British Light Music: Percy Whitlock

Percy Whitlock (1903-1946) is most famous for his organ works, but he also wrote some orchestral music. In a more serious vein, there is at least a symphony (there are some chamber works as well that may or may not merit investigation), but the disc at hand focuses on his light music - though some of the works, such as the Music for Orchestra, do stretch that epithet. The word that best sums up the collection is probably "variable" - there is some memorable music here, but some of it is frankly eminently forgettable (or worse). The Concert Overture: The Feast of St Benedict (1934) probably falls in the latter category; it was Whitlock's entry in a competition run by the Daily Telegraph (won by Cyril Scott), but Whitlock's contribution didn't even receive an honorable mention. It wouldn't really have deserved any - this is a very sturdy, very Edwardian work, somewhat Elgarian and despite a few appealing moments, it is a sprawling, meandering and frankly rather boring work.

It is, however, followed by a lovely miniature - the Ballet of the Wood Creatures, from his music to the play `Day Dream Family' (1939). It may be pure Mendelssohn, and is over almost before it has begun, but it is still a truly appealing, lovely scored, atmospheric miniature. The Wessex suite (1937) consists of three movements of relatively formulaic light music; it starts with a rather dull waltz, Revels in Hogsnorton, but it is followed by a very fine slow movement, The Blue Poole, with a quite beautiful main theme. The last movement, Rustic Cavalry, is the kind of swaggering March you have heard a thousand times before in equal and sometimes better versions.

The most recent work, Suite: Music for Orchestra (1941) is by far the strongest work on the disc, and is good enough to merit a continued life in the concert hall. Of course, it really consists of four separate movements with little to unify them, but that is a minor objection - as is the fact that the style varies a lot across the movements. The first movement is based on an early organ work, but the other movements are more modern (think Vaughan Williams in modestly modernistic mood). It is really a very fine work which deserves to be heard by any lover of English music.

It is, however, followed by some absolute drivel: two arrangements of songs, "Come Along Marnie" and "Susan, the doggie and Me" in orchestrations by Malcolm Riley, which are both truly painfully banal and annoying listening experiences. The Holiday Suite is barely better; its three movements consist of a flat and dull, slightly Coatesian waltz, a dreadfully thin miniature incorporating famous English Tunes, and the relatively weak though not unlistenable Civic March. The suite is followed by another miniature, The Balloon Ballet, as annoyingly grating as the kind of cheap fun fair carousel music that inspired it - truly dreadful.

As a conclusion to the disc we get an early work, the 1932/33 Dignity and Impudence March, which is a copy-and-paste from Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance marches though without the memorable themes (it is remarkable that Whitlock got away with such audacious plagiarism, but it may be due to the fact that the music is so clumsy and unmemorable in comparison to its model). The performances on the disc are lackluster in the overture, but generally more than competent in the remainder, and the sound is pretty good. To sum up, consider this disc for the rewarding Music for Orchestra and the pretty Ballet of the Woodland Creatures - the rest is really not worth anyone's time.

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