Light music is orchestral music, which originated in the 19th century and continues until the present day. The style is a less "serious" form of Western classical music, featuring usually shorter orchestral pieces of mood music or concert music. Light music is often grouped with 'Easy Listening". On our stations playlist you will hear a mix of instrumental light music and excerpts from traditional forms of music. (beautifulmusic.uk, beautifulinstrumentals.com and classicalmusic.network)
the music
Before Late Romantic orchestral trends of length and scope separated the trajectory of lighter orchestral works from the Western Classical canon, classical composers such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart or Joseph Haydn won as much fame for writing lighter pieces such as Eine Kleine Nachtmusik as for their symphonies and operas. Later examples of early European light music include the operettas of composers such as Franz von Suppé or Sir Arthur Sullivan; the Continental salon and parlour music genres; and the waltzes and marches of Johann Strauss II and his family. The Straussian waltz became a common light music composition (note for example Charles Ancliffe's "Nights of Gladness" or Felix Godin's "Valse Septembre"). These influenced the foundation of a "lighter" tradition of classical music in the 19th and early 20th centuries...from the likes of Binge and Coates to Farnon.
First of a two-part BBC Four feature showcasing the Golden Age of British light orchestral music. The first-ever televised edition of BBC Radio 2's classic show Friday Night is Music Night. John Wilson conducts the BBC Concert Orchestra, Roy Hudd presents. Broadcast in 2007.
First of a two-part BBC Four feature showcasing the Golden Age of British light orchestral music. The first-ever televised edition of BBC Radio 2's classic show Friday Night is Music Night. John Wilson conducts the BBC Concert Orchestra, Roy Hudd presents. Broadcast in 2007.
Programme:
Charles WiIliams - Devil's Galop
Robert Farnon - Portrait of a Flirt
Marriott Edgar - The Lion and Albert
Trevor Duncan - March from 'Little Suite'
Arthur Wood - Barwick Green (The Archers theme)
Leroy Anderson - The Typewriter
Haydn Wood - Roses of Picardy
Eric Coates - Calling All Workers
Eric Coates - By the Sleepy Lagoon (Desert Island Discs theme)
Angela Morley - A Canadian in Mayfair
Jack Strachey - In Party Mood
Ronald Binge - Sailing By (Shipping Forecast theme)
Erno Rapee - Charmaine
Edward White - Puffin' Billy
Eric Coates - Birdsongs at Eventide
Eric Coates - The Dam Busters March
VIDEO
