Light Music While You Work – Volume 4

GUILD LIGHT MUSIC GLCD5198

Light Music While You Work – Volume 4

1 Cavalcade Of Martial Songs (arr. Horatio Nicholls) : The King’s Horses (Noel Gay); The Toy-Town Artillery (Everett Lynton); The Tin-Can Fusiliers (Horatio Nicholls); When The Guards Are On Parade (Horatio Nicholls); There’s Something About A Soldier (Noel Gay); When A Soldier’s On Parade (Horatio Nicholls); When The Band Goes Marching By (Horatio Nicholls); The Toy Drum Major (Horatio Nicholls).
HARRY FRYER AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Decca Music While You Work MW 70 1943
2 Roses From The South (Johann Strauss, Jr.)
RONNIE MUNRO AND HIS WALTZ ORCHESTRA
Decca Music While You Work MW 358 1946
3 Lonesome And Sorry (Benny Davis; Con Conrad)
REGINALD PURSGLOVE AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Decca Music While You Work MW 123 1944
4 Carmen – Rhythmic Paraphrase (Georges Bizet, arr. Arthur Lange)
HARRY FRYER AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Decca Music While You Work MW 131 1944
5 Dainty Miss (Bernard Barnes)
HAROLD COLLINS AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Decca Music While You Work MW 81 1943
6 Love Dance – Intermezzo (from "Madame Sherry") (Karl Hoschna)
DAVID JAVA AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Decca Music While You Work MW 175 1944
7 Tick Of The Clock (James Perry)
HARRY DAVIDSON AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Decca Music While You Work MW 349 1945
8 Voices Of Spring (Johann Strauss, Jr.)
RONNIE MUNRO AND HIS WALTZ ORCHESTRA
Decca Music While You Work MW 341 1945
9 Light And Shade (Wynford Reynolds as ‘Hugh Raeburn’)
HAROLD COLLINS AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Decca Music While You Work MW 189 1944
10 At The Dance (from "Summer Days" Suite) (Eric Coates)
RICHARD CREAN AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Decca Music While You Work MW 164 1944
11 In A Country Lane (from "Summer Days" Suite) (Eric Coates)
RICHARD CREAN AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Decca Music While You Work MW 164 1944
12 Knuckledust (George Blackmore)
HAROLD COLLINS AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Decca Music While You Work MW 190 1944
13 Dreaming (Archibald Joyce)
HAROLD COLLINS AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Decca Music While You Work MW 80 1943
14 La Cinquantaine (Gabriel Marie)
RICHARD CREAN AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Decca Music While You Work MW 286 1945
15 Faust - Rhythmic Paraphrase (Charles Gounod, arr. Arthur Lange)
HARRY FRYER AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Decca Music While You Work MW 64 1943
16 Tesoro Mio (Ernesto Becucci)
RONNIE MUNRO AND HIS WALTZ ORCHESTRA
Decca Music While You Work MW 400 1946
17 Old Faithful (Abe Holzmann)
HARRY DAVIDSON AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Decca Music While You Work MW 287 1945
18 Vision Of Salome (Archibald Joyce)
HARRY DAVIDSON AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Decca Music While You Work MW 398 1945
19 Heyken’s Serenade No. 2 (Jonny Heykens)
DAVID JAVA AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Decca Music While You Work MW 176 1944
20 Les Sirenes (Emile Waldteufel)
RONNIE MUNRO AND HIS SCOTTISH VARIETY ORCHESTRA
Decca Music While You Work MW 219 1944
21 Waldmere (Frank Hoyt Losey)
LONDON COLISEUM ORCHESTRA Conducted by REGINALD BURSTON
Decca Music While You Work MW 374 1946
22 Danube Waves (Iosif Ivanovici)
RONNIE MUNRO AND HIS SCOTTISH VARIETY ORCHESTRA
Decca Music While You Work MW 252 1945
23 Amina - Intermezzo (Paul Lincke)
HARRY DAVIDSON AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Decca Music While You Work MW 259 1945
24 Artists Life (Johann Strauss, Jr.)
RONNIE MUNRO AND HIS WALTZ ORCHESTRA
Decca Music While You Work MW 393 1946
25 Yankee Grit (Abe Holzmann)
HARRY DAVIDSON AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Decca Music While You Work MW 287 1945

All tracks mono

This is the fourth and final delve into the riches contained in the Decca ‘Music While You Work’ series of 78rpm records, which first appeared in 1942. The last ones were released in January 1947, concluding a special wartime project that had seen over 400 discs produced specifically for relaying over public address systems in factories – the intention being to boost the morale of the workers.

The story behind these records, which were prompted by the BBC radio series of the same name, has been recalled in the notes accompanying the previous three CDs in this series – on GLCD5128, 5137 and 5186. The emphasis in these Guild CDs has been on the Light Music contained on these records, but these were just part of a wide variety of popular music that also included recordings by dance bands, jazz and various instrumental ensembles.

