- Ronald Binge
Ronald Binge (
15 July ,1910 , Derby –6 September ,1979 ,Ringwood ,Hampshire ) was a British composer and arranger oflight music .Life
Ronald Binge was born in a
working-class neighbourhood inDerby in theEnglish Midlands . In his early life he was a cinema organist and later started working in summerorchestra s in British seaside resorts, for which he learned to play thepiano accordion . His skill as a cinema organist was put to good use, and he played the latter instrument inMantovani 's first band, theTipica Orchestra . During theSecond World War , Binge served in theRoyal Air Force , during which time he was much in demand organising camp entertainment.After the end of the war, Mantovani offered him the job of arranging and composing for his new orchestra. In 1951, his arrangement of "Charmaine" gave him and Mantovani worldwide success and recognition. However, he later tired of writing arrangements and turned to composing original works and
film score s.He died of liver cancer in 1979, aged 69.
Works
Binge was interested in the technicalities of composition and was most famous as the inventor of the "cascading strings" effect which is the signature sound of the Mantovani orchestra, much used in their arrangements of popular music. It was originally created to capture the essence of the echo properties of a building such as a cathedral, although it later became particularly associated with
easy listening music genre.His best known compositions are "Elizabethan Serenade" (1951), which was used by the
British Broadcasting Corporation as the theme for the popular 1950s series, "Music Tapestry," and as the play-out for theBritish Forces Network radio station, for which he won anIvor Novello Award , and "Sailing By " (1963), theBBC Radio 4 Shipping Forecast theme. Other well-known pieces include "Miss Melanie", "The Watermill" (1958) and hisConcerto forAlto Saxophone inE-flat major (1956).Less well-known is a
piano piece known as "Vice Versa", a musical palindrome which was not only a front-to-backpalindrome , but also exploited the two staves used for writing for piano. The music reads the same, whatever way it is turned. He later extended this theme, composing a piece known as " Upside/Downside" for his son, who was learning to play therecorder (musical instrument) atDownside School . This musical palindrome was for piano, recorder andcello and again was universally reversible - two players could therefore play from the same sheet of music reading from opposite ends.External links
* [http://www.rfsoc.org.uk/rbinge.shtml Biography at the Robert Farnon Society]
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