The Lost Transcriptions – Volume 1

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GUILD LIGHT MUSIC GLCD5174

The Lost Transcriptions – Volume 1

1 Strike Up The Band (George & Ira Gershwin, probably arranged by Sidney Torch)
RAF CONCERT ORCHESTRA probably conducted by SIDNEY TORCH
ORBS Cut 2448 (2EN 9358) Issue MK 4943 1944
2 "Swing Time" Selection (Jerome Kern; Dorothy Fields, probably arranged by Len Stevens) The Way You Look Tonight, Pick Yourself Up, A Fine Romance, Waltz In Swing Time.
RAF CONCERT ORCHESTRA probably conducted by SIDNEY TORCH
ORBS Cut 173 (2EN 3640) Issue MK 4570 late 1942 or early 1943
3 Ragging The Scales (Edward B. Claypole, arr. Percy Faith)
PERCY FAITH AND HIS ORCHESTRA
OA PO 104 1950s
4 The Butterfly And The Alligator (David Rose)
DAVID ROSE AND HIS ORCHESTRA
World Programme Service (Australia) 006 c1943
5 If You Please (from the film "Dixie") (Jimmy Van Heusen, arr. Sidney Torch)
SIDNEY TORCH AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Towers of London Transcription Disc c1951
6 Primavera (Jupe Elders)
DOLF VAN DER LINDEN AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Thesaurus Orthacoustic 1773 1953
7 Pepper Tree Lane (from "Hollywood Bowl Suite") (David Rose)
DAVID ROSE AND HIS ORCHESTRA
World Programme Service (Australia) 006 c1943
8 Balboa Barcarolle (Vernon Duke, arr. Percy Faith)
PERCY FAITH AND HIS ORCHESTRA
VOA PO 125 1950s
9 La Bamba De Vera Cruz – Mexican Dance (Traditional, arr. Percy Faith)
PERCY FAITH AND HIS ORCHESTRA
VOA PO 88 1947
10 Song Of The Flame (from the musical "Song Of The Flame") (George Gershwin; Herbert Stothart)
PHIL SPITALNY AND HIS ALL GIRL ORCHESTRA
Thesaurus Orthacoustic 1871 1954
11 Too Romantic (from "Road To Singapore") (Johnny Burke; James V. Monaco)
LEITH STEVENS AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Standard Program Library Z-267 1949
12 Flying Down To Rio (Edward Eliscu; Gus Kahn; Vincent Youmans)
CARMEN DRAGON AND HIS ORCHESTRA
World Programme Service (Australia) 099 c1945
13 Solitude (Edgar de Lange; Irving Mills; Edward Kennedy (‘Duke’) Ellington; arr. Len Stevens)
RAF CONCERT ORCHESTRA probably conducted by SIDNEY TORCH (solo violin Lou Whiteson)
ORBS Cut 962 (2EN 5926) Issue No. MK 3105 1943
14 Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead (from "The Wizard Of Oz") (Harold Arlen; E.Y. Harburg)
DAVID ROSE AND HIS ORCHESTRA
World Programme Service (Australia) 671 c1943
15 The Peanut Vendor (El Manisero) (Moises Simons; Marion Sunshine; L. Wolfe Gilbert)
THE ORCHESTRA IN KHAKI Conducted by GEORGE MELACHRINO
ORBS Cut 3158 (2EN 12663) Issue MK 5593 1945
16 Jota (from "Spanish Dance Suite") (Anthony Collins)
WORLD CONCERT ORCHESTRA Conducted by PHILIP GREEN
World Program Service 10397 c1955
"Three Sketches" (Don Gillis)
17 Enchantment
18 Whimsy
19 Day Dreams
HOLLYWOOD SALON ORCHESTRA Conducted by HARRY BLUESTONE
Standard Program Library T-273 1949
20 Dance Of The Frogs (based on Frog Went A-Courtin’) (Lamar Stringfield)
LEWIS WILLIAMS AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Standard Radio Transcription Services Z 250 1949
21 Praeludium (Armas Järnefelt)
ARMY SALON ORCHESTRA Conducted by ERIC ROBINSON
ORBS Cut 2793 (2EN 10538) Issue MK 5509 1944
"The Three Men" Suite (Eric Coates)
22 1 The Man From The Country
THE ORCHESTRA IN KHAKI Conducted by GEORGE MELACHRINO
ORBS Cut 1303 (2EN 6812) Issue MK 3558 1943
23 2 The Man About Town
THE ORCHESTRA OF H.M. ROYAL MARINES (PORTSMOUTH DIVISION) Conducted by Captain F VIVIAN DUNN, MVO ARAM RM
ORBS Cut 1817 (2EN 8104) Issue MK 4194 1944
24 3 The Man From The Sea
THE ORCHESTRA OF H.M. ROYAL MARINES (PORTSMOUTH DIVISION) Conducted by Captain F VIVIAN DUNN, MVO ARAM RM
ORBS Cut 1820 (2EN 8105) Issue MK 4195 1944
25 Romantic Overture (Overture Romantique) (Kéler Béla)
THE ORCHESTRA OF THE ROYAL MARINES (PORTSMOUTH DIVISION) Conducted by Captain F VIVIAN DUNN, MVO ARAM RM
ORBS Cuts 2982/3 (2EN 11563/4) Issue MK 6029 probably recorded no later than 1945

