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Donald Macleod examines how light music benefited from the boom in holiday making at seaside resorts across Britain during the first few decades of the 20th century.

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 Tuesday’s episode, Donald explores how light music benefited from the boom in holiday making at seaside resorts across Britain during the first few decades of the 20th century as orchestras sprang up, keen to entertain the visiting crowds with light orchestral music from composers such as Eric Coates and Albert Ketèlbey.

John H. Glover-Kind
I do like to be beside the seaside
Reginald Dixon, organ

Albert Ketèlbey
In Holiday Mood
Grand Orchestra
Louis Voss, conductor

Eric Coates
The Merrymakers, a Miniature Overture
³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Nation Orchestra of Wales
Rumon Gamba, conductor

Eric Coates
Lazy night
Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra
Andrew Penny, conductor

Eric Coates
Summer days Suite
³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Philharmonic
John Wilson, conductor

Reginald King
Song of Paradise
Mark Bebbington, piano

Albert Ketèlbey
In a Persian Garden
Ambrosian Singers
Philharmonia Orchestra
John Lanchbery, conductor

Albert Ketèlbey
In a Monastery garden
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Royal Philharmonic Chorus
Eric Rogers, conductor

Eric Coates
The Dam Busters March
³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Concert Orchestra
Vernon Handley, conductor