Scenic Grandeur

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Scenic Grandeur

1 Sequoia (Kermit Leslie & Walter Leslie real surnames Levinsky)
KERMIT LESLIE AND HIS ORCHESTRA
2 Golden Highway (Len Stevens)
LOUIS VOSS AND HIS ORCHESTRA
3 Scenic Grandeur (Robert Farnon)
DANISH STATE RADIO ORCHESTRA Conducted by ROBERT FARNON
4 Green (Gordon Jenkins)
SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Conducted by FRANK SINATRA
5 October Mist (Ted Fiorito, Paul Francis Webster)
DAVID ROSE AND HIS ORCHESTRA
6 Great Panorama (Alan Perry, real name Ernest Tomlinson)
NEW CONCERT ORCHESTRA Conducted by DOLF VAN DER LINDEN
7 Whispering Pines (Mahlon Merrick)
MAHLON MERRICK AND HIS ORCHESTRA
8 Pastoral Montage (Gideon Fagan)
QUEEN’S HALL LIGHT ORCHESTRA Conducted by ROBERT FARNON
9 The Tall Ships (Trevor Duncan, real name Leonard Trebilco)
STUTTGART RADIO ORCHESTRA Conducted by KURT REHFELD
10 Evening Mist (Salvatore ‘Tutti’ Camarata)
CONDUCTED BY CAMARATA
11 Seascape (Tony Lowry)
QUEEN’S HALL LIGHT ORCHESTRA Conducted by ROBERT FARNON
12 Quiet Countryside (Peter Yorke)
QUEEN’S HALL LIGHT ORCHESTRA Conducted by SIDNEY TORCH
13 Cloudland (Bruce Campbell)
DANISH STATE RADIO ORCHESTRA Conducted by ROBERT FARNON
14 Hills Of Brecon (Charles Williams)
DANISH STATE RADIO ORCHESTRA Conducted by ROBERT FARNON
15 Atlantic Crossing (Clive Richardson)
DANISH STATE RADIO ORCHESTRA Conducted by ROBERT FARNON
16 Melody At Moonrise (Cyril Watters)
NEW CONCERT ORCHESTRA Conducted by FREDERIC CURZON
17 Table Bay (Harry Rabinowitz)
DANISH STATE RADIO ORCHESTRA Conducted by ROBERT FARNON
18 Open Skies (Robert Farnon)
DANISH STATE RADIO ORCHESTRA Conducted by ROBERT FARNON
19 Yacht Race (Jack Beaver)
QUEEN’S HALL LIGHT ORCHESTRA Conducted by CHARLES WILLIAMS
20 Still Waters (Trevor Duncan, real name Leonard Trebilco)
NEW CONCERT ORCHESTRA Conducted by FREDERIC CURZON
21 Piper In The Heather (Frederick Peter Hargreaves)
FRANK CHACKSFIELD AND HIS ORCHESTRA
22 Forest Fantasy (Dolf van der Linden)
DOLF VAN DER LINDEN AND HIS ORCHESTRA
23 Arizona Sketches (Victor Young)
VICTOR YOUNG AND HIS ORCHESTRA

Guild GLCD 5145

For many people the word ‘grandeur’ will imply something magnificent on a large scale, and that is certainly one meaning. However dictionaries carry far wider definitions, among them ‘nobility’ and ‘splendour’ but these descriptions do not necessarily indicate considerable size as a pre-requisite for such terms. A majestic mountain range, a large valley or a vast seascape – all these undoubtedly qualify as ‘Scenic Grandeur’, yet surely the same term can be applied to a wild-flower meadow in the morning mist or a cloudy sky tinted pink and grey by a setting sun. To qualify for inclusion in this collection the talented composers do not need to have been inspired by size, but by nature’s beauty in its many and varied forms.

