Dateline April 2013

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It is good to know that James Beyer’s concert with the Edinburgh Light Orchestra last November was a great success. James reports: "It was a most enjoyable occasion and I was extremely delighted with the performance. It was a great evening - everyone played really well and our large audience greatly enjoyed the concert. But above all, we managed to attract an audience of 751 (93% capacity 'house') - our largest for some time! We also presented a cheque for £1000.00 to Marie Curie Cancer Care." The next concert will be on Saturday 25 May at 7:30pm at the Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh. As usual James will be on the podium, and the ELO’s leader is Lawrence Dunn. Tickets: £10.00; £8.50 and £6.50. For bookings and programme details please telephone 0131 334 3140.

As advertised in our last issue (page 35) Gavin Sutherland will be conducting The Magic of Mantovani Orchestra at the Bournemouth Pavilion Theatre on Sunday 14 April at 7:30pm. If you don’t already have your ticket, you can telephone 0844 576 3000. But you’d better be quick – these hugely popular concerts sell out very quickly!

At the beginning of January ITV in Britain (and PBS in the USA) screened the first of ten episodes of "Mr Selfridge" about the American entrepreneur who founded the famous London store. The music immediately impressed, but as usual the credits were squeezed so small that they were impossible to read. Thanks to the internet, the composer was identified as Charlie Mole. He is clearly a talented musician, and someone to look out for in the future. He deserves a full feature in JIM … can any reader oblige?

As a result of the note in the last JIM (page 37) several members tell us that they have ‘discovered’ Radio Six International, which broadcasts a wide range of programmes. Following the death of Gerry Anderson on 26 December, Radio Six MD Tony Currie broadcast a tribute which included music from all the shows associated with the creator of Stingray, Space 1999, UFO and of course Thunderbirds. Before he died, Barry Gray had passed on to Tony some of his precious tapes of music from the many series he worked on, and these provided fascinating listening. It was a superb tribute, and should have been broadcast on the BBC to reach a far wider audience. But it could be heard around the world via the internet, and the added bonus of listening to Radio Six International is that it does not carry advertisements!

RFS member Philip Suffolk compiled an entertaining selection of Robert Farnon’s music for a meeting of the ‘Tuesday Music Group’ in Sutton Coldfield on 22 January. Unfortunately the severe weather conditions on the day forced the event to postponed, and it has now been rescheduled for Tuesday 30 April starting at 1:00pm. The good news is that Philip invites any RFS members within reach of Sutton Coldfield to join him on the day. The Sutton Coldfield Music Group would be pleased to see any of you, as would Philip. The venue is Sutton Coldfield Methodist Chuch, South Parade, Sutton Coldfield, and their meetings are held in Room 2 every fortnight. Philip’s presentation is called "Focus on Farnon" and he will begin with excerpts from Bob’s wartime exploits with the Canadian Band of the AEF, then move on to some of his early BBC broadcasts. Philip’s ‘Journey’ through Bob’s musical career continues through his big hits of the 1940s then focusses on his work with international ‘greats’ including Frank Sinatra, George Shearing and Lena Horne. It promises to be a very entertaining event, and we congratulate Philip on putting together such a well thought-out programme.

Keith Lockhart will be conducting the BBC Concert Orchestra in an attractive programme of British music at London’s South Bank on Friday 7 June at 7:30pm. The concert "The Home Front" will include: Warsaw Concerto (Richard Addinsell); Epic March (John Ireland); Seascape from ‘Western Approaches’ (Clifton Parker); Music from ‘Henry V’ (Walton); ‘Music While You Work’ – sounds of wartime broadcasting; ‘Sincerely Yours’ – music by the Forces’ Sweetheart Vera Lynn. (Thanks to Anthony Wills for this information).

Nigel Burlinson has pointed out that Vocalion catalogues from 2002 to the present date can be viewed and downloaded from the home page on their website – www.duttonvocalion.co.uk

Radio Six International is being mentioned several times in this issue – with good reason … because it regularly carries several programmes for Light Music fans, in addition to "The Golden Age of Light Music". The station’s MD Tony Currie presents his weekly "The Lively Lounge" where you can expect to hear music by the likes of Tony Hatch, Ronald Binge, Herb Alpert, Laurie Johnson, Helmut Zacharias and many similar recording artists from the 1960s onwards – including tracks from production music libraries like De Wolfe and KPM. And RFS member André Leon also crops up weekly with a varied selection of programmes, such as "Sounds Of The Century", "Carry On Crooning" and "André Leon’s Encores". If you have a computer with a broadband connection, you really owe it to yourself to investigate all the internet radio stations out there with some great specialist programmes.

Cyril Watters’ daughter Jill Coward has just launched a new website dedicated to her late father, who was a member of our Society for many years. If you have access to the internet, do visitwww.cyrilwatters.com where you can read all about Cyril – both his home life and his impressive list of compositions.

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