An audience of millions

Available for 20 days

Donald Macleod explores the impact of radio, the BBC and the postwar recording industry on the British light music scene. 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 Thursday’s episode, Donald explores the huge explosion in audience numbers brought by radio, and the impact of the BBC and the postwar recording industry on the British light music scene, as composers such as Ronald Binge and Robert Farnon, alongside the star performers of the day, took to the air. Ronald Binge Sailing by BBC SO David Parry, conductor Ronald Binge Alto Saxophone Concerto Kenneth Edge, alto saxophone Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra Ernest Tomlinson, conductor Robert Farnon Little Miss Molly Maryan Rawicz, Walter Landauer, pianos Robert Farnon Orchestra Robert Farnon, conductor Eric Coates Calling All Workers CBSO Reginald Kilbey, conductor Eric Coates London Suite III. Knightsbridge BBC Philharmonic John Wilson, conductor Robert Farnon Portrait of a Flirt Robert Farnon and his Orchestra Robert Farnon A La Claire Fontaine Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Douglas Gamley, conductor Robert Farnon Westminster Waltz BBC CO Vernon Handley, conductor Ronald Binge The Water Mill Light Music Society Orchestra Lt. Col. Sir Vivian Dunn, conductor