ET_CD_Volume1

[1] LITTLE SERENADE:
This delightful miniature, one of the composer's most popular pieces, began life as part of The Story of Cinderella. It occurs early in the tale where Prince Charming meets Cinderella though, of course, she is as yet unaware of his true identity. He is struck by her beauty and charm and offers her a serenade which duly develops into a love duet. Ernest Tomlinson subsequently adapted this extract as an independent concert item, in which guise it has been performed countless times. It has been used as a signature tune for at least five different programmes and the composer himself reckons to have made at least thirty different arrangements.

[2] AN ENGLISH OVERTURE:
This work was originally written for Foden's brass band conducted by Harry Mortimer. It was known then as Overture on Famous English Airs but the composer decided to change the title when he transcribed it for orchestra. "Was I right?", asks the composer, seemingly uncertain of his decision to amend the nomenclature. The answer probably depends on each individual listener's familiarity - or otherwise - with traditional English folksong. If the following tunes, which appear within the piece, are known to you then the original title is arguably preferable; if not, then the second will probably be more apt. First you'll hear Here's a Health unto His Majesty after which comes Old King Cole King Arthur Ruled the Land, Over the Hills and Far Away, Gossip Joan, Greensleeves, Oh! Dear, What Can The Matter Be, Come Lasses and Lads, Begone Dull Care, The Lincolnshire Poacher and Lilliburlero. To finish, there is a reprise of the first song.

[3] FAIRY COACH: and [4] CINDERELLA WALTZ:
The Story of Cinderella was a radio musical play, with book by Roy Plomley and lyrics by Henrik Ege. It was commissioned in 1955 by the Light Music Department of the BBC for performance on Christmas Eve and an unusual aspect of the request was that part of Eric Coates' Cinderella Phantasy of 1929 be incorporated into the new piece. As a rule, Coates normally protested most vehemently at even the remotest hints of his music being tampered with. Unaware of this, Ernest Tomlinson transcribed two melodies from the earlier work to feature at focal points in the play, everything else being newly-composed. The score, which, incidentally, won the approval of Eric Coates himself, proved to be something of a turning-point in Tomlinson's career in that it at last gave him the opportunity to become a full-time, freelance composer. The two extracts played here are Fairy Coach, which trots along jauntily as Cinderella sets out on her way to the ball in her pumpkin-turned-carriage pulled by a set of equestrianised mice, and the splendid Cinderella Waltz, which accompanies the heroine as she and the Prince indulge in terpsichorean delights in the magnificent chandeliered ballroom.

[5] KIELDER WATER:
The inauguration of a new building, be it a theatre, church, cathedral, palace or whatever, has for long been the cause for the commissioning of many a piece of music. Not quite so common, however, are requests for music to commemorate the opening of a dam, yet one came the way of Ernest Tomlinson in 1983. That was the year which saw the completion and entry into service of the mighty Kielder Dam in Northumberland, built jointly by the firms of Balfour Beattie and Fairclough. This astonishing five year construction project, resulting in the largest man-made lake in Europe, had been filmed by the two companies who, at the suggestion of the organisation responsible for the finished documentary, Cinephoto Productions, then duly approached the composer to provide a suitable accompanying score. The piece we hear on this disc is the theme tune of the picture and, with violins to the fore, describes the tranquil beauty of this remarkable stretch of water.

[6] to [8] SILVERTHORN SUITE:
During the 1950s, Ernest Tomlinson was living in Chingford in Essex (right on the edge of the famous Epping Forest) and in those pre-all-figure-dialling days, the local exchange was known as Silverthorn. This was the name the composer chose to give a trio of pieces which he wrote at that time and which has subsequently become amongst the most frequently performed of Tomlinson's works. First, there is an Alla Marcia, rather perky and high-spirited in nature and singularly un-martial in character, notwithstanding the prominence of a side-drum. Then comes an amiable Canzonet, shot through with a mellow at times slightly bitter-sweet lyricism. Finally, we are entertained by a lively Concert Jig which for much of the time manages to maintain an admirable decorum although there is no shortage of exuberance at the conclusion.

