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Track(s) taken from CDA66868

Puffin' Billy

composer
signature tune for 'Children's Favourites'

New London Orchestra, Ronald Corp (conductor)
Recording details: December 1995
St Jude-on-the-Hill, Hampstead Garden Suburb, London, United Kingdom
Produced by Oliver Rivers
Engineered by Tony Faulkner
Release date: May 1996
Total duration: 3 minutes 40 seconds

Cover artwork: The City Atlas (1889). Sidney Starr (1857-1925)
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. Gift of the Massey Collection of English Painting, 1946
 

Reviews

‘For light music specialist and general music lover alike, this collection should prove pure delight’ (Gramophone)

‘Music that will make older readers revel in nostalgia and younger listeners discover an abundance of charming tunes that will spin around in their heads for days … an entrancing collection packaged in warm, ravishing sound’ (BBC Music Magazine)

‘The noble but under-rated tradition of British light music played to the manner born by Corp and his band who, if anything, improve on the original recordings’ (Classic CD)

'Espléndido disco' (CD Compact, Spain)
It was while on holiday in the Isle of Wight that Edward White (1910–1994) saw some ancient steam engines that chugged along country branch lines, one of them bearing the name ‘Puffin’ Billy’. The chirpy composition which it inspired became familiar during the 1950s when it was adopted as the signature tune for the Saturday morning radio programme Children’s Favourites. Largely self-taught, White was born in London and became a dance-band violinist and arranger in his home city, besides directing a ballroom orchestra in Bristol after the Second World War.

from notes by Andrew Lamb © 1996

En vacances sur l’île de Wight, Edward White (1910-1994) vit des engins à vapeur anciens haleter sur les voies secondaires, à travers la campagne; or, une de ces machines portait le nom de ‘Puffin’ Billy’. La composition enjouée qu’elle inspira fut fameuse dans les années 1950, lorsqu’elle servit d’indicatif au programme radiophonique du samedi matin, Children’s Favourites. En grande partie autodidacte, White naquit à Londres, où il devint violoniste et arrangeur, tout en dirigeant un orchestre de salle de bal à Bristol, après la Seconde Guerre mondiale.

extrait des notes rédigées par Andrew Lamb © 1996
Français: Hypérion

Während eines Sommerurlaubs auf der Isle of Wight sah Edward White (1910-1994) einige alte Dampfmaschinen, die auf einer Nebenstrecke entlangtuckerten, von denen eine den Namen ‘Puffin’ Billy’ trug. Die muntere Komposition wurde während der 1950er berühmt, als sie die Kennmelodie des Radioprogramms Children’s Favourites war, das immer samstags gesendet wurde. White, der sich das Komponieren im großen und ganzen selbst angeeignet hatte, war in London geboren und wurde später Violinist und Arrangeur eines Tanzorchesters in seiner Heimatstadt. Er dirigierte nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg außerdem ein Tanzorchester in Bristol.

aus dem Begleittext von Andrew Lamb © 1996
Deutsch: Ute Mansfeldt

Other albums featuring this work

British Light Music Classics
CDS44261/44CDs Boxed set (at a special price) — Download only
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