Ronald Binge: Trade Winds (1946)

‘Sea Music’ has always been popular with British composers. Think only of Frank Bridge’s Suite: The Sea, Benjamin Britten’s Four Sea Interludes from the opera Peter Grimes and on a lesser scale, John Ireland’s Sea Idyll for solo piano.

Best known for his ever-popular Elizabethan Serenade, Sailing By, and The Watermill, Ronald Binge (1910–1979) was a British composer and arranger known for his contributions to light music. Born in Derby, England, he initially worked as a cinema organist before joining orchestras in seaside resorts. His career took off when he became an arranger for Mantovani, where he pioneered the "cascading strings" effect, a hallmark of Mantovani’s sound. Many of his compositions have attractive, descriptive titles.

The liner notes of the Marco Polo survey of Binge’s music remind the listener that during the sailing era, trade winds were crucial for maritime commerce, driving ships steadily across the world's oceans. Blowing eastward north of the equator and westward to the south, these winds provided reliable routes for international trade. Between them lay the doldrums, a windless region that could leave ships stranded. Navigating these patterns ensured smooth and efficient transportation of goods. This inspired Binge’s Trade Winds (1946) which is really a miniature tone poem.

The composer has captured two distinct moods here. Clearly the listener is asked to imagine they were on a Tall Ship responding to the “wayward” winds. Sometimes, the ship surges on and then the sea becomes calm. Somehow, the “wind always returning to keep the vessel moving ever onwards into the horizon.” With its sweeping orchestration and gentle rhythmic pulse, Trade Winds conveys a sense of movement and serenity, evoking images of ships gliding effortlessly across tranquil waters.

Listen to Ronald Binge’s Trade Winds on YouTube, here. The Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra is conducted by Ernest Tomlinson on Naxos 8.223515.

Ronald Binge: Listings of Music recorded on the Guild Light Music Series.

At the time of writing this post (February 2014) there are some 22 CDs listed in the Arkiv catalogue featuring the music of Ronald Binge.  There are also about 22 individual works listed.  Unfortunately only one disc is currently dedicated to the composer –Marco Polo 8.223515 - which was released 20 years ago.  There are 10 CDs featuring the ubiquitous ‘Elizabethan Serenade’, which is justifiably the composer’s best known, if not necessarily his finest piece. Five recordings are shown for the equally popular ‘Sailing By’ which was used as the signature tune to the BBC late-night shipping forecast.  Five also for ‘The Watermill,’ remembered as a melody featured in the television production of The Secret Garden. If I recall correctly it was also used as an ‘interlude’ in the early days if TV.

The now deleted ASV two-CD set entitled Sailing By - The Music of Ronald Binge was a great treat for enthusiasts of British Light Music: fortunately it is available still as a download. These discs included many numbers that were not available anywhere else, including a rather surprising Symphony. The Guild Light Music series has showcased a number of less well-known numbers culled from the archives of record releases and library tapes.  The above mentioned favourites are all present and correct, but other titles include the adorable ‘Miss Melanie’, the enigmatic ‘Mischievous Mac’ and the tantalising ‘Flash Harry.’ Interestingly, a good number of these tunes are played by Mantovani and his Orchestra.

Cornet Carillon - The ‘All Star’ Concert Brass Band / Harry Mortimer OBE (GLCD 5117)

Dance of the Snowflakes - Lansdowne Light Orchestra (GLCD5203)

Elizabethan Serenade - Ron Goodwin & His Concert Orchestra (Stereo Recording) (GLCD5162)

Elizabethan Serenade - Mantovani & His Orchestra (GLCD5184)

Flash Harry - Band of the Grenadier Guards / Major F.J. Harris, MBE (GLCD5147)

Man in a Hurry - Lansdowne Light Orchestra [Actually Stuttgart Radio Orchestra / Kurt Rehfeld] (GLCD5146) 

Mischievous Mac - Crawford Light Orchestra (GLCD5142)