The series was quickly deleted, and throughout the existence of the label Decca publicity had been sketchy, to say the least. The record buying public was often unaware of what was available, so consequently some of the titles must be quite rare. Some of the later 78s were recorded using Decca’s revolutionary ‘ffrr’ (full frequency range recording) process which remained a closely guarded secret for some while since it had originally been developed to assist the war effort, and the improved sound quality of several of the later tracks on this CD is evidence of this.

The orchestras chosen for these recordings would have been familiar to the public at the time. Foremost among these is Harry Fryer (1896-1946) and his Orchestra. Like so many musicians of his era, he found work playing for silent films and gradually progressed to conducting at London theatres and leading venues in and around the capital. He was a regular broadcaster, both before the war and later frequently on radio in "Music While You Work". The London publishers Boosey & Hawkes contracted Fryer in 1941 to conduct for their Recorded Music Library. By the end of the war he had become a household name and there seems little doubt that, had it not been for his death in 1946 aged only 50, his talents would have been much in demand during the post-war years.

Ronald (Ronnie) George Munro (1897-1989) started his career playing piano in various clubs and bands in London before eventually working regularly with EMI – particularly the HMV ‘house’ orchestra The New Mayfair Orchestra. He contributed numerous arrangements for top recording bands such as Jack Hylton, Lew Stone, Percival Mackey, Ambrose and Henry Hall. In 1940 he was appointed conductor of the BBC’s newly-formed Scottish Variety Orchestra, and Les Sirenes is typical of the kind of music for which they became known. After a further spell with a dance band after the war, he formed his light orchestra for radio in the fifties, concluding his BBC career with a sextet which he led between 1962 and 1967. When radio broadcasts dried up, he emigrated to South Africa, where he reformed his orchestra, subsequently becoming Head of Light Music for the South African Broadcasting Corporation.

Reginald Pursglove (1902-1982) was an accomplished violinist who worked with many of the British dance bands in the 1920s and 1930s. During four decades he was heard regularly on the radio fronting various ensembles such as small groups (his contribution to this CD is a good example) right up to light orchestras which gradually assumed greater prominence as dance bands were heard less frequently on the air. His Albany Players (later renamed the Albany Strings) constantly provided top quality light music, but eventually the BBC’s decision to rely less upon live music meant that the orchestra did not survive the 1960s – a fate that was to befall so many of Pursglove’s contemporaries.

Harold Collins (c.1900 - c.1971) arold Collins, David Java

at one time was MD at the London Coliseum, although he also held positions at various provincial theatres. Originally a pianist, it seems he gave his first broadcast from Plymouth in 1936 where he was resident conductor at the Palace Theatre, and was hired by the BBC for "Music While You Work" soon after the programme was launched. In total he appeared in 227 programmes with his Orchestra, and he also made a good number of records for Decca’s MWYW series, usually with a smaller ensemble in a style that suited the light repertoire that was his speciality – his four numbers in this collection are ideal examples. In later years he was heard in BBC shows "Morning Music" and "Melody On The Move", and through his work with Norman Wisdom he appeared on ITV’s top Sunday evening shows from the London Palladium and the Prince of Wales Theatre.

It seems that David Java recorded only four titles for Decca’s MWYW series, and his career is poorly documented. In 1938 he played violin alongside Sidney Sax on several Victor Silvester recordings for Parlophone, and again on some Columbia recordings in 1941 when Oscar Grasso, Alfredo Campoli, Reginald Kilbey and Eugene Pini were among the distinguished violin players whom Silvester employed. After the war David Java supplied orchestras for Lyons’ Corner House restaurant and presumably other similar venues.

Harry Davidson (1892-1967) enjoyed two successful, and different, careers before and following the Second World War. After various engagements around London and the north-east of England spanning the years 1914 to 1929, he finally secured the highly prestigious appointment as organist at the newly built Commodore Theatre at Hammersmith in London. The Commodore had a fine 18-piece orchestra conducted by Joseph Muscant (1899-1983) and by the early 1930s it had acquired a loyal national following for its regular broadcasts. After five years Muscant left to take over the Troxy Broadcasting Orchestra and, in July 1934, Harry Davidson stepped into his shoes. (Recordings by both the Commodore and Troxy orchestras may be found on previous Guild Light Music CDs). Although the Commodore orchestra was disbanded during the war, Davidson managed to keep many of his superb musicians together and soon he was broadcasting regularly, notching up no less than 109 editions of "Music While You Work" between 1940 and 1946. In November 1943 his BBC radio series "Those Were The Days" appeared for the first time, providing listeners at home with a regular helping of melodious old-time dance music. It became a permanent fixture in the schedules with Harry in charge until ill-health forced him to retire in November 1965. It is also appropriate to mention that he was an extremely prolific recording artist: during the 1950s 78s by his orchestra often occupied almost four pages in EMI Columbia’s annual catalogues.

