The Golden Age of Light Music series comes from Switzerland, a land where few or none of the varied selections in the series originated. For historians the series is a gold mine; few traditions that were once so universally familiar have disappeared so completely from common consciousness. The music had different labels in different countries; in America, most of the selections on Continental Flavour would be labeled easy listening, while in Europe, at least outside France, some pieces would qualify as jazz. However labeled, they are short instrumental compositions for full orchestra, heavy on the strings yet often highly inventively orchestrated, using popular rhythms in a very conservative and controlled way. Some of the pieces are borrowed from popular song (The Last Time I Saw Paris), traditional fun (Portuguese Washerwoman), or film music, and some are original compositions. Continental Flavour makes an excellent choice for anyone who has noticed this series and wanted to sample it. The continental kiss on the hand comes both from the themes of the music, which evokes various European locales and ventures fairly far into the popular Latin rhythms of the 1950s (when most of the recordings were made), and from the diverse national origins of the performers (America is represented by
Morton Gould). Americans and Britons may each think of this light music tradition as unique to their own countries, but here they can sample Belgian, German, Dutch, and other varieties. Several orchestras, including that of the inimitably named
Roger Roger, come from France. These little pieces, seemingly tailored to the dimensions of a 45 or 78 rpm record, may not be to everybody's taste -- the vanilla rhythms will seem hopelessly square (as hip parlance used to have it) to pop fans and unpleasantly mechanical to traditional orchestral listeners. But each group should set aside its preconceptions and listen for the fine examples of the arranger's art scattered around the program. Of interest far beyond the disc's primary nostalgia market.