On Sunday
24th January at 7pm BBC
Radio 2 will be repeating the
2017 edition of Friday
Night Is Music Night
devoted to "The unsung
heroes - the arrangers who have
provided scores and compositions
for this programme since
1953". Featuring the work of
Stanley Black, Robert Docker,
Robert Farnon, Gordon Langford
and many others. With
Sophie-Louise Dann and the BBC
Concert Orchestra conducted by
Gavin Sutherland. Presented by
Leo Green.
Viennese
radio station features
Peter Hope's "Through the
Crystal" CD
Viennese radio
station, Radio Klassik
Stephansdom has broadcast a
20 minute tribute to Peter Hope
featuring his 90th Birthday
"Through the Crystal"
CD. You can listen to the feature
here:
Tony Clayden has
reviewed the CD and you can read
it here
January 2021
BBC to
celebrate musicals with series of
special programmes
Performances
will be broadcast from the London
Palladium.
The BBC has
unveiled a series of programmes
to celebrate musicals.
While theatres
remain closed to the public due
to coronavirus restrictions the
programmes will broadcast hit
songs and performances from the
world of musical theatre.
BBC Radio 2 will host three days
of programming about musicals,
while further shows will be
broadcast on BBC One, BBC Four
and iPlayer.
Elaine
Paige (Ian West/PA)
Radio 2 presenter
and West End star Elaine Paige
said: "Musicals are such a
huge part of my life – as
they are for so many of my
friends and colleagues – so
to be unable to perform or go to
the theatre for most of last year
was devastating to us all. Radio
2 Celebrates Musicals is a way
for us all to come together, to
be uplifted and sing out loud to
the world's best show
tunes."
Radio 2
Celebrates Musicals will
run from January 29-31.
The series of
programmes will end on January 31
with a special show hosted by
Sheridan Smith from the London
Palladium.
Smith said:
"With so many amazing
performers we're going to
hopefully bring some joy to all
those at home, with the best
songs to help lift the spirits in
these very difficult times."
The programme will
also be shown on BBC One in
February.
Helen Thomas, head
of Radio 2, said: "2020 left
a gaping hole in the lives of
musical theatre lovers with the
shows being closed due to the
pandemic. I truly hope our
programming will help to lift the
spirits and capture the joy and
elation that only these wonderful
songs and performers can
bring."
January 2021
'Those
Were the Days' starts a weekly
run on Serenade Radio
Serenade Radio has
added to its repertoire a series
of 'Those Were the
Days'on
Saturdays at 5pm.
'Those Were the Days' was
originally broadcast on BBC radio
between the 1940s and 1976 and
featured The Harry Davidson
Orchestra playing dance music to
a live audience in the studio. www.serenade-radio.com
December 2020
A new
'Lockdown' video from
The Aspidistra Drawing Room
Orchestra
Whistling
Rufus by Kerry Mills
arranged by Roland Anderson
The original sheet
music, published by F. A. Mills
of New York in 1899 depicts
Whistling Rufus on the cover
playing a guitar, "A great
musician with a high position,
was Whistling Rufus, the one-band
man." The video we've used
will be familiar to some of you,
no doubt - Steamboat Willie,
notable for being the first
cartoon animation with fully
synchronised sound. Aspidistra
were not part of the original
production!!
December 2020
Tico
Tico (arr Trevor Wye) arranged
for 6 flutes played by Katherine
Bryan in lockdown
Kenneth
Alwyn, conductor, composer and
writer,
has died aged 95
Described by BBC
Radio 3 as "one of the great
British musical directors",
Alwyn was known for his many
recordings, including with the
London Symphony Orchestra on
Decca's first stereophonic
recording of Tchaikovsky's 1812
Overture.
He was also known
for his long association with BBC
Radio 2's orchestral live music
programme Friday Night is
Music Night, appearing for
thirty years as a conductor and
presenter, and for his
contribution to British musical
theatre as a prolific musical
director in the 1950s and 1960s.
He was a Fellow of
the Royal Academy of Music and
married the actress Mary Law in
1960. His website and the first
volume of his memoirs A Baton
in the Ballet and Other Places
were both published in 2015. The
second volume Is Anyone
Watching? was published in
2017.
Radio Six
International News for Christmas
Festive Fortnight.
On Christmas Eve
at 6pm "Crooners for
Christmas" is a programme
that André Leon produced for UK
Light Radio which is now being
re-broadcast again as a tribute
to the late Freddy Cole, who
passed away in June of this year
and who hosted a special
programme of music by some of the
all time greats for UKLightRadio
a few years ago.