 

What are ‘Transcriptions’ and why have they been ‘lost’? Regular purchasers of Guild Light Music CDs will already be aware that a lot of music is specially recorded by music publishers for the entertainment industry, and only rarely does it become available to the general public via commercial recordings. Numerous gems from this vast pool of light music have already appeared on Guild CDs, and many more await rediscovery.

There is another resource of fascinating material available on Transcription Recordings. Generally speaking the term refers to recordings of live performances made for use by broadcasting organisations before the advent of audio tape. With so many small radio stations all over the USA needing music to fill their schedules, it is not surprising that the major providers of transcription recordings were based in America, although broadcasters and publishers in Britain and Europe soon realised the potential of making their output available to a world-wide audience.

Some names became familiar within broadcasting circles: apart from the majors such as the BBC, transcriptions were issued by Standard, World, Thesaurus and Lang-Worth, to name just a few. The discs came in various sizes - 7" to 12" were usually 78 rpm but the 16" ones were often recorded at 33? rpm, pre-dating the launch of the LP on the domestic market by many years.

During World War 2 transcriptions became commonplace in the USA and they were distributed to American forces via the AFRS (Armed Forces Radio Service) and broadcast by many other services including AFN (American Forces Network) and AEFP (Allied Expeditionary Forces Programme). Britain established The British Forces Network (BFN) and The Army Welfare Department created The Overseas Recorded Broadcasting Service (ORBS) to record and distribute recordings for use by BFN, other broadcasters and ENSA (Entertainments National Service Association). As well as providing live entertainment the latter was able to reach small groups of servicemen in remote areas by playing the recordings over PA systems installed in vans.

None of these wartime transcription discs were for sale, the intention being that they would be destroyed when the war ended. Fortunately some servicemen decided to keep them as souvenirs, preserving for posterity a unique record of the kind of music that played an important part in the morale of fighting troops. Some of the recordings were significant because they paired performers who were contracted to different record companies, thus making similar commercial release impossible.

The sound quality of these discs is generally good, and modern digital restoration makes them very enjoyable. Only occasionally are there slight traces of distortion, which cannot be removed completely, but their historical importance dictates that they should not be rejected for such minor imperfections.

Armed Services bands and orchestras proliferated during World War 2 but today’s researchers find it extremely difficult to discover hard facts about many of them and, although it is well known that Sidney Torch (1908-1990) conducted The RAF Concert Orchestra, detailed information about this orchestra is almost non-existent.

When Torch was called up for war service in 1941 he was posted to Blackpool where there was a large Royal Air Force Unit that provided entertainment for the tens of thousands of other service personnel in the area. Regular shows by and for the forces were produced at several Blackpool theatres, notably The Opera House, The Grand Theatre and The Winter Gardens where, as Corporal Sidney Torch, he conducted accompanying orchestras of various sizes as well as continuing to make commercial recordings on The Opera House organ. Contemporary theatre programmes show that many well known names from the world of light music were involved with these orchestras, including Leading Aircraftman Len Stevens (responsible for many of the arrangements), Aircraftman Norrie Paramor (who played piano and also arranged), Aircraftman Lou Whiteson (who usually led the orchestra and sometimes conducted) and Aircraftman Ronald Binge (who conducted the station choir, which regularly performed with the orchestra). Although we know that Solitude was arranged by Len Stevens (and the Swing Time selection is probably his work from an RAF radio series called "March Of The Movies"), it is the opinion of several light music experts who have listened to other recordings by the orchestra that the majority are probably Sidney Torch arrangements. It is also very likely that he conducted them but, as Peter Yorke made at least one ORBS recording with the orchestra, we cannot be sure.

