Trevor Duncan: Listings of Music recorded on the Guild Light Music Series.

I have recently given a listing of Guild Light Music CDs featuring the music of Eric Coates and Haydn Wood. One of the most prolific of Light Music composers was Trevor Duncan (1924-2005), born, Leonard Charles Trebilcock, later wisely changing his name to Trebilco.  His most popular piece is the ‘Little Suite’ from which the ‘March’ was used as the theme tune to Dr. Finlay’s Casebook starring Andrew Cruikshank and Bill Simpson.  Other works of note include ‘The Girl from Corsica’, ‘High Heels’ and ‘St Boniface Down’. My personal favourite is Vision in Velvet.

I have not included links to each CD, however further information can be found on the record company’s webpages.

Anglesey (from 'British Scenes') - New Concert Orchestra / Nat Nyll [actually Dolf Van Der Linden] (GLCD5201)

Broad Horizon - Lansdowne Light Orchestra [actually Stuttgart Radio Orchestra / Kurt Rehfeld] (GLCD5141)

Children in the Park: ‘Dancing for Joy’ - New Concert Orchestra / Nat Nyll [actually Dolf Van Der Linden] (GLCD5125)

Dancing in the Starlight - The Symphonia Orchestra / Curt Andersen (GLCD5179)

Dream of Tomorrow - Symphonia Orchestra / Curt Andersen (GLCD5156)

French Leave - Lansdowne Light Orchestra [Actually Stuttgart Radio Orchestra / Kurt Rehfeld] (GLCD5132)

The Girl from Corsica - The New Concert Orchestra / Cedric Dumont (GLCD5164)

Grand Vista - New Concert Orchestra / R De Porten (GLCD5124)

Great Quest - New Concert Orchestra / Nat Nyll [Actually Dolf Van Der Linden] (GLCD5136)

High Heels - New Concert Orchestra / Jack Leon (GLCD5124)

Inhumanity - New Concert Orchestra / Frederic Curzon (GLCD5140)

Lady in Love - L'orchestre Devereaux / Georges Devereaux (GLCD5124)

Little Debbie - New Concert Orchestra / Nat Nyll [Actually Dolf Van Der Linden] (GLCD5183)

Luccombe Common - The Symphonia Orchestra / Curt Andersen (GLCD5183)

Mam'selle Moderne - Lansdowne Light Orchestra [Actually Stuttgart Radio Orchestra / Kurt Rehfeld] (GLCD5146)

Meadow Mist - New Concert Orchestra / Nat Nyll [Actually Dolf Van Der Linden] (GLCD5194)

Moon Magic - New Concert Orchestra / Nat Nyll [Actually Dolf Van Der Linden] (GLCD5112)

The Olive Grove - The New Concert Orchestra / Cedric Dumont (GLCD5205)

Panoramic Splendour - New Concert Orchestra / R. De Porten (GLCD5111)

Pictures in a Fog: ‘Backstreet’ - New Concert Orchestra / Jack Leon (GLCD5124)

Posterity - New Concert Orchestra / Frederic Curzon (GLCD5124)

Premiere - New Concert Orchestra / Jack Leon (GLCD5149)

Rhythm for Romance - New Concert Orchestra / Frederic Curzon (GLCD5118)

Smile of a Latin - Frank Chacksfield & His Orchestra (GLCD5160)

St. Boniface Down - Lansdowne Light Orchestra [Actually Stuttgart Radio Orchestra / Kurt Rehfeld] (GLCD5157)

Still Waters - New Concert Orchestra / Frederic Curzon (GLCD5145)

The Tall Ships - Lansdowne Light Orchestra [Actually Stuttgart Radio Orchestra / Kurt Rehfeld] (GLCD5145)

The Unwanted (modern Ballet Impression): The Boy - New Concert Orchestra / Cedric Dumont (GLCD5195)

Valse Mignonette - New Concert Orchestra / Nat Nyll (actually Dolf Van Der Linden) (GLCD5191)

Vision in Velvet - New Concert Orchestra / Jack Leon (GLCD5101)

