Robert Farnon: Laura

The Canadian-born Robert Farnon (1917-2005) is probably one of the best-known composers of light music in the United Kingdom. Some popular pieces include Portrait of a Flirt, ‘How Beautiful is Night’ and the once-renowned ‘Colditz March’ from the iconic television series starring Robert Wagner (1972-74). Yet, he also composed a deal of ‘art’ music including two fine symphonies. The Second Symphony has been released on Dutton Epoch CDLX 7173. This CD also includes the ‘Scherzo’ from the First Symphony.

Laura is derived from the theme music composed by David Raskin (1912-2004) to the eponymous film starring Jean Tierney, Vincent Price and Dana Andrews. This 1944 film is classified as a ‘stylish murder mystery’ possibly nudging into the ‘film-noir’ genre.  Musically, the story goes that Raskin, who was a pupil of Arnold Schoenberg, was asked by the film’s director Otto Preminger to come up with a ‘suitably haunting love theme.’  The only downside was that he had to compose this melody ‘over the weekend.’ He delivered the present tune on time. According to legend, it was inspired by a ‘Dear John’ letter received from a girlfriend. It was to become an ‘idée fixe’ throughout the action of the film for Laura herself. 

Lyrics were later added by Johnny Mercer:-

‘Laura is the face in the misty light,
Footsteps that you hear down the hall.
The laugh that floats on a summer night
That you can never quite recall.
Laura, song (for the film, "Laura") Lyrics
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, EMI Music 

I have known Frank Sinatra’s and Andy Williams’ great recordings of this music for many years: however I never associated it with Farnon. I understand (from an article on the Farnon Society Website) that Laura was one of the composer’s personal favourite film themes. He orchestrated it shortly after the film’s release in the mid-forties and had hoped that one day it would be played by a large symphony orchestra. This was to happen a number of times, including a performance at the Royal Festival Hall in 1974. The orchestra that evening was the Royal Philharmonic Strings- with added glockenspiel, triangle, bells and harp.

Laura is arranged in the ‘full romantic style’ complete with shimmering strings. It is overblown, romantic and spine-tingling. I was reminded of Henry Mancini’s music in much of this moody, often quite introverted, piece. One commentator on the YouTube website has summed up this short piece as ‘utterly, beguilingly, outstandingly beautiful.’

Robert Farnon’s Laura is available on YouTube. It is the version with the London Philharmonic Orchestra made in 1974 and was released on Pye NSPH 400. It is now available on Lovers Love London Avid AVHN101

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Robert Farnon: Portrait of a Flirt

I find it almost impossible to believe that I have not written a post about Robert Farnon’s most popular work –Portrait of a Flirt. It was one of the first pieces of light music that struck me at a time when I was more concerned with Bach’s organ music and Wagner’s operas. (The first was Coronation Scot by Vivian Ellis.

Portrait of a Flirt appeared around 1947 and is really a compendium of rhythm and flappable orchestral manoeuvres. It is a deftly written piece that exudes vivacity, humour and romance.

According to the liner notes for the Marco Polo recording of this work, it had ‘humble’ origins. It was originally conceived as a piece of ‘mood music’ for the Chappell Library: like so many similar pieces it would have been used by film and documentary producers to give the ‘correct’ atmosphere to their work.

If ever a piece was able to musically portray a spirited lady who was also a little bit of a flirt, it is this. Basically in ternary form, the opening and closing section present a light hearted, slight mischievous disposition, whilst the slower middle section reveals a slightly more nocturnal mood that is more romantic that skittish.

Robert Farnon regularly performed this work on the BBC Home Service and Light Programme however, it was given a major fillip when it was recorded by David Rose (of The Stripper fame) on an MGM album.

There are a number of recordings of this work currently available, however, I do recommend the composer conducting on Naxos 8.110849. The piece is available on YouTube with the Farnon conducting the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. 

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Robert Farnon: ‘How Beautiful is the Night’

‘How Beautiful is the Night’ is a gorgeous miniature that was inspired by an epic poem Thalaba the Destroyer written in 1899 by the Bristolian writer Robert Southey. Certainly the words that caught Robert Farnon’s imagination had little to do with the massive sweep of magic, intrigue, suffering and violence that are themes of this long work.  Interestingly, Granville Bantock was also inspired by this poem, and produced his eponymous tone poem in 1900.

How beautiful is the night!

