Saunders Calling
Parts 1 & 2
Christopher Stone, Ray Noble and his orchestra
with Alan Saunders
HMV B 23
[matrix 0B 5193-2 and 0B 5194-2]
Recorded Thursday 23rd November 1933
Recorded Thursday 23rd November 1933
The
company of J.J.G. Saunders & Son is now no more I fear. In its heyday
the firm was the chief suppliers of building, heating, plumbing,
glass and ironmongery in the Brighton, Hove and Sussex catchment
area.
 |
| Ray Noble |
 |
| Christopher Stone |
Ray
Noble - director
Max
Goldberg - trumpet
Alfie
Noakes - trumpet
Lew
Davis - trombone
Tony
Thorpe - trombone
Freddy
Gardner - clarinet/alto-saxophone/baritone-saxophone
Bob
Wise - clarinet/alto-saxophone/baritone-saxophone
Harry
Berly - clarinet/tenor saxophone/viola
Reginald
Pink - clarinet/tenor Saxophone
Eric
Siday - violin
Reginald
Pursglove - violin
Harry
Jacobson - piano
Bert
Thomas - guitar
Tiny
Winters - string bass
Bill
Harty - drums
The
playing is really quite brilliant, this is not surprising considering
that each of the musicians was very well known or even a star in their own right. Jean Pougnet is probaly the best known to
classical collectors, and it is noteworthy that with Harry Berly
they played Mozart Sinfonia concertante K 364 in both the 1925 and
1926 London Proms. The clever music arrangements, the incorporation
of sound effects, the timing, all without the possibility of editing
and then each side only a second take shows how good they really were. I
would think that two takes was the limit as the deal with HMV would be
something like this: Mayfair orchestra £50: use of studio for a morning
and two takes each side £25 and 100 pressings for £50 total £125 –
maybe Christopher Stone came free for he may well have been a friend of Alan
Saunders.
The
HMV 'B' plum label was mainly, but not exclusively, given over to
popular repertoire and became the longest running HMV 78 series.
Starting with B101 in September 1912 with a final issue B10968 in February 1958, numbers B2 to B47 were utilized for
private contracts and in-house requirements. As they were not part of
the usual series they had more often than not a yellow label. The
present record was made at Abbey Road Studio using the Blumlein
recording equipment.
Below is a rather sad photograph of all that is left of this once proud company; I would think the white building to the left was originally the showroom. Today they are up for sale with planning permission for flats so I think they will be gone fairly soon.
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| Saunders in Brighton Just love the graffiti |
Ah, the old trick of mentioning Penderecki to get readers, eh? And I fell for it again!
ReplyDeleteVery tasteful, brilliantly performed and utterly charming - thanks so much for this evocative reminder of gentler times! There's a much less tenuous connection with my own hobby-horse, the National Gramophonic Society. Christopher Stone had been the NGS Secretary since 1924: it was in 'suspended animation' when he made this record and was never re-animated. Pougnet and Berly had both recorded for the NGS, too, in 1925/26: Berly as a member of André Mangeot's Music Society String Quartet, Pougnet as its supernumerary second viola for Purcell's 5-part Fantasia 'Upon One Note' (record DDD) and in Vaughan Williams' Phantasy Quintet (records EEE, FFF). Finally, this disc also lets us enjoy something of Stone's microphone manner, which made him so popular on the wireless: it also vindicates his belief that both gramophone and radio could successfully be harnessed for commercial advertising, although that belief cost him his BBC contract... Happy New Year! Nick
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