There are currently some 44 CDs featuring the music of Richard Addinsell listed in the on-line Arkiv Music Catalogue. However, this is not quite as impressive as it seems. At least 30 of these discs feature the ubiquitous Warsaw Concerto, the work by which Addinsell in known to millions of listeners. The two major explorations of his music are the Chandos CD of film music and a retrospective on the Marco Polo label. Two further important releases from the ASV label appear to be deleted, although they are available from a number of on-line sources. Virtually every other listing is a single track on samplers of light music.
Surprisingly Richard Addinsell does not feature quite as extensively on Guild’s Golden Age of Light Music series as his popularity would suggest.
Apart from the Warsaw Concerto, there is Addinsell’s score to the delightful David Lean film Blithe Spirit featuring Rex Harrison, Constance Cummings and the sophisticated Kay Hammond. The waltz theme is one of those tunes that everyone knows but just cannot quite place. Other works included the delicious Festival, although the version on Marco Polo is by far the best: it is an ‘infectious beguine’ which was originally composed for a play called ‘Trespass.’ It is surprising that this number is not heard on Classic FM.
Blithe Spirit - Music from the Film: Waltz - London Symphony Orchestra / Muir Mathieson (GLCD 5195)
Blithe Spirit - Waltz Theme from the Film - Mantovani & his Orchestra (GLCD 5110)
Festival - Mantovani & His Orchestra (GLCD 5103)
Invitation Waltz (From "Ring Round the Moon") - Semprini, Piano and Orchestra (GLCD 5173)
One Magic Wish (On an Evening Star) - Mantovani & his Orchestra (GLCD 5113)
Out of the Clouds: Theme from the Film - Joe Henderson, Piano - with Laurie Johnson & his Orchestra (GLCD 5119)
Passionate Friends, the: Music from the Film - The Philharmonia Orchestra / Muir Mathieson (GLCD 5152)
Waltz of the Toreadors, The: Theme from the Film - Pinewood Studio Orchestra / Ken Jones (GLCD 5202)
Warsaw Concerto - The Melachrino Orchestra / George Melachrino & William Hill-Bowen (Piano) (Stereo Recording) (GLCD5162)
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