July 29, 2010

  • Review: Give Me A Smile (WWII Songs and Music)

     

    Give Me A Smile: Songs and Music of World War II
    Soloists, BBC Concert Orchestra/Carl Davis
    Carl Davis Collection 008
    Recording:   ****/****
    Performance: ***/****

    Unlike some of the other releases coming from the Carl Davis Collection, this one was recorded quite recently (in January) and is making its debut here on the composer’s private label.  Davis put together a concert that focused on World War II using songs, film music, and important classical works along with his own film music.  The idea here was to create a concert set in three “acts”.  The first focuses on the early days of the war, the central section deals with the seeming endless war marching on, and the final act can see the end in sight.  Davis conceived this as part of a Bournemouth concert in 1984.  The current recording features the BBC Concert Orchestra.

    For children of WWII this will be a disc filled with emotional connections.  Essentially this is a light pops program mixing a variety of period songs popular during the war.  No doubt the audience sang along at the concerts themselves.  The arrangements stay fairly faithful to just playing through the different songs.  The opening one, “Wish Me Luck as You Wave Me Goodbye,” has a few out of tune moments which should have been corrected.  The songs performed by Richard Suart (especially the drinking son “I’m Gonna Get Lit Up”) and Claire Sweeney are the most successful.  Frances McCafferty’s performance of “Keep the Home Fires Burning” is quite moving.

    Melvyn Tan is soloist in two works.  The first is Addinsell’s Warsaw Concerto.  While Tan can play this work, here it does not seem like a very committed performance.  It is one of the least dramatic interpretations among many available on other compilations.  In the Litolf “Scherzo” from the fourth Concerto Symphonique Tan seems to pick up the pace and feels like he is on firmer territory here creating a great sense of energy and more shaping of the music.

    There are three pieces here, in addition to the Addinsell, with film connections.  The first of these is Coates’ march from The Dambusters.  A personal favorite, this performance feels like a read through.  There is little made of shaping the music or doing much with the crescendos or decrescendos.  Instead it feels like a pops-like easy listening interpretation that removes the drama from the piece.  The lyric section though is beautifully performed here.  Alford’s Colonel Bogey March gets a fairly good performance here.  The surprise is the final work on the disc, John Williams’ “Hymn to the Fallen” from Saving Private Ryan.  It is here where Davis creates a moving performance with the choir integrated better into the orchestral texture.  The strings, feeling smallish, are able to be heard more than in other performances which gives you a chance to hear their counterpoint against the brass melodies.  It brings the disc to a beautiful and fitting conclusion.

    As a walk down memory lane, Give Me A Smile works best in the song arrangements which are mostly well-performed by the group of vocalists featured here.  The performances of the orchestral music are not great but perhaps allow those experiencing this music as a historical memory to reminisce about their life.  Davis’ notes suggest that next year he will be releasing a second disc featuring more of his own WWII-inspired film music which should be an interesting release.