was a huge success, so much so that RCA Victor brought in the music's orchestrator, the illustrious Robert Russell Bennett, and the NBC Symphony for a recording in summer 1953. This release would later be superseded by a stereo LP series that eventually reached three volumes. But the 1953 mono is plenty good enough. I've tamed the overly bright sound and fixed the pitch on this go-around.

Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer

Back in the early days of this blog, I tended to post more obscure stuff than I do today. This was among the more off-beat items. It's a 10-inch LP of tough-guy author Mickey Spillane in the role of his tough-guy invention, the gumshoe Mike Hammer. That short drama is on one side of the record. The other contains musical interludes by the obscure Stan Purdy that are enjoyable enough. The ghastly cover may lead you to think this was a low-budget production, but it's clear that Spillane spent some money on it. (Although I am surprised he allowed himself to be depicted on the cover with a fucshia face and trench coat.)

Lauritz Melchior in Two Sisters from Boston

Speaking of my odd obsessions, throughout this blog's existence I have featured classical artists in popular material - none odder than the occasional appearances of retired heldentenor Lauritz Melchior back in the days when Hollywood was trying to turn him into a Danish S.Z. "Cuddles" Sakall. The 1946 musical Two Sisters from Boston is a good example. I wrote back in 2013 that "it plunders Liszt and Mendelssohn to concoct noisy cod arias that Melchior attacks with some enthusiasm in his role as an imperious tenor." This transfer was from the original 78 album, a gift from my long-suffering wife.

Dick Haymes Sings Irving Berlin

Dick Haymes and Carmen Cavallaro

The amazingly long-lived and prolific songwriter Irving Berlin (1888-1989) produced a huge number of classic songs that are still heard today. In the late 1940s, he was celebrating forty years in the business - nearly all of them at the summit - while passing his 60th birthday. But he was still at the height of his powers.

All but one of these 15 Dick Haymes recordings were made after the tremendous success of Annie Get Your Gun once again demonstrated Berlin's primacy among popular songwriters. The collection is anchored by the 10-inch LP Haymes did with fellow Decca artist Carmen Cavallaro just a few days before the 1948 recording ban began. It also includes seven Berlin songs that Haymes recorded from 1945-49 - including three from Annie Get Your Gun and two from Berlin's follow-up, Miss Liberty.

The Haymes and Cavallaro LP

Decca's idea in the musical mating of Haymes with pianist Cavallaro was certainly to dazzle the market with their combined star power. Musically, however, the results are less successful than Haymes' usual orchestral backing.

Cavallaro's many-noted style is not ideally suited to accompaniment. His elaborate roulades draw attention to the pianist and away from the singer. He uses the same phrases over and over, in any context, apt or not. While I am not a fan, Cavallaro does have strengths - he has a beautiful tone and touch and plays with good rhythm.

Not to make too much of this - the LP is certainly enjoyable, even if not one of Haymes' best.

As with the last Haymes LP I presented, this post was a collaboration between me and vocal aficionado John Morris. This time, he supplied the scans and I did the transfer. Thank again, John!

Haymes Singles

Lyn Murray - or Gordon Jenkins?

Although Haymes recorded "How Deep Is the Ocean?" in 1945, it may have been made in the run-up to the 1946 Bing Crosby-Fred Astaire film Blue Skies, which showcased Berlin's songs. Bing does well by the number in the movie, but not better than Haymes' rendition. "How Deep Is the Ocean" is conducted by Lyn Murray, but the arrangement is strongly reminiscent of Gordon Jenkins, who had just joined Decca and had experience providing arrangements for Haymes.

Annie Get Your Gun was a Broadway sensation in 1946, and its score was fertile ground for pop singers of the day. It's surprising that Decca waited until the show had been open for six months before it brought Haymes into the studio to set down "The Girl That I Marry." Charles "Bud" Dant provides a mellow accompaniment of celesta and strings. A most beautiful record.

Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters with Irving Berlin

Decca waited even longer to bring Haymes together with two of its other leading acts - Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters. It took until March 1947 for them to assemble and record "There's No Business Like Show Business" and "Anything You Can Do." Bing and the sisters had a well-known rapport by that time, so Haymes seem like a fifth wheel, although the results are never less than pleasant. This may be the only time Haymes and Crosby collaborated, although Dick did record with the Andrews siblings one other time. The backing is by Vic Schoen, the sisters' music director.

In September 1947, Haymes set down his classic recording of the 1923 waltz, "What'll I Do," with a characteristic Gordon Jenkins arrangement.

While Annie Get Your Gun was the apex of Berlin's career, his next show, 1949's Miss Liberty, was a relative disappointment. It lacked the star power of Ethel Merman's Annie, relying instead on the genial Eddie Albert and the young Allyn Ann McLerie. (Tommy Rall and Dody Goodman had small roles.) Even so, its score was popular with the vocalists of the time, and today is much underrated - it includes "Homework," "Paris Wakes Up Smiles," "Only for Americans," "Just One Way to Say I Love You," "You Can Have Him" and "Me and My Bundle."

Haymes recorded the biggest song from the show, "Let's Take an Old-Fashioned Walk" and the delightful and much less-known "Little Fish in a Big Pond." The singer handles both beautifully, with apposite backing by Jenkins.

The sound on all these records is quite good - and is newly remastered in ambient stereo.

Polkas and Czech Dances by Smetana

Following up on my recent post of Czech music, here is a set of delightful polkas and Czech dances by Bedřich Smetana.

Bedřich Smetana

The composer wrote these works for piano, but in this set they are heard in orchestral guise. Smetana himself orchestrated two of the works; the other arrangements are by Iša Krejči, Jiří Hudec, Ludmilla Úlehlová, František Hertl, Otokar Zich and Václav Trojan.

Performing the works is the Brno State Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by František Jílek, who was with the Brno Opera for many years and the Brno Philharmonic from 1978-83.

František Jílek

These particular recordings date from 1971, and were made in the Stadion Studio in Brno. The sound was a tad opaque due to a dip in the upper mid-range frequency response, which I adjusted.

The download includes reviews from Gramophone and Stereo Review.

LINK (remastered version, April 2025)

František Jílek at a recording session