A Waltz for Terry - New Concert Orchestra / Nat Nyll [Actually Dolf Van Der Linden] (GLCD5182)

The Wine Harvest - The New Concert Orchestra / Cedric Dumont (GLCD5205)

With Noble Purpose - Grand March - The Symphonia Orchestra / Curt Andersen (GLCD5203)

With Tongue in Cheek - The Symphonia Orchestra / Curt Andersen (GLCD5197)

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Trevor Duncan: Children in the Park

I have always enjoyed the music of Trevor Duncan. Best-known for his A Little Suite from which the well-known ‘March’ was used as the theme tune of the original Dr. Finlay’s Casebook, starring Andrew Cruikshank and Bill Simpson. However Duncan’s  catalogue is vast. He specialised in ‘mood music’ that could be used for newsreels and documentaries. Yet he produced scores for the movies –Joe Macbeth, The Intimate Strangers. Duncan could rise to an almost impressionistic height with his St. Boniface Down. His deeply romantic The Girl from Corsica is one of the loveliest musical portraits in the genre.

Children in the Park was composed in 1954 and features the composer writing innocent music with the backward glance from man for whom these activities are but a pleasant but ever present memory.  However there is nothing innocent or childish about the quality of the music. They are diminutive masterpieces.

The first movement is ‘Dancing for Joy.’ Perhaps for ‘dancing’ we can read ‘running wild.’ There are echoes of half-remembered tunes in this short musical portrait that sounds like something that could have been written for a chase scene in a Carry On film. The second movement is a wistful little mediation about being ‘At the Pool.’  For those of us who were alive in the fifties and sixties we can still recall model yachts launched by retired naval gentlemen making their way across the water in the lakes in Regents Park in London or Heaton Park in Manchester. So rare to see these days: I wonder where all the model boats have gone? And then there is the opportunity to watch the duck and drakes feeding in the shallows.  Lasting just over two minutes this delicious piece is a complete portrait of this magical location.  The last movement reflects all the hustle and bustle of a traditional game of hide and seek. Duncan makes characteristic use of woodwind to suggest chases in and out of the trees.

One cannot listen to this music without being aware that simple as these three pieces may appear, there is a poise that is largely classical: there is no doubt that a master’s hand is at work in these miniatures.  They achieve what ‘light music’ does best. They are enjoyable, but also encourage the listener to sentimentalise about a lost way of life. What chance model yachts in the age of xbox, Twitter and iPhones?

Trevor Duncan’s Suite: Children in the Park can be heard only on Marco Polo 8.223517. 

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Trevor Duncan: Wine Festival

Everyone loves a glass of wine (or two) wherever it is drunk. However there are certain romantic locations which add to the drinking experience. For example drinking Lacryma Christi in Shepherds’ Bush is good: in a little bar in Sorrento overlooking the Bay of Naples is much better! I love the South of France – especially Cannes and Monte Carlo. There is nothing nicer than sipping a glass of the local vino whilst watching the world go by. And I guess that Trevor Duncan felt that way too about life. After his success with the idiomatic Girl from Corsica, his publishers persuaded him to write some more pieces with a Mediterranean flavour. As the sleeve notes for the Marco Polo recording of Duncan’s music points out ‘...in Wine Festival he imagines the sunny south of France where no-one really needs an excuse to celebrate the riches of the vines.’

The music opens with a sultry, moody tune that may suggest the weather but is more likely to be a lady! It is set in the minor key, but is warm and in no way sad. Soon a balalaika enters the fray, with a typically Mediterranean tune, which may be more suggestive of Greece than France. Suddenly snatches of a dance tune tries to assert themselves but are swept aside by Mademoiselle. However they are not kept out of the picture for long. Soon the fiesta begins with a sunny tune that surely depicts villager, vintners and the swirling of the wine. Good use is made by Duncan of the woodwind section of the orchestra. Once again the balalaika enters, suggesting evening, perhaps. The girl returns complete with lovely harp glissandi. Yet the piece is brought to a fine conclusion with a coda that echoes the dance.

Wine Festival can be heard on Marco Polo 8.223517

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