André Leon lets
the bells ring out from around
the world in a special Christmas
morning show entitled CHRISTMAS
BELLS from the London studios of
UKLightRadio and is followed by
Keith Skues.
... brings
together some of the wonderful
musicians of English National
Ballet Philharmonic for a special
working from home rendition of
Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake Overture.
... In the spirit
of #ClapForOurCarers, the
#ENBPhilharmonic have remotely
recorded a special excerpt from
the ENB production of Raymonda,
dedicated with much love and
gratitude to #OurNHSPeople and to
#HealthWorkers all over the world
?? #PlayForOurCarers #ENBAtHome
... Some of the
UK's finest musicians, still in
lockdown owing to COVID-19 and
its effect on the arts, pay
tribute to the late Dame Vera
Lynn, by coming together to
perform her legendary hit
"We'll Meet Again".
... Gavin's
orchestra-at-home perform a song
adopted as a tribute to the NHS
and their immense dedication and
commitment during the challenging
times the COVID pandemic has
seen.
November 2020
He’s
marvelled at movies and musicals,
and pored over pop songs…
now TV music teacher Neil Brand
is talking television in a
three-part series.
Fans of Neil Brand
will know the magic he brings to
TV documentaries: sitting at the
piano and deconstructing songs
and themes. It’s like
lifting a curtain on something
you thought you knew well, only
to discover a whole new world of
meaning.
Brand now turns
his attention to television in
his fifth series which starts on
BBC Four at 9pm on Friday 4th
December.
A fifth
'Lockdown' video from
The Aspidistra Drawing Room
Orchestra
Yearning
(Just For You) by Joe Burke Performance by the
Aspidistra Drawing Room Orchestra
in lockdown. In this video, Mabel and
Fatty make guest appearances. It
is the first of their videos with
vocals.
The Aspidistra
Webpage now also features a blog. This allows you
to give feedback on any
Aspidistra activity or related
musical matters. If you feel
inclined to tell them something
in future, write it on the blog
page, and they can all see it.
Please spread the
word and sign up for thier
Newsletter.
November 2020
Another
'Lockdown' video from
The Aspidistra Drawing Room
Orchestra
Girls in
Grey by Charles Williams
arranged by Roy Bell
Performance by the Aspidistra
Drawing Room Orchestra in
lockdown.
Girls in Grey was
originally written for the
Women's Junior Air Corps during
World War II and later became
known as the BBC television
Newsreel theme.
November 2020
From Anthony
Wills:
To mark Remembrance Sunday
(8/11/20), BBC4 is screening a
repeat of Dame Vera
Lynn: We'll Meet Again at 8.10 pm
followed by one of those
compilation programmes they do so
well, Dame
Vera Lynn At The BBC (9.10 pm). Should
be good.
Both programmes
should be available on BBC
iPlayer for 30 days. Follow the
links above.
November 2020
Peter
Hope’s 90th birthday.
Peter Hope, noted
Light Music composer and
President of the Light Music
Society, celebrated his 90th
birthday on November 2nd 2020. A
friend and former colleague of
the late Ernest Tomlinson,
Peter's career began in the early
50's as a copyist and arranger.
He soon branched
out into composing and wrote a
great deal of library music,
principally for the publisher
Mozart Edition and frequently
under his pseudonym of William
Gardner. Arguably, his most
well-known opus is The Ring Of
Kerry Suite, which deservedly won
him an Ivor Novello award.
To mark this
auspicious occasion, a two-CD set
of many of his pieces has been
issued, and is reviewed here.
Radio Six
International devoted an
hour-long programme to the life
and work of Peter Hope and we are
pleased to reproduce it, with due
ackowledgement below:
November 2020
André
Rieu has a new CD + DVD Reported by Peter
Burt
ANDRÉ RIEU has a
new CD + DVD, 'JOLLY HOLIDAY' on
Decca 5488182. The CD is live and
is too much a singalong for my
liking. The video is an
interesting look behind the
scenes including the stage
building for his Christmas
concert. As with so many things
in this strange year it is
unlikely there will be his usual
best-selling studio produced
album.
October 2020
Classic
Musicals on the BBC
Information from
Anthony Wills:
Over the next few
weeks, the BBC are showing
classic musicals each week on
BBC2 and BBC4 TV.
