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Donald Macleod explores the impact of radio, the ´óÏó´«Ã½ and the postwar recording industry on the British light music scene.

The names of the composers of British light music - Coates, Ketèlby, Farnon, Dring or Tomlinson - might not be as well known as those of Mozart, Beethoven or Bach, but some of their music will be just as familiar to most listeners, and it still provides the soundtrack to many people’s everyday lives through, among other things, the theme music to their favourite TV and radio programmes. Over the course of this week, Donald Macleod tracks the rise and fall of light music in Britain over roughly 100 years, from the mid-19th century to the mid-20th. He’ll be exploring the social history which led to this genre flourishing, from the late-Victorian theatre crowds in want of more popular fare after the successes of Gilbert and Sullivan’s operettas, to the orchestras which sprang up to entertain the burgeoning UK seaside resorts. Along the way, Donald will examine the explosion of music in people’s homes, as at first pianos and other instruments, and then radio and television sets, became affordable to households across the country, and the transition from silent movies to the talkies. Donald will also explore the challenges which the genre faced as audiences moved towards new ways of listening in the 20th century and the pioneers who have sought to keep this music alive.

In Thursday’s episode, Donald explores the huge explosion in audience numbers brought by radio, and the impact of the ´óÏó´«Ã½ and the postwar recording industry on the British light music scene, as composers such as Ronald Binge and Robert Farnon, alongside the star performers of the day, took to the air.

Ronald Binge
Sailing by
´óÏó´«Ã½ SO
David Parry, conductor

Ronald Binge
Alto Saxophone Concerto
Kenneth Edge, alto saxophone
Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra
Ernest Tomlinson, conductor

Robert Farnon
Little Miss Molly
Maryan Rawicz, Walter Landauer, pianos
Robert Farnon Orchestra
Robert Farnon, conductor

Eric Coates
Calling All Workers
CBSO
Reginald Kilbey, conductor

Eric Coates
London Suite III. Knightsbridge
´óÏó´«Ã½ Philharmonic
John Wilson, conductor

Robert Farnon
Portrait of a Flirt
Robert Farnon and his Orchestra

Robert Farnon
A La Claire Fontaine
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Douglas Gamley, conductor

Robert Farnon
Westminster Waltz
´óÏó´«Ã½ CO
Vernon Handley, conductor

Ronald Binge
The Water Mill
Light Music Society Orchestra
Lt. Col. Sir Vivian Dunn, conductor