Guest dave Posted April 26, 2005 Composer, trumpeter and arranger Robert Farnon has died in Guernsey aged 87. The Canadian-born star, regarded as one of the greatest composers of light orchestral music, died at a hospice near his home on Friday. Full details at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/guernsey/4476641.stm . This is a huge loss to music Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Captain Oates 21 Posted April 26, 2005 Robert Farnon Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
musikooluk 0 Posted May 19, 2005 Can it really be that no-one has mentioned the death on 23 April 2005 of the renowned Canadian composer and conductor Robert Farnon. Captain Bob Farnon came to England with the Canadian Band of the AEF, along with his American counterpart, Glenn Miller. After the war he stayed in the UK and embarked on what would be a most distinguished career in music, composing, arranging and conducting his own orchestra on countless albums. Early assignments were writing the scores for films, such as the Herbert Wilcox productions starring Anna Neagle & Michael Wilding (Spring In Park Lane etc), 'Just William' films - and in later years 'Shalako', 'Road To Hong Kong' and 'Captain Horatio Hornblower'. In the 1940s and 1950s he arranged and conducted for the Decca label, accompanying artistes such as Gracie Fields, Anne Shelton, Denny Denis and Vera Lynn, and in the album era his orchestrations would be in demand by a number of great American vocalists, including Frank Sinatra, Lena Horne, Tony Bennett & Sarah Vaughan - and he also arranged and conducted albums by 'Singers Unlimited', George Shearing, Rawicz & Landauer and Jose Carreras. Farnon composed many light music cameos for Chappell Music Publishers, primarily for use as background music in newsreels etc, but many of these pieces were recorded by Bob's and other orchestras, and often became familiar through their use as radio and TV signature tunes. Among his compositions that will be well known to many of us on Whirligig are 'Portrait Of A Flirt', 'Jumping Bean', 'Journey Into Melody', 'Melody Fair', 'Westminster Waltz' and 'Manhattan Playboy'. He won a Grammy Award in 1996 for an arrangement recorded by jazz trombonist J.J.Johnson, and was also the recipient of several Ivor Novello Awards - including the theme for the TV series, 'Colditz'. Many of Robert Farnon's Decca albums are currently available on CD from Vocalion Records. A sad loss to the world of music. Brian Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tuber Mirum 126 Posted May 19, 2005 He has been mentioned twice already in various threads. Of course if the search box worked, you too would have known that. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
VSBfromH 74 Posted May 19, 2005 I got "told off" for a double posting the first time this came up, so this makes 3! Oh for those halcyon days when that search engine worked perfectly! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
musikooluk 0 Posted May 19, 2005 Sorry folks if I duplicarted the report on Robert Farnon. I did try the search of course, but zilch. (So how do I find these earlier entries on Mr F?) Brian Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Slave to the Grave 26 Posted May 19, 2005 The search at the bottom of the main page seems to work. Not quite as good as the one at the top used to be Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
