And now, some music on the Light Programme ...

July 2, 2009 6:21 PM

Trying to track down a piece of mid-20th century music. It's got a whimsical "Auntie Beeb" feel to it, a meandering woodwind (clarinet) theme and unexpected woodblock or claves usage. Last time I heard it, the piece was being used ironically. Whether the piece was actually used in 1950s BBC broadcasts, I don't know, but I'd love to get its name.
posted by scruss to media & arts (16 comments total)

Stranger on the Shore?
posted by aswego at 7:03 PM on July 2

not Stranger on the Shore, no.
posted by scruss at 7:24 PM on July 2

The theme from the South Bank Show? It's based on a theme by Paganini.
posted by Susurration at 7:32 PM on July 2

Shoot -- misread clarinet. Not the South Bank Show theme, then ... :-)
posted by Susurration at 7:33 PM on July 2

nope, not Variations, either.

I'm looking for something a bit more Mr Cholmondely-Warner, or maybe even Pathé Newsreel.
posted by scruss at 8:06 PM on July 2

Can you remember the rest of the orchestration -- strings, woodwind, brass?
posted by chrismear at 3:24 AM on July 3

woodwind and strings, I think. May not have been a clarinet - perhaps oboe, probably not flute. Got a really meandering down-the-garden path feeling to it: diddly-dum de dum de dum, diddly-dum de dum de dum de do ... and then there's a bit that goes like diddly dum CRACK! diddly-dum CRACK! dum de diddly diddly do - or something like that.

The CRACK! might be woodblocks, or a snare. It's meant to be a bit jarring.

This music was used in the same way to evoke a time period that Guiot's "Ardente Elisabeth" is used to evoke 1970s UK schools television - except this was supposed to be the 1940s-50s.
posted by scruss at 4:05 AM on July 3

Might it be Barwick Green, best known as the theme music from "The Archers"? (The woodblocks are around 1:20.)
posted by buxtonbluecat at 6:22 AM on July 3

no, not the Archers theme. Similarly jolly, though, but not quite so hearty. It sounds a bit like Barwick Green but with a couple of drinks in it.
posted by scruss at 6:26 AM on July 3

Ronald Binge?

Elizabethan Serenade

The Watermill

Sailing By
posted by A189Nut at 11:41 AM on July 3

no, Binge is a bit too stringy.
posted by scruss at 12:42 PM on July 3

Puffin' Billy?
If not that it may well be on this double CD.
posted by Dr.Pill at 4:08 PM on July 3

How 'bout 'On The Trail', from the Grand Canyon Suite by Grofe?
posted by DandyRandy at 4:17 PM on July 3

not On The Trail.

Puffin' Billy's really close - exactly the kind of twee sound. But it's still not it.
posted by scruss at 6:45 PM on July 3

diddly dum CRACK! diddly-dum CRACK! dum de diddly diddly do

If that's not the 'Popular Song' from William Walton's Façade suite, I'll eat my metronome.
posted by chrismear at 12:52 AM on July 5

indeed, chrismear - no need to sauté the wittner. Thank you!
posted by scruss at 7:59 AM on July 5