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Donald Macleod explores how the rise and fall of Light Music in Britain

The names of the composers of British Light Music - Coates, Ket猫lby, 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鈥檚 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鈥檒l 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鈥檚 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鈥檚 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.

Music Featured:

Ronald Binge: Elizabethan Serenade
Edward German: 鈥淚f You Wish to Appear As An Irish Type鈥� from Emerald Isle
Edward German: Nell Gwyn Suite: Overture
Edward German: Welsh Rhapsody
Haydn Wood: Roses of Picardy
Haydn Wood: Mannin Veen
John H. Glover-Kind: I do like to be beside the seaside
Albert Ket猫lbey: In Holiday Mood
Eric Coates: The Merrymakers, a Miniature Overture
Eric Coates: Lazy night
Eric Coates: Summer days Suite
Reginald King: Song of Paradise
Albert Ket猫lbey: In a Monastery garden
Eric Coates: The Dam Busters March
Frederick Curzon: Robin Hood 鈥� March of the Bowmen
Richard Addinsell: Love on the Dole (excerpts)
Frederic Curzon: The Dread Tribunal
Frederic Curzon: Bravada: Paso Doble
Richard Addinsell: Warsaw Concerto
Ronald Binge: Sailing by
Ronald Binge: Alto Saxophone Concerto
Robert Farnon: Little Miss Molly
Eric Coates: Calling All Workers
Eric Coates: London Suite III. Knightsbridge
Robert Farnon: Portrait of a Flirt
Robert Farnon: A La Claire Fontaine
Robert Farnon: Westminster Waltz
Ronald Binge: The Water Mill
Madeleine Dring: Festival Scherzo for piano and strings
Ernest Tomlinson:Little Serenade
Ernest Tomlinson (under alias of Alan Perry): Eccentric March
Ernest Tomlinson: Capability Brown (test card music)
Ernest Tomlinson: Second Suite of English Folk Dances
Madeleine Dring (orchestrated by Roderick Williams): Take, O Take Those Lips Away
Madeleine Dring: Folk Song; Films from Cheapside at Cheapside (From 'Airs on a Shoestring!')
Madeleine Dring: Song of a Nightclub Proprietress
Eric Coates: Last Love

Presented by Donald Macleod
Produced by Sam Phillips for 成人论坛 Audio Wales and West

For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Icons of British Light Music /programmes/m001ptxr

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we鈥檝e featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z