Although I was certainly familiar with the work of Eric Coates and Albert Ketèlbey, it was Ronald Corp, more than anyone, who introduced me to the wider world of British Light Music, a genre he championed on four albums released on the Hyperion Records label. After all, as an American, how else was I supposed to hear this stuff? This is music of a type that was once played on English radio, in department stores, and by palm court orchestras – by design, undemanding, uplifting, and insistently memorable.
This week on “Sweetness and Light,” we remember – and celebrate – Corp, who died on May 7 at the age of 74. We’ll hear light music classics by Robert Farnon, Clive Richardson, Edmund White, Cecil Armstrong Gibbs, Charles Williams, Ronald Binge, and Trevor Duncan. I imagine generations of Americans might be surprised to learn that one of the pieces was borrowed by children’s show host Bob Keeshan for the theme to his television program “Captain Kangaroo!”
Corp was also an enthusiast of, at best, dimly-recollected English musical comedies dating back to the time of Arthur Sullivan. We’ll hear selections from two of these, Sidney Jones’ “The Geisha” and Harold Fraser-Simson’s “The Maid of the Mountains.”
I’m only sorry I had to cut out so much from this morning’s program. I got a little carried away, between selecting music and my own spoken contributions, and I wound up having to trim a good 15 or 20 minutes off the show! (Alas, Arthur Sullivan’s pre-W.S. Gilbert opera, “The Contrabandista,” had to be jettisoned to the cutting room floor.)
Corp was also a composer himself, and an Anglican priest! He recorded much else besides, including albums devoted to European and American Light Music classics; also more substantial – some would say “more serious” – fare. Most of these were issued on Hyperion and Dutton Vocalion Records.
Personally, I feel like I owe Corp a lot, as it only occurs to me now, that he was probably the single greatest influence on my creation of this show. Now I wish there were some way I could tell him.
Music of this sort is often deceptively simple – breezy, carefree, a tad sentimental, and fun – but it takes a special talent to be able to craft miniature masterpieces that, at their best, satisfy through ingratiating melody, imaginative color, and evocative mood.
We’ll trip the light fantastic with light music recordings of Ronald Corp, on “Sweetness and Light,” this Saturday morning at 11:00 EDT/8:00 PDT, exclusively on KWAX, the radio station of the University of Oregon!
Stream it wherever you are at the link:
https://kwax.uoregon.edu/
