Signature (Live In Concert)

Chronique

Light music, known stateside as easy listening music, is sometimes identified with the composers of its glory years from the 1950s and '60s, but it is alive and well. Film and television music composer Debbie Wiseman is not much known outside Britain, but there, she is much loved. One couldn't ask for stronger testimony of that than the presence of one of the pieces here, Elizabeth Remembered, on BBC One on the evening after the death of Elizabeth II was announced (she had actually composed it several years earlier). Two works were also performed at the coronation of her successor. These pieces are a bit more heraldic, but otherwise, there's quite a continuity of mood to the music on the album, which offers sweeping cinematic sentiment. The pieces are from soundtracks and concert suites, but there isn't a strong differentiation musically between the two types. Among the latter is a selection from Wolf Hall, which topped classical charts on its release, and this may make a good place to begin sampling. The music is recorded live, with Wiseman herself as conductor, and the added edge of live performance contributes to the experience; applause, which is genuinely enthusiastic, is retained. The Silva Screen label deserves kudos for its clear, live recording of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Those wanting an introduction to this immensely popular composer are directed toward this release, which contains pieces identified by the composer herself as some of her favorites.

© James Manheim /TiVo