Description
The English light music composer and arranger Ronald (Ronnie) Binge (1910-1979) began his professional musical career as a cinema organist before working in summer orchestras in seaside resorts such as Blackpool and Great Yarmouth. In the mid 1930s, and again after serving with the RAF during the war, Binge worked with Mantovani, producing arrangements and developing the signature ‘cascading strings’ sound. The partnership gave both men worldwide success but Binge had tired of arranging and wanted to concentrate on his composing work.
As a composer Binge’s best-known works are the Elizabethan Serenade (1951), Sailing By (1963) – which introduces the late-night BBC Radio 4 Shipping Forecast – and The Watermill (1958) for oboe and string orchestra. The Watermill is a gentle, charming piece of pastoral music which, along with its incredibly beautiful theme, also magically evokes the steady trundling of the mill wheel.
In 1975 it was chosen as the theme music for the BBC’s adaptation of The Secret Garden, and later for a BBC documentary on Kenneth Graham, author of The Wind in the Willows. The Watermill was played at Ronnie’s funeral.
Whilst the oboe remains centre stage in this arrangement for wind quintet, the other players have satisfying parts too.
