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Donald Macleod explores the composers who fought to keep light music alive in the wake of dramatic shifts in the social lives of people in Britain.

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.

From the 1950s onwards, audiences began to desert light music in the wake of dramatic changes in the social lives of the nation. In Friday’s episode, Donald explores composers such as Madeleine Dring and Ernest Tomlinson who fought to keep light music alive.

Madeleine Dring
Festival Scherzo for piano and strings
Martin Roscoe (piano)
Guildhall Strings

Ernest Tomlinson
Little Serenade
Pro Arte Orchestra
George Weldon, conductor

Ernest Tomlinson (under alias of Alan Perry)
Eccentric March
Performers unknown

Ernest Tomlinson
Capability Brown (test card music)
Stuttgart Studio Orchestra

Ernest Tomlinson
Second Suite of English Folk Dances
Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra
Ernest Tomlinson, conductor

Madeleine Dring (orchestrated by Roderick Williams)
Take, O Take Those Lips Away
Roderick Williams, baritone
Hallé Orchestra
Mark Elder, conductor

Madeleine Dring
Folk Song; Films from Cheapside at Cheapside (From 'Airs on a Shoestring!')
Wanda Brister, Courtney Kenny, Nuala Willis, Matt Cooksey (vocals)
Courteney Kenny, piano

Madeleine Dring
Song of a Nightclub Proprietress
Felicity Lott, soprano
Graham Johnson, piano

Eric Coates
Last Love
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John Wilson, conductor