Richard Crean (1879-1955) became a familiar name in the 1930s through his association with the London Palladium Orchestra, which was probably the best known British theatre orchestra at the time. In recording terms it was also the most prolific, with almost 150 recordings made between 1927 and the early 1940s, many of them conducted by Richard Crean who was in charge from 1930 to 1937. Before joining the London Palladium Orchestra he had travelled widely as Chorus Master with the Thomas Quinlan Opera Company, before accepting a similar position at Covent Garden with Adrian Boult. Then a spell at Ilford Hippodrome in variety led to his appointment in 1930 at the Palladium, which lasted until he formed his own orchestra which he conducted, on and off, for the rest of his life. For a short while in 1941-42 he conducted the newly-formed BBC Midland Light Orchestra, and like Harry Fryer he was also a contributor to the Boosey & Hawkes Recorded Music Library.

Reginald Bradshaw Burston (1897-1968) was an experienced musical director who was regularly employed in various London theatres ranging from D’Oyly Carte Opera to prestigious Noel Coward productions and lavish post-war American musicals. In the mid-1930s he conducted the BBC Midland Orchestra, then in 1936 he took over the baton of the BBC Revue Orchestra for several years. Like Harold Collins, Burston also served as MD at the London Coliseum (also known as the Coliseum Theatre). It was built in St. Martin’s Lane by the famous theatre impresario and architect, Oswald Stoll, and it opened for its first performance on 24 December 1904. Since then it has undergone changes of name, various refurbishments and different kinds of productions, ranging from variety and operetta to ballet and opera – it is now the home of English National Opera.

Among the composers whose work is featured in this collection, there are several who deserve special mention. The opening track is, in essence, a tribute to Horatio Nicholls, both as composer and arranger. But ‘Nicholls’ was a pseudonym, hiding the true identity of Leicester-born Lawrence Wright (1888-1964). He was a successful publisher, as well as songwriter (over 600 titles) – his most famous being Among My Souvenirs which he wrote in 1927 with Edgar Leslie. The previous year he had launched the leading British musical magazine Melody Maker. In 1962 he received an Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Popular Music.

There are a number of discs in Decca’s MWYW series which contain what might be called ‘pure’ light music. The two numbers from the suite "Summer Days" by Eric Coates (1886-1957) tend to confirm that the wartime public was receptive to orchestral music – probably as a result of hearing so much of it regularly on the radio. Of course Coates was something of a musical celebrity by the end of the 1930s, with many of his catchy melodies being used as signature tunes. The BBC chose his Calling All Workers as the theme for ‘"Music While You Work", and this was included in full on the first CD in this series (GLCD5128) played by the Tivoli Concert Hall Orchestra. Excerpts from Coates’ own recording were used on the second volume (GLCD5137). Surprisingly Decca did not record Calling All Workers as a full track, although it did open and close a selection by The Victory Band.

The medleys of music from "Carmen" and "Faust" are the work of the American bandleader Arthur Lange (1889-1956). He seems to have been a frequent visitor to the recording studios, especially during the 1920s, during which period of his career he made numerous ‘stock’ orchestrations which were used by many bands at the time. He composed music for over 120 films and, although nominated four times, he did not win any Oscars.

Another American composer (who was a contemporary of Sousa) was Abraham Holzmann (1874-1939) whose greatest march success was Blaze Away, composed in 1901. In this collection he is represented with two pieces – Old Faithful and Yankee Grit - both given fine performances by Harry Davidson’s Orchestra. Abe earned his living mainly from Tin Pan Alley where he wrote and arranged popular songs for publishers such as Leo Feist. Today he is fondly remembered by lovers of ragtime, but he also penned many marches, waltzes and other pieces of light music.

The man widely credited for devising "Music While You Work" is represented with his composition Light And Shade, which he wrote under the pseudonym ‘Hugh Raeburn’. Considering his musical background, it is likely that Wynford Hubert Reynolds (1899-1958) had little problem in persuading the BBC that he had the necessary knowledge to launch "Music While You Work". He was already on the staff of the BBC as a producer, although he was also an experienced performer. He was born in Ebbw Vale, Wales, and his early musical training at the Royal Academy of Music concentrated on the violin, viola and composition. Like many of his fellow musicians, he provided music for silent films, and eventually joined the Queen’s Hall Orchestra under its illustrious conductor (and founder of London’s Promenade Concerts) Sir Henry Wood.

Reynolds became involved with the early days of radio in the 1920s, and it wasn’t long before he formed his own orchestra for concerts (including engagements at seaside venues) and broadcasts. In 1941 the BBC gave him the important-sounding title ‘Music While You Work Organiser’ but, due to the strict rules imposed by the Corporation on its own employees, this prevented him from appearing with his orchestra in the programmes. He left this position in 1944, and went back to performing on radio, not only in "Music While You Work" but also, later, in popular shows such as "Bright and Early" and "Morning Music". Happily the recordings he made for Decca’s MWYW series are evidence of the high quality of his music, although his influence extended far beyond those 78s bearing his own orchestra’s name: he produced the majority of around 420 discs that were issued before the series ended with the final releases in January 1947.

David Ades