Miss Melanie - Lansdowne Light Orchestra [Actually Stuttgart Radio Orchestra / Kurt Rehfeld] (GLCD 5182)

Red Sombrero - Sidney Torch & his Orchestra (GLCD 5132)

Siesta - A Rumba Serenade - Mantovani & his Orchestra (GLCD 5113)

Snakes and Ladders - Mantovani & his Orchestra (GLCD 5181)

Tales of the Three Blind Mice - Sidney Torch & his Orchestra (GLCD 5154)

The Watermill -The Lansdowne Light Orchestra (Probably Stuttgart Radio Orchestra / Kurt Rehfeld) (GLCD 5183)

Whirlwind - Mantovani & his Orchestra (GLCD 5110)

Ronald Binge: Faire Frou-Frou

Most enthusiasts of British Light music will know the name of Ronald Binge for his masterly Elizabethan Serenade with its gentle evocation of an era long past as well as portraying an optimistic future under our present Queen. Other listeners may have been enchanted by the coquettish Miss Melanie or have nodded off hearing ‘Sailing By’ just before the BBC Home Service/Radio 4 late-night Shipping Forecast. However, fewer will have encountered the subtle musical picture of the most famous venues of Parisian night-life explored in Faire Frou-Frou.

When I was last in Paris, I went for a walk past the Folies Bergère in the Rue Richer in the 9 arrondissement: unfortunately I did not venture into one of the famous cabaret shows. This traditional Parisian music-hall epitomises nearly a century and a half of exotic entertainment. Few people will be unaware of the legendary Can-Can dancers as pictured by (amongst many others) the artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and the composer Jaques Offenbach.

I am not sure what Binge’s definition of ‘Frou Frou’ was. Perhaps it was the nick-name of a dancer at the Folies? Or maybe a character from a Belle-Époque novel or play.  The dictionary definition is more prosaic- ‘Fussy or showy dress or ornamentation’. This would be a good definition of the archetypical Can-Can dress.  Internet browsers will hardly be surprised to find the Faire Frou-Frou is now the trade name of a prestigious French lingerie manufacturer.

Ronald Binge has chosen to present a slightly more reserved picture of the Folies Bergère than Offenbach did. However, the rhythm of the Can-Can underlies the proceedings. The second section of this episodic work has an allusion to the French national anthem. However, after exploring a number of lively moods the main dance theme returns and brings the work to a subtle rather than boisterous close.

Faire Frou-Frou was published as a piano piece by Inter-Art Music Publishers in 1957. Band/orchestra parts are available from Josef Weinberger. The work (as far as I can tell) has only been released on the Marco Polo retrospective of Binge’s music. (8.223515)

Ronald Binge: The Watermill

I was glad to hear Ronald Binge’s Sailing By on Classic FM the other day.  Looking at the radio website it is one of three popular pieces that regularly feature in their broadcast schedules. The other two are the Elizabethan Serenade and The Watermill. I am not sure if any of these pieces featured in the Hall of Fame 2013 listings as there is no searchable list.

The Watermill, which was composed in 1958, is well-known to television viewers of a certain generation as the theme tune to The Secret Garden which was screened in 1975.  This is not impressionistic music as such, but more of an 'impression'. It is closer to musical realism.  The opening cello and bass motive ‘evoke the steady trundling of the mill wheel.’ Against this is a lovely rocking string theme. After a few bars the oboe states an evocative and wistful melody, or is it a commentary. Formally the music is almost monothematic – with the interest being supplied by gentle variations of the accompaniment and theme. Certainly this is a lovely pastoral piece that makes an accomplished use of the solo oboe and strings. Included in the score is a harp which lends weight to the cascading effects of the water. It is music to soothe even the most troubled mood.

