Ronald Binge - Elizabethan Serenade; Scottish Rhapsody; Sailing By (Ernest Tomlinson)

Information

Composer: Ronald Binge

1. Elizabethan Serenade
2. Scottish Rhapsody
3. Miss Melanie
4. Las Castañuelas
5. Madrugado
6. The Red Sombrero
7. Trade Winds
8. Faire Frou-Frou
9. String Song (Version for Orchestra)
10. Alto Saxophone Concerto: I. Allegro spiritoso
11. Alto Saxophone Concerto: II. Andante espressivo
12. Alto Saxophone Concerto: III. Rondo. Allegro giocoso
13. The Watermill
14. Scherzo for Orchestra
15. The Dance of the Snowflakes
16. High Stepper (From "The Adventures of Aggie")
17. Prelude "The Whispering Valley"
18. Venetian Carnival
19. Sailing By

Kenneth Edge, saxophone

Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra

Ernest Tomlinson, conductor

Date: 1994 / 2021

Label: Marco Polo / Naxos

https://www.naxos.com/CatalogueDetail/?id=8.555190

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Review

I’m pleased that Naxos are finally reissuing some – hopefully, all – of the British Light Music recordings formerly available on their sister label Marco Polo. The only possible reason to be disappointed is if you have already bought an earlier Naxos distillation of music from the series: Naxos 8.555315 is also entitled Elizabethan Serenade and includes that and the equally popular Sailing By, together with samples of the other composers in the series.

The new, lower price should help to give these recordings wider availability. We have already had the music of Richard Addinsell (8.555229 – review); it looks as if Naxos are releasing the reissues in alphabetic order, so their Eric Coates should be along soon. For some reason, the original Marco Polo covers are being replaced for the reissues, with both releases to date looking less sophisticated than before. Otherwise, this reissue is just as ‘admirable’ as I thought the original when I reviewed it alongside the Marco Polo selection of music by Robert Farnon in August 2009. I look forward to the reissue of the music of Farnon, too, an adopted Canadian and a musician’s musician, known in the business as ‘the Guv’nor’.

Naxos deserve great credit for bringing us fine performances of this approachable light classical music. It was dwindling in general popularity even when the Marco Polo originals were appearing, but they did it great service and it’s to be hoped that the reissues will do the same. To be fair, other labels, such as Hyperion and Chandos have done more than their bit, and Guild have been bringing us some very fine transfers of vintage 78, mono and stereo LP recordings of the repertoire – review of The Thirties Revisited 3.

Most of the music on this reissue is short and satisfying; most of the pieces short enough to fit on one side of an extended play (EP) record. The opening piece, the popular Elizabethan Serenade, and the less-known The Water Mill also feature on Volume 1 of the Hyperion Light Music series from the New London Orchestra and Ronald Corp (CDA66868, download only, also a 4-CD set CDS44261/4, budget-price – review). For all the well-deserved praise earned by that series, I’d be hard pressed to say that the British orchestra in any way has the edge on their Slovak colleagues.

In the early days of Naxos and Marco Polo recording with Central and Eastern European orchestras cost less than their better-known counterparts, allowing for plenty of rehearsal time before the recordings were set down. I assume that was the case here, because Ernest Tomlinson, himself no mean composer of light music, has captured the Binge idiom very well with these players. Almost all the recordings in the series were made with the Slovak orchestra and various British conductors, though a few were recorded nearer home in Ireland with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra.

Though I had heard this recording in its earlier incarnation, there are several pieces that I had forgotten; I was equally happy to make their acquaintance again alongside the more familiar. The Saxophone Concerto is one such work. I hate the saxophone when it’s doing things it wasn’t intended for – like the ECM series of recordings where Jan Garbarek’s sax weaves in and out of renaissance music where it has no business to be sung by the Hilliard Ensemble. I know that puts me at odds with the many lovers of the popular Officium series, but I enjoyed Binge’s concerto much more, and this seems to be the only generally available recording. The fact that it and several other pieces are not otherwise easily available is reason enough to go for this reissue.

Speaking of discoveries and rediscoveries, Ronald Binge and ‘His Orchestra’ play his arrangement of September in the Rain on a mid-price Guild CD which Johanthan Woolfe liked some time ago – review – but which I’ve only just discovered from B2B access. Entitled ‘Nature’s Realm’, there’s nothing there quite in the category of that Dvořák work, but it’s very enjoyable.

I’ve noticed Naxos CD prices creeping up in some quarters to over £10 in some cases – with £10.46 the pre-release price for this album from one dealer as I write – but there’s no reason to pay more than £7.50, with the lossless download and pdf booklet for around £5.50.

These idiomatic performances remind us why so much of Binge’s music was chosen for radio and TV theme tunes, now forgotten, but the music retains its appeal and this reissue does it credit. Apart from the cover and some minor updating, the booklet is unchanged from the Marco Polo release; unlike some other labels, Naxos don’t skimp the details for their less expensive reissues. Roll on the rest of these re-releases.

-- Brian Wilson, MusicWeb International

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Ronald Binge (15 July 1910 – 6 September 1979) was a British composer and arranger of light music. Born in Derby, Derbyshire, and studied organ at the Derby School of Music, he played the organ, then arranged and composed for Mantovani's orchestra. Binge was interested in the technicalities of composition and was most famous as the inventor of the "cascading strings" effect that is the signature sound of the Mantovani orchestra. He also regularly composed for production and library music publishers, and a number of his works were used for radio and television signature tunes.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Binge

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Ernest Tomlinson (19 September 1924 – 12 June 2015) was an English composer. He studied at the Royal Manchester College of Music with Humphrey Procter-Gregg. Tomlinson was primarily known as a composer of light orchestral pieces and produced a considerable body of works ranging from overtures, suites and rhapsodies and miniatures. He also worked on larger-scale forms, including several works in symphonic jazz style, two symphonies, three concertos, a one-act opera Head of the Family, a Festival of Song for chorus and orchestra and numerous works for choirs, brass bands and concert bands.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Tomlinson

https://ernesttomlinson.com/

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