Tuesday 20 November 2012

Elizabethan Serenade, by Ronald Binge



From Wikipedia:

Elizabethan Serenade is a light music composition by Ronald Binge. When it was first played by the Mantovani orchestra in 1951, it was simply titled "Andante cantabile", although the original orchestral manuscript parts in Ronald Binge's own hand show the title "The Man In The Street" (possibly the title of an early television documentary). The name was altered by the composer to reflect the optimism of the new Elizabethan age beginning with the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1952.

The piece won Binge an Ivor Novello award and it also had chart success in Germany (recorded by the Günther Kallmann Choir) and in South Africa. A version with lyrics by poet Christopher Hassall called Where the Gentle Avon Flows was released and the work also had lyrics added in German, Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, Dutch, Danish and French. The piece was used as the signature tune to Music In Miniature on the BBC Light Programme.