A dewy freshness fills the silent air:

No mist obscure, nor cloud, nor speck, nor stain,

Breaks the serene of heaven:

In full orb’d glory yonder Moon divine

Rolls through the dark blue depths.

Beneath her steady ray

The desert circle spreads.

Like the round ocean, girdled with the sky.

How beautiful is the night.

Robert Southey

Robert Farnon is well-known for his fast moving, bright and romantic numbers such as 'Portrait of a Flirt', 'Jumping Bean' and 'The Westminster Waltz'. However there is another side to this composer which is revealed in works that were to appear late in his career such as the Symphony, the Rhapsody for Violin and Orchestra and his 'Cascades to the Sea'. It is to this mood that ‘How Beautiful the Night’ is beholden.

On my first hearing of this work I wrote that  Robert Farnon had painted a picture of a ‘typical ‘Home Counties’ evening with this thoughtful piece.  However, after having given this music a little more thought I have decided that this reflective piece is more a seascape – or at the very least a picture of an estuary at dusk. I guess I have in mind sitting up above Clevedon on Wain’s Hill looking out across the Bristol Channel towards Flatholm and Steepholm as the light begins to fade. Perhaps Alfred Sisley’s picture provides the correct image.

I am not sure when ‘How Beautiful is Night’ was composed: however the piano sheet music was issued c. 1949 by Chappell & Co. The first reference to a recording that I could find was one issued in 1950 on Decca F9264. This was reviewed in The Gramophone magazine (May 1950) by Oliver King. He considered that this was ‘restful, Debussy-esque music for woodwinds and strings, and [that] it must take its place with the best that this country has offered in this sphere. The ‘flip’ side of the 78rpm disc was Farnon’s ‘Persian Nocturne’ which was ‘a tailor-made- oriental scene’.  

There is a fine version of ‘How Beautiful is Night’ on YouTube played by George Shearing with Robert Farnon conducting an unspecified orchestra. There are a number of versions of this piece available on CD and MP3 downloads including Marco Polo 8.223401 and Guild: The Golden Age of Light Music- Melodies for the Starlight Hours GLCD5196.

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Robert Farnon: State Occasion

With the up and coming celebrations for Her Majesty’s Diamond Jubilee it is a good time to reminisce about music that was written to celebrate other occasions in the Queen’s long and glorious reign. Apart from masterpieces like William Walton’s Orb & Sceptre March and Arthur Bliss’s Welcome to the Queen there are other occasional pieces such as the multi-composer a-cappella choral work A Garland for the Queen and Cedric Thorpe Davie’s Royal Mile: Coronation March. 

Amongst the lesser-known pieces is Robert Farnon’s attractive State Occasion. The work was composed in 1953 and has been heard on a number of occasions. Of particular note was a performance given by The Band of Her Majesty’s Royal Marines during the Royal tour of Canada in 1984. This celebrated the bi-centenary of the inauguration of New Brunswick and also the 150th anniversary of Robert Farnon’s birthplace, Toronto. 

Robert Seeley writing in The Gramophone September 1992 suggests that this is a ‘mock-Waltonian march’ and I guess that this is a good description. However it does not quite have the bite and rhythmic drive of William Walton. Yet as the 2002/2003 Penguin Guide to Classical Music points out that ‘this short work could hardly sound more imperially British, and it is appropriate, if maybe not now politically correct...’ My own view is that if anyone is troubled by the ‘political’ nature of this work (or any of the ceremonial marches) then that is their problem!

State Occasion is rather short, lasting just under or over three minutes. The score suggests that the music be played ‘marziale pomposo’ and ‘marziale con maesta’. Certainly the ‘big’ tune (trio) is worthy of Elgar and Walton. Interestingly Farnon does not reprise this tune, which I feel may be a slight ‘drop off’ as I imagine most listeners will be desperate to hear it again.  

The piece is reasonably well represented in the CD Catalogues, including on Marco Polo, Reference Recordings, Naxos and Guild Light Music. Some of these links have a short extract of the work. 

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Robert Farnon: Jumping Bean

Robert Farnon’s miniature Jumping Bean is a perennial favourite. I guess that it is known by all enthusiasts of light music and is remembered by most music lovers. However, there can be confusion. On a (unnamed) webpage someone has suggested that it was used as the theme tune to ‘Top of the Form’. It wasn’t. That particular favourite was Marching Strings by Marshall Ross. However, Jumping Bean was used by the producers of the radio programmes ‘Journey into Melody’ and ‘Melody Hour.

