Semprini Prefaced by the Theme from Mediterranean Concerto and the spoken catchphrase ‘Old ones, new ones’, loved ones, neglected ones’ BBC radio’s Semprini Serenades was for more than two decades an eagerly awaited weekly synonym for Light Music. Comprising an eclectic mixture of light-classical and film music (exactly the kind of repertoire contained in the present programme) the arrangements were invariably melodious and as elegant and smooth as their presenter.

Albert Semprini was born Fernando Riccardo Alberto Semprini in Bath, on March 27, 1908, the son of Arturo Semprini, a professional horn player from Rimini and an English mother, Elizabeth Tilley, an opera and concert singer, and a native of Dudley in the West Midlands. In 1918 the Semprini family transferred to Milan on Arturo’s appointment as librarian at La Scala, Milan. A child prodigy (proficient at both ’cello and piano from an early age) the musically precocious Alberto enrolled at Milan’s Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi, in 1920. A first study pianist, he also trained in composition and conducting and it was in the latter capacity that, at 16, while still a student, he successfully auditioned for La Scala’s conductor-in-chief, Arturo Toscanini. A notoriously hard taskmaster Toscanini, acknowledging Alberto’s talent, confided to him the baton for Stravinsky’s ballet Petrushka.

Graduating from the Conservatorio in 1929, Alberto aimed at a career as a concert pianist and conductor, and such was his talent that in later years many critics expressed regret that he did not confine his ambition to the classical sphere. However, in common with several other classically trained musicians of his generation he was strongly drawn to jazz and other lighter genres, which soon mapped out the path that he was destined to follow. He worked out-of-season variously as a pianist on transatlantic cruise liners en route to New York before finding (in the early 1930s) a regular niche as staff conductor and répétiteur at La Scala and elsewhere. In frequent demand as a recording session conductor, he assembled a rhythm-salon orchestra for Italian HMV, performed regularly on radio and toured Europe in duo with fellow-rhythm pianist Enrico Bormioli and made solo appearances in various film-musicals.