Hayden Wood – Sixty Years On: The Nems Recordings: 1969-1970 (2019)

b. 25 March 1882, Slaithwaite, Yorkshire, England, d. 11 March 1959, London, England. Wood’s ‘Roses Of Picardy’ (lyrics by Fred E. Weatherly, who collaborated with Eric Coates and many others) has ensured his place in twentieth-century popular music, although he also wrote other well-remembered melodies, such as ‘The Horse Guards - Whitehall’, used by BBC radio since the 40s to introduce Down Your Way. Many of his songs (as well as ‘Picardy’ he composed ‘A Brown Bird Singing’ and ‘Love’s Garden Of Roses’) were written for his wife, the soprano Dorothy Court, and their success has tended to overshadow the sheer volume of his musical output: 15 suites, nine rhapsodies, eight overtures, six choral compositions, three large concertante pieces as well as over 60 assorted works. A childhood spent on the Isle of Man (in the Irish sea) inspired ‘Mannin Veen’ (1932/3) (the title of this Manx tone poem means ‘Dear Isle of Man’), and ‘Mylecharane’ written just after the end of World War II. His major suites included ‘Moods’ (1932) from which comes the concert waltz ‘Joyousness’, ‘Paris’ (distinguished by the march ‘Montmartre’), ‘London Landmarks’ (which includes the above-mentioned ‘Horse Guards - Whitehall’), ‘Snapshots Of London’ and ‘London Cameos’. Some other notable works: ‘Virginia - A Southern Rhapsody’, ‘Sketch Of A Dandy’, ‘The Seafarer - A Nautical Rhapsody’, ‘Soliloquy’ and ‘Serenade To Youth’.