The BBC Philharmonic under Rumon Gamba have done excellent service in recent years to both film music and the lighter repertoire –and this disc is no exception. Beautifully produced – and it feels good to hold! Great sound, a full eighty minute programme and enthusiastic and convincing performances. Good sleeve notes too.
The earliest work given here is the attractive Miniature Suite from 1911. This work was dedicated to Sir Henry Wood, the conductor of its first performance at the 1911 season of the Promenade Concerts. At that time Eric Coates was a member of the orchestra. In fact in the same year he became the principal violist. The Suite is full of good things but perhaps the most pleasing movement is the last –the Scene du Bal. That took on a life of its own, often being excerpted. The first time I heard it was, I believe, at a pier-head concert in Llandudno!
The Dambusters March of 1954 is so well known that it hardly needs comment. However the famous story associated with this piece always bears retelling. He was approached by the film company directors and asked if he had anything suitable for the new film. He is supposed to have replied; ‘I think I finished it yesterday!’ He was able to repristinate an already composed march. Almost overnight it was to become a top ten hit! Here we have a march that satisfies all the requirements of its genre – good ‘patriotic’ stuff. Perhaps the truth is more prosaic. The score for the Dambusters is written with pure craftsmanship and perfectly supports the action. However it is well known that the composer Leighton Lucas had a considerable input to the score as well!
The Joyous Youth Suite is less well known than the London and Three Elizabeth Suites. It was composed in the early 1920s. According to the programme notes Coates and his wife had been thrown out of their flat by a ‘battle-axe’ of a landlady. They were lucky to find alternative accommodation with his in-laws in St John’s Wood. After a period of being unsettled, Coates was now able to write this happy music. He writes in his autobiography, ‘Two orchestral works were the result of the charming sitting room which looked down onto the wide road with its abundance of trees where the birds sang all day: a suite ‘Joyous Youth’ and an overture, ‘The Merry Makers’ This is indeed music that is filled with happiness, security and well-being.
Eric Coates was very much inspired by the countryside – his love of nature is obvious in the titles of many of his suite works. However he was inspired and influenced by London life. Here he was to spend much of his life. Perhaps this dichotomy is best summed up in the ‘Meadow to Mayfair Suite.’It is no surprise however that Coates was able to turn is hand to music that is evocative of the great capital .His two suites, London and London Again are attempts to portray various sides of the city’s complex and fascinating life. The first suite presented here was originally known as the London Everywhere. It is by far the better known of the two.
This work contains what is probably the best known of Eric Coates' pieces – the Knightsbridge March. It goes without saying that it was used as the signature tune of the BBC Radio Programme – 'In Town Tonight'. It is now legendary that after the first broadcast of this piece of music the BBC was inundated with over 30,000 phone calls asking what the music was!
This is not programme music in the purest sense. However, Coates makes use of a battery of orchestral and musical devices to point up the atmosphere of each chosen location.
The first piece is a tone painting of Covent Garden market – complete with the old English tune Cherry Ripe. The form that the composer used was a Tarnatelle, which by its musical nature suggests all the business of the one time great fruit market.
The second movement is a nocturne really. It is almost as if the composer was watching the sunrise on the Houses of Parliament and the Abbey. There are very few people around in this mediation. Coates uses the French horns to ring out the Westminster chimes. This is a beautifully scored piece that shows the composer as a master of the orchestra.
The Suite ends with the famous Knightsbridge March. Legend tells that Coates worked out this piece as he walked the streets of London. Perhaps it is here that he finds the perfect description of West End life. One cannot hear this music without mental images of Harrods, red buses, London taxis and to my mind Christmas lights and glistening pavements after rain.
It is not really appropriate to give a detailed description if the Three Phantasies - The Selfish Giant, Cinderella and The Three Bears. They follow the stories much as received by tradition. Coates uses so much invention that tunes just seem to tumble out one after the other. As with all of his music we are aware of great skill in orchestration and part writing. Melodies are juxtaposed and worked against each other.
These works were a musical interpretation of Coates' wife's retelling of the famous tales. They were read aloud to their son Austin. It is well known that the Three Bears Phantasy not only 'tells the story' of the fairy tale but is also a depiction of the Coates family life. These are fine works. If they were by any 'serious' or 'heavy' composer they would be well and truly ensconced in the repertoire.
There was apparently another Phantasy written in all but name - Snowwhite and the Seven Dwarfs. This was later reworked as the ballet suite The Enchanted Garden. However this work was never performed with dancers.
For many years it was almost a 'given' of classical music scholarship that 'light' music was somehow less worthy of our attention than the latest efforts of the serialists and the aleatory composers. There was no doubt in anyone's mind that the latest offering of Stockhausen or Boulez was of greater intrinsic value than any work which was deemed 'tuneful' or at least composed in a 'popular' style.
Yet somehow the wheel has gone the full circle. It has become far more acceptable for listeners to listen to what interests and moves them - irrespective of current critical canons.
The whole field of 'light' music - once so derided - has benefited from this new sense of freedom. Composers such as Haydn Wood, Billy Mayerl and Trevor Duncan have been given a new lease of life. There is little danger of adverse criticism putting devotees off. People are less likely to be concerned that Eric Coates' music may not be deep but can be tuneful. There is an understanding that with the likes of Coates, the craftsmanship that underlies the sheer attractiveness and approachability of the music can be as great as many a 'heavy' writer. Good technique is not the preserve of the profound composers.
Eric Coates is perhaps the epitome of this trend in music. Excellent technique with tuneful melodies. Sentimental? Yes. But who really cares. It is thoroughly enjoyable stuff that well deserves its popularity. What this current disc has done is to give some favourites and also repristinate some lesser-known minor masterpieces.
Track Listing:
Cinderella – A Phantasy (1930)
The Selfish Giant – A Phantasy (1925)
The Three Bears – A Phantasy (1927)
Miniature Suite (1911)
London (London Everywhere) – Suite (1933)
Joyous Youth - Suite (1922)
The Dambusters – a March (1954)
BBC Philharmonic Orchestra -conducted by Rumon Gamba
Chandos CHAN 9869
With thanks to MusicWeb International, where this review first appeared.
Excellent write-up! I wasn't aware that Coates & his wife were thrown out of their lodgings. I have two Naxos CDs of Coates historic recordings. Really good quality for their vintage. Very melodic.
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