The work is currently available on at least a dozen recordings. The Guild Light Music series has a version by the Lansdowne Light Orchestra (Probably Stuttgart Radio Orchestra / Kurt Rehfeld) on GLCD5183 however, one of the best recordings is on the Hyperion label, CDA66868  with the New London Orchestra conducted by Ronald Corp. Marco Polo (8.223515) issued a retrospective of Binge’s music in 1992. The Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra plays under Ernest Tomlinson. The Watermill is also features on YouTube in a version for oboe and piano. The soloist is Jeremy Polmear.

Ronald Binge: Scottish Rhapsody

I recently happened to hear Ronald Binge’s fine evocation of Scotland. Not perhaps as Alec Salmond MSP would see it: more as the English Tourist Board under the auspices of Sir Walter Scott... The liner notes by the doyen of British Light Music, Ernest Tomlinson give the full story:-  The mist enshrouded lochs, the calm of the glens, the skirl of the pipes and the swirl of the kilt as the highland fling dances on its with merry way.

This is a musical Scotland that can happily sit alongside those works ‘furth o’ the border’ such as the Tam O’ Shanter Overture and the Scottish Dances by Malcolm Arnold, the Scottish Fantasy by Bruch, Moscheles Anticipations of Scotland and even Mendelssohn’s Hebridean Overture.

However, as a Scotsman myself, I can say that this is a fine musical picture of a great nation. I concede that Binge may be accused of creating a mythological and possibly stereotyped description of the Scottish landscape and people. However this ought to be no more a problem than Edward German’s Welsh Rhapsody is to the Welsh, Stanford’s Irish Rhapsodies are to the Irish or Greensleeves (as realised by RVW) is to the English.

The compositional history suggests that Ronald Binge raided his memory for appropriate Scottish tunes –and when he could not find one to suit he invented something which is more Scottish than the real thing!  Tunes that the listener will ‘ken’ include ‘Kelvin Grove’, ‘Fairy Dance Reel’ and ‘Where has my hi'lan' laddie gone?’ 

The work was originally written for Mantovani who included it in many concert pefromances in Europe and America.

There is a live performance of this work produced by students of the Barton College Department of Communication and Performing Arts. There is also a recording by Mantovani.

The full work is given its definitive performance on Marco Polo 8.223515 with the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Ernest Tomlinson. A shortened version is presented on the British Light Music Heritage 2-CD set on ASV CDWLZ245

Ronald Binge: Miss Melanie

This year is the centenary of the birth of Ronald Binge. I am not sure that it will be marked by any special events either in the concert hall or with CD releases. Hopefully something will appear. Most commentators will concentrate on his three greatest hits - The Watermill, which was used in the BBC series The Secret Garden, Sailing By which was the close-down music for the BBC Home Service and finally his Elizabethan Serenade which was used for the same station’s shipping forecasts.

However I want to recall the delicate charms of Miss Melanie. This short piece was composed in 1956. Ernest Tomlinson in his sleeve notes for the Marco Polo retrospective of Binge’s music suggests that the lady in question is simply a figure of the composer’s imagination, yet with North Country wit he suggests that she must have been fun-loving lass. Moreover, he points out that her naughtiest trick is “to require the first fiddles to play the first four notes in a special way.” The first is note is bowed and the succeeding notes are played pizzicato. Certainly not a figure for the fainthearted or technically challenged!
Apart from this technical device there is little that is complex bout this work: its 2 ½ minutes being filled with a charming portrait of the girl’s activities
Miss Melanie is an excellent example of a piece of light music that is both entertaining and descriptive. Over and above this it is well constructed, and although formally simple, is satisfying.
The lady in question is probably quite young and her mischief is probably not too serious: perhaps being a little too coy, or is she being flirtations? And most certainly this is a picture of springtime in a tranquil village garden in deepest Sussex...

Miss Melanie is available on a number of recordings including the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Ernest Tomlinson Marco Polo 8223515 and British Light Music classics Volume 3 New London Orchestra conducted by Ronald Corp Hyperion CDA67148