But sheer size certainly applies to the opening track, because California’s Giant Sequoia (Sequoiadendron) is credited as the largest tree in terms of total volume on our planet. The Levinsky brothers Kermit and Walter certainly managed to capture its glory in their composition Sequoia, which was chosen as the theme for NBC’s daytime re-runs of "The Loretta Young Show". Research on these musical brothers suggests that they appeared happy to use their birth surnames for most of their activities, although it seems that the few LPs featuring ‘Kermit Leslie and his Orchestra’ required a name that is, perhaps, more easily remembered. Both were originally musicians, playing saxes and woodwinds, but Kermit appears to have had a more varied career in later years. Born in New York City, he was working as a professional musician by the time he was fourteen. In 1939 he joined Alvino Rey’s band as saxophonist and arranger, until he was conscripted during the Second World War. Later he studied harmony and counterpoint and for a while became an arranger with Tommy Dorsey. He was a prolific composer (often with his brother Walter) with over 50 published titles to his credit, although Walter’s total is even higher. In 1964 Kermit worked as orchestrator on the film "Return to Oz" and in 1968 he orchestrated and conducted Marvin Hamlisch’s score for the Woody Allen picture "Take the Money and Run". Several compositions by these brothers have been featured on previous Guild CDs: The Little Toy Shop (GLCD 5114); Walking On Ice (GLCD 5131); and Gilbert The Goose (GLCD 5143).

Unfortunately few of us live in places that are outstandingly beautiful, so for many it is necessary to travel some distance to find the mountains, valleys and seascapes that can provide the serene antidote to modern life. It seems likely that Herbert Leonard Stevens (d. 1989) had this in mind when he wrote Golden Highway. He was prolific composer, contributing mood music to several different libraries, with a style that his admirers quickly grew to recognise. Like so many of the talented musicians employed in the business, he could turn his hand to any kind of music that was needed, and he was also involved in the musical theatre. Other examples of his tuneful melodies on previous Guild CDs include Easy Street (GLCD 5119), This Modern Age (GLCD 5124), Airways Suite (GLCD 5131), Snow Shadow (GLCD 5138), Cigarette Girl (GLCD 5140), Lido Fashion Parade (GLCD 5142) and Golliwog On The Loose (GLCD 5144).

It is arguable that two of the featured composers in this collection have between them written so much music described as ‘scenic’ that their works could have filled this CD. Robert Farnon (1917-2005) and Leonard Trebilco (1924-2005), who composed most of his music as ‘Trevor Duncan’, were masters of this genre. Farnon provides the title track Scenic Grandeur which, surprisingly, is one of his works that he did not choose to include on one of his own many commercial recordings. His other contribution Open Skies did feature in a collection of music associated with the American West, but that is not yet in the public domain so we have selected his original recording of this work for the Chappell Recorded Music Library. Trebilco’s pieces are The Tall Ships (which superbly captures the atmosphere of the great days of sail) and Still Waters. The careers of both composers have been profiled on previous Guild CDs, and Leonard Trebilco was the featured composer of ‘Hall of Fame – Volume 2’ (GLCD 5124).

The inspiration for Gordon Jenkins’ tone poem Green came from a piece of poetry by Norman Sickel, at one time a radio script-writer for Frank Sinatra. Like many before him, Sickel regarded the colour green as being allied to all that grows and the natural beauty that ensues. Jenkins seems to have effortlessly conveyed this sentiment into musical notes, thus creating a vivid impression of nature in all her atmospheric phases. This melody comes from an album conducted by Frank Sinatra (1915-1998) in the summer of 1956 when Capitol engaged their star singer to front a symphony size orchestra to celebrate the opening of their new Hollywood studios – now famously known all over the world as the Capitol Records Tower. One of the composers personally selected by Sinatra for this prestigious project was Gordon Hill Jenkins (1910-1984) with whom he would subsequently record the superb 1957 LP ‘Where Are You’ (his first in stereo) and two years later ‘No One Cares’.