On The
Town (Gene Kelly, Frank
Sinatra) (1949) Saturday 7th November,
2.40 pm on BBC 2,repeated
Thursday 12th November, 8 pm BBC4 Music by Leonard
Bernstein and Roger Edens, lyrics
by Adolph Green and Betty Comden https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00789db
Easter
Parade (Judy Garland,
Fred Astaire) (1948)
Saturday 14th November, 3.15 pm
on BBC 2, repeated Thursday 19th
November 8 pm BBC4
Music by Irving Berlin https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0078bmx
Warning: The above
films might only stay on iPlayer
for 30 days after transmission.
However.......
More can
be found on BBC iPlayer: -
A number of
classic movie musicals are still
available on BBC iPlayer to perk
up viewers as venues remain shut
and large-scale live performances
remain impossible.
The films come
predominantly from the Golden Age
of Hollywood
Top Hat
(1935)
Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers
are the go-to for musical movies
and Top Hat, featuring music and
lyrics by Irving Berlin, may be
one of their finest. https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0074r4k/top-hat
Carefree
(1938)
The perfect pairing of Astaire
and Rogers continues with this
comedy, which also features the
work of Berlin. The film
controversially (at the time)
featured a "long on-screen
kiss", which shocked
audiences in their droves. https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0078lxg/carefree
The Gay
Divorcee (1934)
Based on Dwight Taylor's 1932
musical of the same name (but
controversially leaving out a lot
of Cole Porter's original tunes)
this was another of the ten
movies Astaire and Rogers did
together. https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0074r43/the-gay-divorce
Royal
Philharmonic Orchestra - A new
piece of British Light Music
On 30 September,
in their first Spotlight Series
concert, musicians from the RPO
brass and percussion sections
performed Jim Parker's 'A
Londoner in New York' to a
socially distanced audience at
Cadogan Hall.
Experience the
hustle and bustle of the Big
Apple through this live recording
in association with ILC Music
Degrees (West Suffolk College)
and enjoy an extract from a
conversation with Jim Parker and
trombonist Matthew Knight as the
introduction. You can listen to
the full interview with the
composer here.
Find out more
about the Spotlight Series of
concerts here.
September 2020
BBC
Instrumental Sessions
As part of the BBC
Instrumental Sessions, the
bassoons of the BBC orchestras
perform Eric Coates’s
Calling All Workers, arranged by
Steve Magee.
More information
about these sessions can be found
HERE
August 2020
Did you
hear Brian Reynolds on Serenade
Radio?
CALLING
ALL WORKERS
Remember 'Music
While You Work' on the BBC? The
programme began 80 years ago this
year.
Announced in the
Radio Times as a “half
hour’s music meant specially
for factory workers to listen to
as they work”, it soon
proved a favourite with all
listeners, as its familiar
signature tune by Eric Coates
rang out.
On August Bank
Holiday Monday, Serenade's Brian
Savin traced the programme's
fascinating history along with
Brian Reynolds.
You can
listen to the programme again via
our Streaming Audio page HERE
August 2020
'Lockdown'
videos from The Aspidistra
Drawing Room Orchestra
'Heather on the
Pampas' by Sydney del Monte,
arranged by Anastasia Arnold
La Morenita by
Mátyás Seiber arranged by Roy
Bell
The Donkey
Serenade by Rudolf Friml arranged
by Adam Bakker
14/01/2021
ENGLISH MUSIC FOR STRINGS
Sinfonia of London / John Wilson
09/01/2021
CLASSIC DIAMONDS
Neil Diamond / LSO
12/12/2020
GAUTIER CAPUÇON
EMOTIONS
27/11/2020
JOHN RUTTER
THE PIANO COLLECTION
Wayne Marshall - piano
24/11/2020
THE PETER HOPE COLLECTION
20/11/2020
ANDREA BOCELLI
BELIEVE
16/11/2020
SOMMERNACHTS KONZERT 2020
SUMMER NIGHT CONCERT
Valery Gergiev / Jonas Kaufmann
Wiener Philharmoniker
10/11/2020
ALED JONES
Blessings
The London
Light Music Meetings Group was
formed in 2014 to continue to hold the
meetings which were formerly organised by
the Robert Farnon Society.
Each of these takes the
form of a Sunday afternoon event during
which recorded musical items are
presented and discussed; they are held in
May and October of each year.
The range of music genres
is broadly as before embracing Light
Orchestral, Film, TV and Theatre -
related, Big Band and similar material.
The previous successful
format is retained with a central
feature/guest speaker and includes live
performances from time to time.
We
have now expanded this website to include
news items, details of other musical
events, CD and book reviews, and
obituaries.
We
welcome contributions in respect of any
of the above, also comments and articles.
