Farnon: Westminster Waltz - Orchestral Music / Leaper, Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra
Details
- Composer
- Robert Farnon
- Artist
- Adrian Leaper
- Format
- CD
- Label
- Naxos
- Released
- Jul 08, 2022
- Catalog #
- 8574323
- UPC
- 747313432370
About
Frank Sinatra dubbed Robert Farnon ‘The Guv’nor’ in 1962 when the two men first came together in London to work on an album. This summed up Farnon’s reputation as being synonymous with the highest standards of craftsmanship across the widest spectrum of music-making, earning him four Ivor Novello awards and the Order of Canada. His fame was established with BBC wartime radio broadcasts and the ubiquitous Portrait of a Flirt. Further success came with TV themes such as the stirring Colditz March and the impressionistic beauty of such gems as À la claire fontaine. The performances on this acclaimed recording are given with ‘warmth, polish and a remarkable naturalness of idiomatic feeling’ (The Penguin Guide).
Review:
These 17 short pieces are drawn from among the elite of British style light music. Their dates are mostly scattered throughout the 1940s with outliers in the 1950s and 1970s. They were written by a Toronto-born man who was a prince among light music practitioners. He never lacked for work even when the genre began to stagger.
There are plenty of familiar moments including the Westminster chimes in the slippery-gliding polished Westminster Waltz and the unaccustomed gauntness of the Colditz March written later on for BBCTV’s successful Colditz series. Manhattan Playboy has a few Gershwin twists and twirls and streetcar references among Farnon’s usual broad bow-wave melodies. For all his faculty for commercial sheen he never lost touch with his gentle high summer pastoral side, as in Lake of the Woods, How Beautiful is Night, Pictures in the Fire, À la claire Fontaine and In a Calm. Each adds some contrast in what would otherwise have been a little unremitting. The 1946 State Occasion is a foray into Sovereign pomp and circumstance, much as Haydn Wood’s contemporary marches as well as the Empire March by Montague Phillips. Gateway to the West is among the most satisfying of his pieces and reeks of a confident sunny travelogue of the 1940s cinema ‘shorts’.
The collection launches with the well-practised exhilarations of Portrait of a Flirt. Farnon returns to the theme sometimes in comedic garb. Peanut Polka and Jumping Bean both recall the cinema sing-a-longs when a ball would bounce from word to word on screen to encourage the audience to sing and keep time.
This is good and true to style with a nice mix of moods.
--MusicWeb International (Rob Barnett)
Tracklist 17 tracks
-
1 Portrait of a Flirt 02:40
- Track
- 1
- Title
- Portrait of a Flirt
- Duration
- 02:40
- Composer
- Robert Farnon
- Ensemble
- Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra
- Conductor
- Adrian Leaper
-
2 How Beautiful is Night 03:16
- Track
- 2
- Title
- How Beautiful is Night
- Duration
- 03:16
- Composer
- Robert Farnon
- Ensemble
- Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra
- Conductor
- Adrian Leaper
-
3 Melody Fair 02:46
- Track
- 3
- Title
- Melody Fair
- Duration
- 02:46
- Composer
- Robert Farnon
- Ensemble
- Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra
- Conductor
- Adrian Leaper
-
4 À la claire fontaine 07:24
- Track
- 4
- Title
- À la claire fontaine
- Duration
- 07:24
- Composer
- Robert Farnon
- Ensemble
- Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra
- Conductor
- Adrian Leaper
-
5 Peanut Polka 03:03
- Track
- 5
- Title
- Peanut Polka
- Duration
- 03:03
- Composer
- Robert Farnon
- Ensemble
- Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra
- Conductor
- Adrian Leaper
-
6 3 Impressions for Orchestra: No. 2. In a Calm 02:39
- Track
- 6
- Title
- 3 Impressions for Orchestra: No. 2. In a Calm
- Duration
- 02:39
- Composer
- Robert Farnon
- Ensemble
- Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra
- Conductor
- Adrian Leaper
-
7 Gateway to the West 03:09
- Track
- 7
- Title
- Gateway to the West
- Duration
- 03:09
- Composer
- Robert Farnon
- Ensemble
- Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra
- Conductor
- Adrian Leaper
-
8 Jumping Bean 02:27
- Track
- 8
- Title
- Jumping Bean
- Duration
- 02:27
- Composer
- Robert Farnon
- Ensemble
- Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra
- Conductor
- Adrian Leaper
-
9 Pictures in the Fire 04:57
- Track
- 9
- Title
- Pictures in the Fire
- Duration
- 04:57
- Composer
- Robert Farnon
- Ensemble
- Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra
- Conductor
- Adrian Leaper
-
10 Little Miss Molly 03:23
- Track
- 10
- Title
- Little Miss Molly
- Duration
- 03:23
- Composer
- Robert Farnon
- Ensemble
- Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra
- Conductor
- Adrian Leaper
-
11 Colditz March 03:03
- Track
- 11
- Title
- Colditz March
- Duration
- 03:03
- Composer
- Robert Farnon
- Ensemble
- Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra
- Conductor
- Adrian Leaper
-
12 A Star is Born 02:43
- Track
- 12
- Title
- A Star is Born
- Duration
- 02:43
- Composer
- Robert Farnon
- Ensemble
- Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra
- Conductor
- Adrian Leaper
-
13 The Westminster Waltz 02:54
- Track
- 13
- Title
- The Westminster Waltz
- Duration
- 02:54
- Composer
- Robert Farnon
- Ensemble
- Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra
- Conductor
- Adrian Leaper
-
14 3 Impressions for Orchestra: No. 3. Manhattan Playboy 02:42
- Track
- 14
- Title
- 3 Impressions for Orchestra: No. 3. Manhattan Playboy
- Duration
- 02:42
- Composer
- Robert Farnon
- Ensemble
- Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra
- Conductor
- Adrian Leaper
-
15 Lake of the Woods 10:05
- Track
- 15
- Title
- Lake of the Woods
- Duration
- 10:05
- Composer
- Robert Farnon
- Ensemble
- Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra
- Conductor
- Adrian Leaper
-
16 Derby Day 02:44
- Track
- 16
- Title
- Derby Day
- Duration
- 02:44
- Composer
- Robert Farnon
- Ensemble
- Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra
- Conductor
- Adrian Leaper
-
17 State Occasion 03:10
- Track
- 17
- Title
- State Occasion
- Duration
- 03:10
- Composer
- Robert Farnon
- Ensemble
- Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra
- Conductor
- Adrian Leaper