The labels on the discs are of little help, since there is no mention of the arrangers or the conductors. Indeed, Swing Time is credited to the RAF Theatre Orchestra but, as matrix numbers confirm it was recorded at the same time as some of the Concert Orchestra pieces, it is reasonable to assume that it is the same orchestra.

By the time the last RAF Concert Orchestra recordings were made Torch had been promoted to the rank of Flying Officer and he was changing his career, from being one of Britain’s finest theatre organists during the 1930s, to a leading light music composer and conductor following his discharge from the RAF in the mid-1940s. These recordings possibly offer a unique snapshot of a period when he was honing his skills as an arranger – something at which he would excel during the following decades, most notably fronting the BBC Concert Orchestra in the radio series "Friday Night Is Music Night".

Details of Percy Faith’s "Voice Of America" recordings are as scarce as those for the RAF Concert Orchestra. VOA issued hundreds of 16" discs to the armed forces featuring Faith and other popular orchestras of the day such as Richard Maltby, Andre Kostelanetz and David Rose. They contained re-issues of their commercial recordings, alternate and out-takes of these recordings and, in Percy Faith’s case, slightly different arrangements of numerous pieces he had recorded commercially. But of most interest are the recordings unique to VOA, three of which are featured here. It has not been possible to date two of them accurately as surviving VOA programme logs only go up to 1950 but, using the dates of the commercial recordings which are on some of the discs as a guide, they are probably from between 1951 and 1955.

David Rose (1910-1990) needs no introduction to regular Guild Light Music friends. Born in London, his family moved to the USA when he was four, and during his prolific career he became one of the biggest names in radio, films, television and – of course – records. Holiday For Strings (on Guild GLCD5120) gave his career a sudden boost in the early 1940s, and it proved to be one of the first of a string of memorable compositions that kept flowing from his fertile inspiration. His first appearance in this collection introduces us to a previously unknown composition The Butterfly And The Alligator. It seems to be unpublished – the reason may possibly be due to the fact that the ‘alligator’ theme was later used by Rose in his composition Satan And The Polar Bear (on Guild GLCD5105). The "Hollywood Bowl Suite" is Rose’s tribute to the famous open air arena (opened on 11 July 1922) where so many top performers have appeared – including Tom and Jerry! Pepper Tree Lane is the street at the entrance to the complex (some maps show the name as ‘Peppertree’). David Rose’s second wife was Judy Garland, and he probably made this somewhat bizarre yet appealing arrangement of Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead (from her most famous film) during the brief period when they were happily married.

Dolf van der Linden (real name David Gysbert van der Linden, 1915-1999) was the leading figure on the light music scene in the Netherlands from the 1940s until the 1980s. As well as broadcasting frequently with his Metropole Orchestra, he made numerous recordings for the background music libraries of major music publishers. He also made transcription recordings for Dutch radio and other companies. His commercial recordings (especially for the American market) were often labelled as ‘Van Lynn’ or ‘Daniel De Carlo’.

Many people think of all-girl bands as a World War 2 phenomenon made necessary because of the draft, but musical ensembles consisting of all female players had existed since the 1920s. Ukraine-born Phil Spitalny (1890-1970) fronted a 22-piece orchestra that had 20 years (1934-1954) of coast to coast success in the USA which included concerts, movies and network radio sponsorships. On radio he was introduced as Phil Spitalny and his All-Girl Orchestra featuring Evelyn and her Magic Violin. She was Evelyn Kaye Klein, who helped Spitalny find the women he needed, involving auditions of more than 1,000 musicians mainly in New York and Chicago. Spitalny and Evelyn married in 1946. In later years he retired to Miami and became a music critic for a local newspaper.

Leith Stevens (1909-1970) was an American composer and conductor, best-known for his work in radio and films and television. During World War 2 he was radio director for the Southwest Pacific Area with the US Office of War Information. Later in Hollywood his most notable scores were for space dramas such as "Destination Moon " (1950), "When Worlds Collide" (1951) and "The War of the Worlds" (1953). He worked on hundreds of productions during his long career, and his name cropped up in the credits for numerous TV series especially in the 1960s.