Like so many pieces of light music it is hard to pin down an ‘exact’ date of composition. Tim MacDonald writing in the liner notes or the Marco Polo edition of Robert Farnon’s music suggests that it was written ‘in 1947 perhaps even earlier. He notes that this piece has been used as a signature tune for more programmes than any similar work. This reputedly included the weather reports in a certain US state!

As a child I always wanted a ‘jumping bean’ needless to say I never got one! However, as I understand it, the ‘jumping bean’ comes from Mexico, most especially the state of Sonora.

According to Wikipedia, these beans were used in various cartoons and comedy sketches which played on the fact that if one ate these beans, one would jump around too! The technical reason the ‘frijoles saltarines’ beans ‘jump’ is caused by the larva of a small moth which has climbed inside the seed pod: when the larva gets warm, it ‘snaps’ its body whilst trying to get cool! Hence the ‘bean jumps.’

Nevertheless, the musical depiction in this short piece has little to do with flora and fauna. I guess that the ‘cartoon’ imagery is nearer the mark. However, I recall when I was young my father would accuse me of being like a ‘jumping bean’ when I was not prepared to sit still. So maybe it is a musical picture of someone who is ‘full of beans’ and is ‘jumping’ from one thing to another?

Jumping Bean is based on a ‘tritone’ figure. For the record, as it were, this means the melodic interval of the augmented fourth, for example, from C to F# on the piano. This ‘interval’ dominates the music. In spite of the title suggesting otherwise, this is not a fast piece: it is more bouncy or perhaps even ‘galumphing.’ The piece is underpinned with a memorable main theme, it is well scored with excellent muted brass and percussion excursions including wooden blocks in the middle eight. The composer is witty in his subtle use of ‘shifting harmonies’ and ‘craftily-positioned offbeats.’

Perhaps the final word can go to Andrew Lamb writing for the Hyperion conspectus of Light Music Volume 1. He suggests that Jumping Bean ‘exemplifies as well as anything the characteristic of so many …light-music classics that the title and the composer may mean little but the piece itself is instantly and gratifyingly familiar.’

Perhaps the revival of light music in recent years has done much to bring composers such as Robert Farnon back into the popular imagination. However, for most folk Jumping Bean will be a tune they know and enjoy but cannot quite place.

Listen to Jumping Bean on Hyperion or on YouTube

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Robert Farnon: Manhattan Playboy

Whenever I hear Robert Farnon’s Manhattan Playboy, I tend to think of Bertie Wooster and his ‘American’ adventures -as played by Hugh Laurie and admirably supported by Stephen Fry as Jeeves. Certainly the character depicted is not a bad person or a roué. More likely a man about town who has a little more money and free-time than sense!

The timescale would appear to be the ‘thirties’ in spite of the piece having been composed in 1948, although I guess that a ‘playboy’ would not be inhibited by a few years one way or the other. Certainly I feel an ‘art deco’ mood in these bars that suggests drinks at the Rainbow Room (now closed) with its stunning views over towards the Empire State Building, Brooklyn and the Statue of Liberty. Out if interest it used to be possible to see Central Park from the gent’s toilets there! And then again the ‘playboy’ would always make use of the latest Chevrolet or Chrysler or possibly taxi. He would never use the EL (Elevated Railway). Whatever mode of transport he used, he would always be dashing from one assignation to another, no doubt by way of a bar or club.

The musical portrait opens with an upward sweep from the strings. It is a work that is predicated around syncopation without ever becoming ‘jazz’ or ‘ragtime.’ The principal melody is a gorgeous confection for strings that dominates the entire piece. The progress of the music is has many comments from woodwind, xylophone and brass. The entire piece is characterised by a rhythmic subtlety that is a feature of so much of Robert Farnon’s music.

Manhattan Playboy was the third of Three Impressions for orchestra –the other two being High Street and In a Calm. However the Manahattan Playboy was considered to be a companion piece to his ubiquitous A Portrait of a Flirt, which also dated from 1947. I consider that this latte piece portrays a lady from the British side of the pond. The Playboy walks down Fifth Avenue: the Flirt is at home in Mayfair.

Manhattan Playboy can be heard on Marco Polo 8.223401.

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