The available space in these booklets makes it impossible to do full justice to each and every composer, conductor and arranger of the music included. A difficult choice has to be made, which usually means that those whose careers have been highlighted previously are often put to one side in favour of those who may be less familiar, or appearing in a Guild collection for the first time.

Gideon Fagan (1904-1980) was born in Cape Town, South Africa, and studied music under Vaughan Williams at London’s Royal College of Music from 1922 to 1926. He worked in films and his conducting assignments included a spell with the BBC Northern Orchestra (now the BBC Philharmonic) from 1939 to 1942, and several West End shows (his recording of a selection from "Song of Norway" conducting the Palace Theatre Symphony Orchestra was included on Guild GLCD 5141). He contributed a few compositions to recorded music libraries, and his best-known work was probably Pastoral Montage (for Chappell) which the BBC used as the music accompanying its television interlude film of a windmill. Fagan returned to South Africa in 1949 and was appointed a music director of the South African Broadcasting Corporation in 1963, then lectured at Cape Town University from 1967 to 1973.

Successful writers and conductors often need assistance from other arrangers when faced with heavy work schedules, and it is hardly surprising that some of the collaborators benefit greatly from such contacts. Bruce Campbell was one of several writers who owed much to his association with Robert Farnon. He was a fellow Canadian, who actually came to Britain some years before Farnon, and played trombone with various British bands during the 1930s. Towards the end of the 1940s Campbell realised that he possessed some skills as a composer, and Farnon encouraged him and provided some valuable guidance on occasions. One such example is Cloudland which certainly reveals Farnon influences, although admirers of Campbell’s work can spot his own trademarks which he developed during the 1950s when he became much in demand from various mood music publishers. He can also be heard on Guild in Children’s Hour and Skippy (GLCD 5125).

It is always particularly satisfying when a composer takes the trouble to explain the background to a major piece of music, and Victor Young (1900-1956) provided the following information in the sleeve notes to the LP which includes our final track,

Arizona Sketches. "I had been commissioned by Paramount Studios to write a symphonic tone poem to cover all the beautiful things about Arizona. This is one time the music has been composed before cinematography was added to it. With the aid of the director we invented a story about a prospector going to Arizona with his little German music box. He sets up camp at night, lights his pipe and falls asleep. As the music box fades out, the dream takes place, and in his dreams we go through Arizona - the majestic rocks, the desert flowers in bloom, the dust storm – and we fade back to the music box. The old prospector wakes up, puts his pipe and music box away, and leads his mule out of the scene. The main theme of the Arizona Sketches attracted the attention of Frank Loesser. He wrote a very beautiful lyric to the theme known as Prairieland Lullaby. Bing Crosby recorded it, as did Glenn Miller. Arizona Sketches has had several illustrious performances. It has been given at the Hollywood Bowl in California and at Carnegie Hall with Leopold Stokowski as conductor."

It is worth mentioning that the British production music libraries of the 1950s had to contend with a ban by the Musicians’ Union which forced them to record their music on the Continent of Europe. Impress chose Germany’s excellent Stuttgart Radio Orchestra under their conductor Kurt Rehfeld, although the 78 labels simply credited ‘The Lansdowne Light Orchestra’. Chappells used several orchestras, although it seems their preferred choice was the Danish State Radio Orchestra (usually conducted by Robert Farnon) which became ‘The Melodi Light Orchestra conducted by Ole Jensen’ on the 78s. Boosey & Hawkes retained their familiar ‘New Concert Orchestra’ name, although one of their conductors ‘Nat Nyll’ was actually Dolf van der Linden, a top arranger/ conductor/ composer from the Netherlands who gained a well-deserved international reputation for his work. Other production music libraries used similar pseudonyms, although Paxton credited many of their recordings to Dolf van der Linden and his Metropole Orchestra based in Hilversum. New discoveries in this area continue to be made and, whenever it is possible to name the real orchestra on recordings like these, they will be given in Guild booklets.

David Ades

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