[9] to [14] 2ND SUITE OF ENGLISH FOLK-DANCES:
1. Kettledrum
2. Chipping Lane
3. Newcastle
4. Up Goes Ely / The Fits Come On Me Now
5. Love-in-a-Mist
6. Catch Me If You Can
It was in 1951 that Ernest Tomlinson attended a dance festival in the Royal Albert Hall, London, put on by the English Folk-Dance and Song Society. Apart from the amazing visual spectacle of massed Morris Dancers and the like, the composer was absolutely delighted by many of the tunes that he heard and resolved to feature some of them in a new work. The outcome was a Suite of English Folk-Dances, which quickly became a firm favourite in the repertoires of several major orchestras. The source of the tunes was the splendid collection of dances and traditional airs which the celebrated Norwich-born publisher John Playford had put together in 1650 and issued under the title The English Dancing Master (later known simply as The Dancing Master). Ernest Tomlinson had partial recourse to this melodic treasure-house again in 1977. That year, The Blackburn Music Society performed his Festival of Song as part of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth's Silver Jubilee celebrations. The composer had the somewhat novel idea of writing a second set of English Folk-Dances and then inviting the Central Manchester Country Dance Club to dance to them, accompanied by full orchestra. This time, John Playford supplied the material for just three of the movements - Nos. 1 , 3 and 4; the other dances were 100% original Tomlinson. No. 4 caused a bit of a problem when the composer wanted to arrange one tune while the choreographer asked for another. With a typically English sense of compromise, Ernest Tomlinson duly incorporated both of them, although the amusing clash of tonalities at one point underlines the problems that the dancers encountered changing from one dance to the other!

[15] NOCTURNE from Lyrical Suite:
This pleasant interlude shares a similarity with the Little Serenade in that both works began life as a love duet in a radio musical play. But in this case, it's not Cinderella that we turn to but a slightly later production, The King and the Mermaid, a 1956 show with a book by L.A.G. Strong. In the course of proceedings, His Majesty falls in love with the pretty young denizen of the seas and sings to her of his passion. This is an orchestral arrangement of his song that Ernest Tomlinson subsequently made and incorporated into his Lyrical Suite, published in 1957.

[16] HORNPIPE from Three Pastoral Dances:
Dating from 1950, the Hornpipe forms the finale of Ernest Tomlinson's first published suite, Three Pastoral Dances. (It was Frederic Curzon, then Light Music Manager of Boosey & Hawkes and subject of one of the CDs in Marco Polo's British Light Music Series, who was responsible for their appearing in print). Why a hornpipe should be considered "pastoral" has not been fully explained by the composer! It's certainly not the adjective most people would apply to this appealingly rumbustious, riotous outburst.

[17] GAELIC LULLABY from Three Gaelic Sketches:
This is another piece drawn from The King and the Mermaid. The "Gaelic" element can be explained by the fact that the play was set in Ireland. In the story the King has brought the Mermaid to his castle. She is tired and he orders that she be put to bed, attended by her handmaidens. To soothe her, he instructs his harpist to perform for her, and this is the Lullaby that he sings as she drifts off to sleep.

[18] NAUTICAL INTERLUDE:
The use of two sea shanties as the basic thematic material explains the title of this most likeable piece. A few introductory bars, rushing in with all the finesse of a full sou'wester, leads straight into the first tune, A-Roving, which sallies forth amidst plenty of energetic counterpoint. This is followed in due course by BiIly Boy before the composer combines the two themes in ingenious partnership to bring the work to an exuberant conclusion.

[19] SWEET AND DAINTY:
The composer's description of this charming piece of "mood music" cannot be bettered. "Sweet and Dainty was", he says, "designed for Pride and Prejudice type plays. It was used in an advert for Palmolive Soap and later as a signature tune for a TV series about fishing. A work which satisfies the requirements of Jane Austen, personal hygiene and angling at one and the same time surely demands special attention!

Publishers: Benson/Weinberger (Tracks 1, 3, 4, 10); Chandos (Track 2); Electrophonic (Tracks 5, 6 - Alla Marcia & Concert Jig, 7); Arcadia/Weinberger (Track 6 - Canzonet, 11 ); Inter-Art/Weinberger (Track 8); Boosey and Hawkes (Track 9) and Weinberger (Track 12). Tim McDonald (edited GT)