Carmen Dragon (1914-1984) was born in Antioch, California. His first success in Hollywood was collaborating with Morris Stoloff (1898-1980) arranging Jerome Kern’s score for the 1944 Rita Hayworth/Gene Kelly film "Cover Girl" which secured him an Oscar. He worked extensively in radio and television, and was a frequent visitor to recording studios conducting the Hollywood Bowl and Capitol Symphony Orchestras.

George Miltiades Melachrino (1909-1965) was one of the big names in British light music from the 1940s to the 1960s. Born in London, he became a professional musician, competent on clarinet, alto and tenor saxophone, violin and viola, and he worked with many British dance bands in the 1930s. He was also in demand as a singer, and can be heard on recordings with Carroll Gibbons and others. During World War 2 he became Musical Director of the Army Radio Unit, and his 50-piece ‘Orchestra in Khaki’ toured with the ‘Stars in Battledress’. Melachrino was also a regular broadcaster on the Allied Expeditionary Forces Programme of the BBC, alongside Major Glenn Miller and Captain Robert Farnon. Post-war he used most of his wartime musicians to form his world famous Melachrino Orchestra, and there are hints of what was to come in the inventive arrangement (by Melachrino?) of The Peanut Vendor. In a display of its versatility, we later hear the same orchestra performing the first movement of Eric Coates’ "Three Men Suite".

It is hardly surprising to discover that Philip Green (born Harry Philip Green, 1911-1982) was involved in transcriptions, since this apparently compulsive worker was responsible for numerous broadcasts, film scores and compositions during a career lasting from the 1920s to the 1980s. His work is already well-represented on Guild Light Music CDs. Jota is a rarely heard piece by Anthony Collins (1893-1963), better known for his Vanity Fair (on GLCD5120).

Harry Bluestone (1907-1992) was born in England, but he made his successful career in the USA where he composed and conducted music for films and television. In this collection he conducts Three Sketches, a rare work by the American composer Don Gillis (1912-1978), whose music is probably receiving more attention from record companies today than it did during his lifetime. Today his best known composition was his tongue-in-cheek "Symphony No. 5½ - A Symphony For Fun". The first movement Perpetual Emotion is on Guild GLCD5156.

Lamar Stringfield (1897-1959) composed symphonic works based on American folk-lore, and judging by Dance Of The Frogs they were not without a touch of humour. He was awarded the Pulitizer prize for his orchestral suite "From the Southern Mountains." In 1932 Stringfield united a group of volunteers to form the North Carolina Symphony, and a Lamar Stringfield Society has been established in his honour.

Eric Robinson (1908-1974) was a personality during the formative years of BBC Television. After 4 years spent playing violin with the BBC Theatre Orchestra he joined The BBC Television Orchestra, which was formed in 1936 and conducted by Hyam Greenbaum. When BBC Television closed down for the duration of World War 2, like so many conscripted musicians, his talents were employed to good use and, on this CD, we hear him conducting the Army Salon Orchestra in Järnefelt’s famous Praeludium. When normal service was resumed after the war, Robinson became the conductor of the BBC Television Orchestra, and was soon a household name through his monthly show "Music For You". Later he went into partnership with George Melachrino and became Managing Director of the Melachrino organisation. His elder brother was the famous conductor Stanford Robinson (1904-1984). Edvard Armas Järnefelt (1869-1958) was a Finnish composer and conductor who became a Swedish citizen in 1909, where he worked for the rest of his life.

The final three tracks feature the Orchestra Of The Royal Marines (Portsmouth Division) conducted by Captain Vivian Dunn, their Director of Music from 1931 to 1953, in which year he was promoted to be Principal Director Of Music, Royal Marines, with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. Here they perform the second and third movements of "The Three Men Suite" by Eric Coates (1886-1957) which appropriately includes the movement The Man From The Sea.

This collection ends with an attractive concert overture by Kéler Béla (also known as Adalbert Paul von Kéler 1820-1882), a Hungarian composer and conductor well known in Europe during his lifetime. As a young man he played violin in a theatre orchestra in Vienna, but he was soon conducting in Berlin and in 1856 became Bandmaster of the 10th Austrian Infantry Regiment. During the latter part of his life he undertook concert tours in Germany, Denmark, Switzerland and England. He composed reasonably prolifically including twelve concert overtures, among them Lustspiel (his most popular work on GLCD5134), and his Overture Romantique which closes this CD. Béla also wrote numerous shorter pieces, including waltzes, galops, polkas, marches and mazurkas. His colourful music, and especially some of the overtures, remained popular well into the 20th century.

David Ades

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