Sophisticated Harmony
Oliver Lomax
Vocalion Books
Followers of this magazine and our social media feeds will have already seen a number of mentions of this new book release. Sophisticated Harmony is a volume whose slimness belies a wealth of information, much of which even the most dedicated Light Music reader may not know. As the title suggests, it offers biographies of six major British arrangers and their works. They are: Ronnie Hazlehurst, Trevor Barstow, Dick Doerschuk, Anthony Isaac, Peter Knight and Steve Gray. In fact, a number of these arrangers were also composers and the book takes this into account as well. Some of the names, such as Hazlehurst and Knight are well known to those interested in music for television and radio (in fact, we hear from Knight courtesy of The Fast Tunes Orchestra and Gavin Sutherland on their excellent new CD). All, however, were true “backroom boys”, tasked with producing music (both written and recorded) for broadcasts, often at the shortest of notice (as Trevor Barstow recalls of recording sessions “you never knew what you’d be playing until you got to the studio”).
Taken overall, the book is a valuable corrective to more “romantic” views of what professional music making is. These were jobbing musicians (often from working-class backgrounds) who wrote what they were told for specific purposes (sometimes even specific players). These are not stories about dreamers who turned out masterpieces purely for posterity, but of profoundly hard working individuals, often under extraordinary pressure to deliver the goods on time. That is not to say that the arrangers and composers never stood up to their superiors. One such incident is contained in the first chapter on Ronnie Hazlehurst, in which he firmly defended his music choice for the Last of the Summer Wine theme, with Hazlehurst’s words “I’m sorry, but that’s how I see it” being pivotal in the emergence of one of the most identifiable theme tunes ever written. The book does not shy away from considering how the arrangers’ personal relationships were sometimes adversely affected by the demands of their profession. The strap-line of Dick Doerschuk’s chapter for instance is from the arranger’s son Andy who states “I think it [music] was more important to him than relationships”.
The ordering of the book aids the reader’s understanding of how interconnected the lives and works of the arrangers could often become. Hazlehurst seems to have been something of a lynchpin at times, working for Peter Knight, while Doerschuck would sometimes produce alternative instrumental arrangements for Hazlehurst for instance. In-fights also raise their ugly heads along the way with Doerschuck convincing himself (in the words of his wife Deanna) that there was “a cabal against him in the BBC” headed by Hazlehurst. By the time we arrive at the chapter on Peter Knight “The arrangers’ arranger”, he is well known to the reader by his reputation, thus his biography proceeds to provide much needed background to his well-earned renown.
Wherever possible, as the above examples suggest, the author takes every effort to let those closest to the arrangers (if not the arrangers themselves) speak for themselves. Thus, the book seems a very collaborative effort, bringing these backroom boys into the spotlight.
Sophisticated Harmony is a well-researched and unpretentious book, well aware that it may have a niche audience, but written in such a way as to introduce the interested reader to an area of which they may not have been aware. One thing is for sure: you’ll never take the music on TV and radio for granted again!
DA
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