Letter C: Eric Coates
MaestroDJS
their own impressions. Perhaps some of our UK correspondents can enlighten
this US music lover on just what the music Eric Coates means to you. All I can
say is that his music is simply captivating.
One of my British penfriends in the Elgar Society, Ian Lace, kindly introduced
me to the music of Eric Coates about 20 years ago. Ian Lace also kindly sent
me tape copies of the documentaries of Sir Arnold Bax, Eric Coates and John
Ireland which he had produced for BBC Radio Brighton. Coates' music has lost
none of its charms. It is so vivid and direct that during my first visit to
London, Oxford Street seemed precisely as Coates had depicted it in his _London
Again Suite_. Astounding. (Incidentally, _A London Overture_ by John Ireland
also struck me as so exactly right.) Music is indeed a window to the world.
It's been far too long since my last trip to the UK. Sigh. So many places, so
much music, so little time.
Dave Stybr
Selected recordings:
Eric Coates (1886-1957), United Kingdom:
_London Suite_ (1); _Saxo-Rhapsody_ (1); _Calling All Workers_ (3); _The
Merrymakers_ (2); _Wood Nymphs_ (1); _At the Dance_ (2); _The 3 Elizabeths_
(3); _By the Sleepy Lagoon_ (2); _Music Everywhere_ (2); _From Meadow to
Mayfair Suite_ (1); _Cinderella Phantasy_ (1); _The Dam Busters_ (1); _Man
from the Sea_ (2); _The 3 Bears Phantasy_ (2); _London Again Suite (1). (1)
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra / Sir Charles Groves; (2) London
Symphony Orchestra / Sir Charles Mackerras; (3) City of Birmingham Symphony
Orchestra / Reginald Kilby. Classics for Pleasure CFPD 41 4456 3 (2 LPs)
(United Kingdom).
_The 3 Elizabeths_; _The Merrymakers_; _The Jester at the Wedding_;
_Miniature Suite_; _Calling All Workers_. City of Birmingham Symphony
Orchestra / Reginald Kilby. EMI HMV Greensleeve ESD 7005 (United Kingdom).
_London Suite_: Knightsbridge March; _From Meadow to Mayfair Suite_: In the
Country; _Calling All Workers_; _By the Sleepy Lagoon_; _The Merrymakers_;
_The 3 Bears Phantasy_; _Television March_; _At the Dance_; _London
Calling_; _Saxo-Rhapsody_; _Wood Nymphs_; _London Again Suite_: Oxford
Street. Various orchestras / Eric Coates (Recorded 1931-1946). EMI GX 41
2543 1 (United Kingdom).
vertigo
> Rather than expound upon this composer myself, I invite our readers to share
> their own impressions. Perhaps some of our UK correspondents can enlighten
> this US music lover on just what the music Eric Coates means to you.
Perhaps our US correspondents can enlighten UK music lovers on just what the music
of Eric Coates means to you!
Seriously, to me his music means the BBC's Desert Island Disks, but also The
Platters' By a Sleepy Lagoon. Great melody by the way!
All kidding aside, I greatly enjoy the music of Coates & I have a wonderful
2-cd anthology of his music, inc. the Cinderella score, a Dam Busters March that
Nicholas Brodzsky ripped off for an Academy-Award-nominated song from his Love Me
Or Leave Me Score, the London Suite, and a lot of other material. Certainly I'd
rank him as arguably the finest of the "light-music" composers.
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"Who would have thought that
death had undone so many?"
DANTE, Divine Comedy
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John Carter
has achieved a rebirth mostly through the activities of Marco Polo and ASV.
Why such music was neglected with but a few EMI issues for so long remains
questionable.It suggests that classical music executives were snobs. The
most comprehensive survey is the on going one on Marco Polo 20 plus discs
so far, 17 composers.There are two Coates discs, but others include Duncan,
Torch Curzon Binge, Farnon, Goodwin, two by Haydn Wood, Quilter,
Tomlinson,Addinsell, Mayerl,,German, Coleridge-Taylor and a special disc of
songs by Coates, delightful.. Ketelbey is represented with an orchestral
disc but also two discs of piano music.We are to use the English phrase
talking "Rocking Horse droppings" of rare colourful repertoire{.very hard to
find.] ASV have at least two Coates discs and two Addinsell which are also
first class.The problem is that they duplicate a fair amount of the Marco
Polo editions. There are also two rather old EMI discs available as a
double set.Some of these performances are also good but not recorded with
the realism of the Marco Polo digitals.A true addict would want them all.
Hyperion and other labels have done a few light music discs but this was
more or less to cash in on the Marco Polo ASV lead and are just popular
concerts of several composers.they were reviewed well in Gramophone but
would be at the bottom of my list..
In addition there is a recent box set on Naxos of five discs taking items
from the Marco Polo archive which must be a fantastic bargain and the ideal
introduction, This might be all the British Light Music you ever want.
The British Light Music tradition goes back over a century, and many
composers were also conductors.Some was composed for shows, or as light
concert works.Later the genre gained more support first on radio and later
on television with incidental music and signature tunes.It is not a dead but
a living tradition.
Its attraction is based on"A Good Tune" and clever orchestrations.Even Elgar
was not loath to add to the repertoire.The Marco Polo Edition under the
guidance of Ernest Tomlinson himself has covered most of the more popular
works but there is a vast body of compositions yet unrecorded.. , Coates is
not far divorced from the English Pastoral school , others are more exotic,
or often humorous.Take "The London Transport Suite" or"Trapeze Waltz" on the
Torch disc.
The only like tradition is probably in America.Leroy Anderson, Sousa, etc
now also appearing on Naxos and Marco Polo, much unknown to us here but
instantly recognised as kin under the skin.
British Light Music is more like Anderson, often purpose composed and with
that brevity that is the soul of wit. Coates ,Torch and others recorded
quite a bit in their prewar and just post war years.EMI did some discs a
few years ago but they seemed more packaging to substance.Most must be out
of copyright now Mr Heymann. Nudge , Nudge, Wink , Wink, Know what I
mean?Mind you it might mean renaming Naxos Historical "Naxos Hysterical".
There is also a British Light Music Society that have given great support to
both Marco Polo and ASV. I have described Coates as English Pastoral with a
touch of Elgar.The styles though are many .Impressionism is not out of place
in say Farnon,or the Srauss waltz in Joyce, though maybe Waldteufal comes
first to mind?
It isn't music for musical snobs.If you aren't careful you find yourself
humming the tunes, and horror of horror whistling them. British Light Music
is about the best pick me up on the market and ought to be on National
Health Prescription.
John Carter Barsoom.
MaestroDJS <maest...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:19990924214539...@ng-ff1.aol.com...
> Rather than expound upon this composer myself, I invite our readers to
share
> their own impressions. Perhaps some of our UK correspondents can
enlighten