December 2023

November 2023

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October 2023
Calling
All Workers - Analysed by Robert
Walton

An analysis by
Robert Walton of Eric Coates' 'Calling all
Workers' march has been
added to our Articles section
October 2023
BBC axes
Sunday Night Is Music
Night

The BBCs
long-running programme, which has
aired continuously since 1953,
has finally been discontinued.
Originally
broadcast on the former BBC Light
Programme and carried forward to
Radio Two upon the latter's
inception in 1967, it spent most
of its long life as 'Friday Night
Is Music Night' until the
outbreak of the Covid pandemic in
2020. At that point, it
transferred to Sundays, with of
course a necessary change of
title.
Most of the
broadcasts during the last three
years have featured repeats of
previous episodes, although there
have been some new ones from
time-to-time.
The final edition
was on October 15th and this has
now effectively resulted in the
total abandonment by the BBC of
Light Music. Sadly, another
[huge] brick out of the wall !!
Apart from the
loss of a well-loved radio
programme, its demise inevitably
throws in into question the
future of the BBC Concert
Orchestra, which has been
resident throughout the entire
series.
A comprehensive
history of the programme may be
found here
[with due acknowledgement to
Wikipedia]
And an article
about the demise of the
programme, with due
acknoledgement to the i newspaper, can
also be found here
Tony
Clayden
October 2023
New Year
Concert by the
Aspidistra Drawing Room Orchestra

Thursday
4th January 2024 at 8:00pm
The Music Room,
Sands Film Studio, 82 St
Marychurch Street,
London SE16 4HZ
The Aspidistra
Drawing Room Orchestra is an
ensemble of string quartet,
piano, flute and oboe and has
been praised for their joyous
interpretation of unjustly
neglected Palm Court music. For
example the programme includes We
Were so Young (Jerome Kern),
Ukraine (Frederick
Charrosin) and Tartan Parade
(Montague Ewing). It will provide
an upbeat start to the new year
as well as some reminiscences of
the year gone by.
Tickets by
voluntary donation are available
from: https://www.sandsfilms.co.uk/sands-films-music-room.html
This is a hybrid
concert: performed in the theatre
at Sands Studios for a live
audience and simultaneously
streamed online and the footage
will also be available on demand
for a month thereafter.
October 2023
Evergreen
on Serenade Radio

A new programme of
Light Music has started on Serenade Radio on Friday
evenings at 9pm. lasting for one
hour, the programme is introduced
by Adrian Jackson.

Adrians
career in music and theatre has
spanned over four decades. He
started his career as a musician
and received a predominantly
classical musical training.
Internationally, he has conducted
many renowned orchestras
including: Orchestra of Scottish
Opera, BBC Concert Orchestra,
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and
the Hallé Orchestra; he is also
the musical director and
principal conductor of the
acclaimed City Concert Orchestra.
Listen to Evergreen in our
Streaming Audio section
September 2023
Rosemary
Squires (1928-2023)

We have reproduced
an obituary for singer and
entertainer Rosemary Squires from
The Salisbury Journal in our Obituaries section.
September 2023
David
Corbett (1943-2023)

We have reproduced
an obituary for David Corbett
written by his Sister in our Obituaries section.
August 2023
The BBC's
historic Maida Vale studios have
been sold

The BBC's historic
Maida Vale studios, which have
hosted sessions by stars ranging
from the Beatles to Adele, have
been sold to a group led by
Oscar-winning composer Hans
Zimmer.
Zimmer, who wrote
the scores for films like The
Lion King and Dune, has teamed up
with Love Actually and Cats movie
producers Tim Bevan and Eric
Fellner.
The BBC said the
complex would remain a
"centre for pioneering
music-making".
Built in 1909 as
Britain's largest indoor roller
skating rink, the north-west
London building was bought by the
BBC in 1933.
It is home to the
BBC Symphony Orchestra and in the
past has hosted many BBC radio
programmes such as 'Music While
You Work', John Peel's famous
Radio 1 sessions and the BBC's
innovative Radiophonic Workshop,
famed for its realisation of the
Doctor Who theme tune.
The corporation is
planning to move its music
studios to Queen Elizabeth
Olympic Park in east London in
2025, where the BBC Symphony
Orchestra will then be based.
To read the full
BBC article, please click here.
August 2023
New
obituaries
New obituaries
have been added to the Obituaries Page:
Tony Bennett
(1926-2023) by Anthony Wills
Vince Hill
(1934-2023) by Anthony Wills
Carl Davis
(1936-2023) by Alex Gleason
Sheldon Hernick
(1924-2023)
Astrud Gilberto (1940-2023)
June 2023
Chris
Money

It is my most sad
duty to record the death of Chris
Money on 24th June 2023, after
having experienced severely
declining health during the past
year.
Chris had been a
loyal and enthusiastic supporter
of the LLMMG since the Group's
inception in 2014, and his
involvement had dated back many
years beforehand, as a member of
the Robert Farnon Society.
It is hoped to
publish a full tribute to Chris
in due course, but in the
meantime sincere condolences, on
behalf of the Group, are extended
to his wife Françoise, their
three daughters and Chris's
sisters.
Tony Clayden
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