The Next Programme Follows Shortly
Gavin Sutherland
With The Fast Tunes Orchestra
This is a most unusual musical confection and an absolute must-have for those listeners of Light Music, who are interested in the history of Light Music as a fundamentally multimedia entity. This disc, as the title and cover suggest, focuses on works composed for television, ranging from short idents and stings, to theme tunes, and even orchestral medleys. Almost all of the music on this disc has been arranged for the Fast Tunes Orchestra by Gavin Sutherland.
The track listing, which runs to a truly epic 52 individual pieces, ranging from a few seconds to five minutes in length, might at first glance suggest a somewhat “bitty” programme, but this would be deceptive. The disc actually presents the listener with an exceptionally well programmed series of well-known and well-loved television theme tunes (some of which remain popular today), carefully grouped into shorter sub-programmes and punctuated with idents for various TV companies.
One of the most substantial tracks presented on the CD is track 2: the Three Rivers Fantasy by Arthur Wilkinson. This medley of North-Eastern songs was used daily by Tyne Tees Television from 1959 to 1983 and it is a highly sophisticated work, full of contrasts, skilful harmonies and superb orchestration: truly a work that would happily grace any Light Music concert stage. The reconstruction of this work was carried out by conductor Gavin Sutherland, who arranged and reconstructed many of the numbers on this disc. Sutherland carried out reconstructions of five numbers on this CD. I assume this means that no extant performing materials were available at all to work from, only recordings, which Gavin has arranged by ear for the Fast Tunes Orchestra.
Aside from the aforementioned Three Rivers Fantasy, these reconstructions are, in order: Early One Morning (a reconstruction of Alan Bristow’s arrangement for one of the BBC’s first “experimental transmissions in colour”) Left Bank Two, Scotlandia and Bring Me Sunshine. Left Bank Two will be well known by most as the theme music for The Gallery segment in Vision On. It was composed by Wayne Hill and recorded for the De Wolfe music library in The Netherlands. What a joy it is to hear the piece brought back to life from an excellent ensemble with such high-quality audio! Scotlandia is another fine suite of regional tunes, commissioned from Geraldo and His Orchestra, the original arrangements being by Ray Terry. This is another work one hopes will now see more public performances thanks to Sutherland’s efforts. Bring Me Sunshine, of course, needs no introduction, as most (like me) will remember this immortal number from the comedy duo Morecambe and Wise. However, fewer may know that the song was originally composed by Arthur Kent with lyrics by Sylvia Dee. It was originally recorded by The Mills Brothers, before becoming best known in the UK from the aforementioned show, in an arrangement by Peter Knight. The added bonus here is the vocals of music director (and arranger, reconstructor, occasional keyboard player and all-round good egg) Gavin Sutherland, and producer Martin Fenton. I defy anyone listening not to have a momentary double take that they are not in fact Morecambe and Wise themselves, so uncannily close is their vocal performance!
The TV idents themselves make for fascinating, if incidental listening, but so well-known are they that many of us may have forgotten how well written these stings are, and how embedded in the national psyche these pieces once became. The various theme tunes really are revealing. As someone with little or no patience with most music for commercial or advertising purposes and no sentimental attachment to these themes (ok, grumpy git mode de-activated!), I believe it is worth considering the pieces of music themselves without the associations they often prompt. These are phenomenally well written and instrumented tunes, thanks to Sutherland’s efforts to recapture as close to the original sound as possible. You don’t have to be a racing fan to respect how well wrought the Grandstand theme with its rousing fanfare and clever use of percussion is. The same goes for other famous themes included, such as Lucky Strike, Las Vegas (Laurie Johnson writing for Animal Magic), Live from Her Majesty’s, Parkinson and University Challenge. There are even themes that are still ubiquitous, such as the mournful trumpet solo that carries the theme to Coronation Street. In short, this is an invaluable opportunity to consider these media works as pieces of music in their own right as well, I’m sure, as a trip down memory lane for the more experienced TV watcher.
The other longer work that bears mention is Midlands Montage by Johnny Pearson (arranged - you guessed it - by Gavin Sutherland), for it seems it was this piece that prompted the conception of the album, not just in Sutherland and producer Fenton’s minds, but also for several of the like-minded players who came together to help produce this labour of love. The Fast Tunes Orchestra, as far as I can ascertain, came together specifically for this recording and the playing is really exemplary. As previously stated, it is a joy to revisit some of these classic tunes with modern recording technology, and the quality of the performances with the crisp percussion and precise string and wind sections create a vivid and lively soundscape. Considering that I went in expecting not to enjoy it and found myself converted, I’m sure there’ll be treasures galore for anyone for whom these pieces were the soundtrack to an era. DA
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