Chamber Ensemble of London
Peter Fisher violin and director
SOMM RECORDINGS SOMM CD 0727
In his notes on the music contained in this release, Robert Mathew-Walker includes a quotation from Andrew Gold, who was head of the BBC Light Music Unit from 1965 to 1969, who explained his duties as programming ‘music where the tune is more important than what the composer does with it’. This definition perhaps gives the keynote to the character of light music and its immediacy of appeal.
Light music has enjoyed something of a renaissance in the last thirty years or so, beginning with the very successful series of recordings made by the New London Orchestra under the late Ronald Corp – Light Music Classics. These collected many favourite examples in half a dozen discs which included those from Europe and America.
This disc from the Chamber Ensemble of London has collected music from a group of composers, less than half of whom could reasonably be described as mainstream. This is far from being a criticism. The first track (Rhapsody) is a substantial movement for clarinet and strings by Geoffrey Bush. There are also first recordings of short pieces by Gordon Jacob, Elgar, Lennox Berkeley and Delius.
Other names are likely to be less well known, such as Terence Higgins, Nigel Brooks (although as director of the Nigel Brooks Singers he was well known for directing his group which appeared on many television variety and music programmes), Sarah Watts, Clive Jenkins, Andy Meyers and Don Sherman, whose thoughtful concluding piece gives this release its title.
The result is over an hour of very pleasant listening. No great emotional or philosophical depths are plumbed, but instead gentle, contemplative musical musing redolent of ‘emotion recalled in tranquillity’. Recalling the quotation from Andrew Gold above, listening to this very well recorded and beautifully executed series of pieces recalled, at least for this listener, the days of the BBC Light Programme, with its unpretentious mission to soothe and entertain.
Review by Martyn Strachan