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Gold from a Musical Golden Age

Oriana Choir
Feb 23
3 min read

Oriana Choir has something really special happening in a few weeks’ time! The Piano Men: Billy Joel and Elton John will bring you some of the very best songs from these supremely gifted songwriters and performers of the 60s, 70s and beyond. They were both a significant part of the evolution of popular music through the last hundred years or so.

Here’s a bit of historical context.

The twentieth century saw a succession of ‘Golden Ages’ in the creation of popular music. From the era of ragtime at the turn of the century, through the Jazz Age of the 1920s and 1930s, the Big Band Era of the 40s, the genesis of Rock’n’Roll and all that followed in the 60s and 70s, the number of songwriters, and the volume of music they contributed to popular culture, has been nothing short of astronomical.

The ‘thirties and ‘forties were a golden age of popular song, during which countless works from many gifted composers and lyricists emerged, and went on to become timeless, classic standards. Names like George and Ira Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, Rodgers and Hart, (and later Rodgers and Hammerstein), Johnny Mercer, Harold Arlen, and many more; and the artists who immortalised their songs – Judy Garland, Bing Crosby, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra, Peggy Lee and Doris Day, to name just a few – helped to create and foster a veritable industry of popular music.

Then came the 60s and the 70s. A new type of music, with a new beat, but built on all the musics – jazz, blues, country, folk and mainstream popular song - that had come before. The explosion of pop/rock music through those two decades was like nothing the world had ever experienced before. So much wonderful music, from so many gifted songwriters; not just from America, but from across the Atlantic as well. An endless stream of creativity from the likes of Lennon and McCartney; Jagger and Richards; Brian Wilson; Bob Dylan; Paul Simon; Carole King; Cat Stevens, and so many more.

And among these superstars of lyricism and composition were two – one American, one English, whose music has excited, thrilled, enchanted and inspired millions of music lovers for more than 50 years. William Martin Joel, known to the world as Billy Joel; and Reginald Kenneth Dwight, aka (Sir) Elton John, with his long-time lyricist Bernie Taupin; have each given the world an immense treasury of wonderful, unforgettable songs. From Your Song to Can You Feel the Love Tonight? from Piano Man to River of Dreams, Billy and Elton’s combined contribution to the canon of popular music is immense.

So immense, in fact, that compiling the programme for The Piano Men: Billy Joel and Elton John was a matter, not of what to include, but of what to leave out. But don’t worry – we have done our very best to ensure that we bring you songs that represent their very best. All the songs in the programme can, without doubt, be considered to be Elton John and Billy Joel classics. Done in classic Oriana style. Which means, to borrow a line from another brilliant songwriter, ‘a splendid time is guaranteed for all’.

Ian Rix

February 24, 2025

The Piano Men: Billy Joel and Elton John