The Guild label's Light Music catalog lists no less than 70 album titles, and at least two volumes focus very intently upon brass and wind ensemble favorites from the first half of the 20th century. Released in 2008,
The Golden Age of Light Music: Bandstand in the Park, Vol. 2 consists of remastered recordings dating from the years 1929-1956. This stimulating anthology opens with theme music written by
Eric Coates for the 1955 motion picture The Dam Busters, a dramatization of Operation Chastise, the Royal Air Force's assault upon the Mohne and Eder dams in the Ruhr Valley during the month of May 1943. A second bracing musical dose from British cinema exists in the form of
Vivian Dunn's score from Cockleshell Heroes, another WWII film made in 1955, this time based upon Operation Frankton, a December 1942 raid on the German-held port of Bordeaux by the Royal Marines Boom Patrol Detachment, who traveled by canoe to mine enemy cargo ships. "Die Bosniaken Kommen" by Austrian Kapellmeister
Eduard Wagnes clearly dates from the First World War, and is instantly recognizable as exactly the kind of martial music later preferred by the Nazis. The recording heard here was made by
the Deutschmeister Kapelle under the direction of
Julius Herrmann. If all of this background information has your heart racing, it's probably best to settle in and enjoy the accessible light music that has been carefully compiled for your relaxation and entertainment. During "Jenny Wren," cornetist
William Lang is featured with the Black Dyke Mills; "Golden Spurs" is credited to
the Band of the Royal Netherlands Navy;
Arthur Pryor's "The Whistler and his Dog" was waxed in 1929 by
the Black Diamonds Band; and the majestic eight-minute suite from
Alexander Porfiryevich Borodin's opera Prince Igor was recorded in 1934 by
the BBC Wireless Military Band and released on flip sides of a 12" 78-rpm platter. Now it's available in the digital format, along with loads of other exciting band recordings to help you make it through another day.