Hyperion Records

Jack Beaver (1900–1963) was, like Charles Williams, a member of the Gaumont–British Pictures composing team in the 1930s, and as such he often contributed music to British films anonymously. Born in Clapham in south London, he studied piano and composition at The Royal Academy of Music. He did much work for the BBC and between 1932 and 1947 composed music to some forty films including The Thirty-Nine Steps (1935) and The Case of the Frightened Lady (1940). For this last he provided what was considered the first ‘tabloid piano concerto’, anticipating later examples such as Richard Addin­sell’s Warsaw Concerto. Beaver’s later contributions to the recorded music libraries included his Waltonesque grand march Cavalcade of Youth (1950), which achieved wide exposure when used as signature tune for the BBC radio series The Barlows of Beddington.

from notes by Andrew Lamb © 2002