Britten's Simple Symphony

It's amazing (and perhaps a little daunting) to read that Britten composed some of this material when he was as young as nine and assembled it into this delightful and memorable string symphony when he was 20.

Eugene Goossens

This recording from November 1953 was not the first of the piece. (Boyd Neel recorded it in 1939), but it is a very fine one led by composer-conductor Eugene Goossens, and one that evidently had he approval of Britten, who wrote the (also delightful) liner notes, which are included in the package.

The recording, made by John Culshaw and Kenneth Wilkinson in Decca's West Hampstead Studios in London, is excellent.

LINK (August 2025 remaster in ambient stereo)

Music for Mid-Century British Films

Although this is an American Columbia LP, it mostly consists of recordings of British film music circa mid-20th century.

The only well-known item on the record the one American item, Miklos Rózsa's music from Spellbound, here in a British performance. The best known composer represented is Ralph Vaughan Williams, whose beautiful score for the Loves of Joanna Godden was almost unknown until a recent re-recording.

Also on board are Allan Gray, with two very effective items, and Lord Berners, who wrote concert as well as film music. This is all that was ever recorded of Gray's film music.

Much of the record is devoted to three pieces by the now little-known (but very talented) Mischa Spoliansky. His A Voice in the Night from Wanted for Murder is one of the most effective of the many quasi-romantic piano concertos that turned up in film music following the success of Richard Addinsell's Warsaw Concerto. That latter piece is not included here. However, I have added another Addinsell item as a bonus. It is the original recording of music from Passionate Friends by the Philharmonia Orchestra and Muir Mathieson, and it comes from a different Entre album that otherwise is not film music.

Promoting the Perfect Furlough

Here is the time-honored way of promoting a movie. First, get someone (in this case Frank Skinner) to write a theme song. Then get someone marketable to record that song, and send it out to the radio stations, promoting both it and the movie. With any luck, they both will become a hit.

In this case, the movie didn't do too badly, but the song went nowhere. The record above is the theme song for The Perfect Furlough, here presented by one of the stars of the film, Linda Cristal, whose character was "Sandra Roca, the Argentine Bombshell." A Universal promo man sent this record out to a radio station with his sticker that seems to suggest that the DJ should play the record because it is from a Universal film.

The promo man also sent along a recorded interview with Linda Cristal (see below). That would have been accompanied by a script (which I don't have). The DJ would read the questions off the script and this 45 would obligingly answer. The record has silences for the questions to be read, which I have edited out of the file linked below.

Besides the theme song and promo records, the file also includes the flip side of the musical 45, which is a tune called It's Better in Spanish. (English, Spanish, doesn't make much difference - it's not good.) Cristal is not a bad singer, but has a little too much "personality" for my taste.

LINK

Buddy Clark, Part 4

The latest post in our ongoing Buddy Clark series is this very early 10" LP, through the generosity of my friend Bill Reed of the People vs. Dr. Chilledair.

This set was designed to be an album, rather being a collection of singles. It contains standards (rather than new songs of the day), with all items conducted by the reliable Mitchell Ayres.

The anonymous liner notes tell us that Clark was the favorite singer of Al Jolson. (I would have guessed that Al Jolson was Jolie's favorite.) That shows the high regard in which Clark was held - although it's also true that you can hear Jolson in Clark's style. It's a shame his life ended so prematurely.

Angela Morley

One of the recurring themes in this blog has been paying tribute to musical figures who have recently passed on. Sad, but I guess it's to be expected when a blog covers music of 50-60 years ago.

Today's tribute is to arranger and film composer Angela Morley, who died last week. She was one of the best ever at her craft, in my view, and had been so for more than a half-century.

The early records presented here were made under her birth name of Wally (Walter) Stott soon after she joined Philips Records in London as music director in 1953. This issue is a repackaging on the American Epic label, which licensed Philips' product.

The LP contains music by Kern, Gershwin, and Berlin - four songs each. I suspect it may have originated as three EPs, but who knows. Whatever the origin and whoever the composer, each arrangement is very imaginative and just plain lovely.

For more on Morley, see an appreciation on the Robert Farnon Society site

NEW LINK

Tony Bennett, Part 2

Here are songs from two Tony Bennett EPs, with an early single thrown in for good measure. 

The EP above is in Columbia's Hall of Fame reprint series from the late 50s. I've only included "Blue Velvet" and "Sing You Sinners," because the other two numbers were in the earlier post on Tony. But the two songs that are here are outstanding. "Blue Velvet" was a good seller for Tony, and predates the Clovers and Bobby Vinton versions. A lovely song. And Bennett really gets into "Sing You Sinners." 

The other EP, a request by Scoredaddy, is presented in full. It's from 1955 and finds Tony working with Sid Feller rather than his usual mate, Percy Faith, who was in charge of the other items herein, save one. That is "Sing You Sinners," which is with Marty Manning. For whatever reason, Bennett does not sound at his best here, in a program of two songs from Damn Yankees, Johnny Mercer's "Something's Gotta Give," and "A Blossom Fell," which was a big hit for Nat Cole. 

More to my taste are the two unfamiliar songs on an early 78 (from 1952) - "You Could Make Me Smile Again" and Irving Berlin's "Roses of Yesterday."

Note (July 2023): These recordings have now been remastered in ambient stereo.

1952 ad

Diana Lynn, Part 2

Back in August I featured a Diana Lynn LP called Piano Moods. At that time, I said I thought the six Cole Porter items on the record were from a 78 album and the other two items (Lover and Slaughter on 10th Avenue) were from another album.

Pretty good guess - this is the 78 album those two items are from. It was in my collection all along. I forgot I had it.

As I mentioned in the earlier post, Diana Lynn nowadays is remembered for her films, although she started out as a musician. She was good at both arts - a very facile pianist and a very charming film presence. Also very good looking. We should all be so gifted.

A technical note: the arrangement of Mozart's Ronda alla Turca sounds like it was sped up in the mastering, perhaps so it would sound more impressively dynamic. In this transfer, I've kept that fast version but added one that is slowed down so it is pitched a semitone lower. That alternative sounds more natural to me, but you decide.

As with the previous set, the piano arrangements are by George Greeley, and the band is led by Paul Weston. This post is for my friend Mel.