1963

Ido Martin and his Latin Beat - Mambos and Cha-Cha-Chas

Ido Martin and his Latin Beat – Mambos and Cha-Cha-Chas

Sleeve Notes:

One of the most heartening things about the present swing towards Cha-Cha music is that this has come about naturally—unaided by the “gimmick merchants”, untrammelled by “overnight discoveries”, unsullied by commercialism.

While nearly everybody in the music business was asking: “What’s the next trend in popular taste?”— popular taste has given its own answer.

Tiring of the monotony of rock and its often talentless exponents, it sought a more satisfying type of music—and discovered, first in the clubs of Soho (where a dozen nations unite to dance) and later in the dance halls, this Latin-American-music-on-a-jazz-kick that is Cha-Cha.

The public still wanted a beat—and here is a beat that relegates rock to music of the Stone Age. They still wanted a melody—and here are tunes that make rock sound like the five-finger exercise it often is. Wed the two together, and you have music that is fascinating in its rhythmic complexity, with melody lines that conjure up all the fire and intensity with which the word Latin-American is associated.

It is obvious on first hearing that this is not the sort of stuff that can be “knocked off” by any shock-headed youngster with a mike, a guitar and an astute manager (which is why the gimmick brigade have left it severely alone.) It is not even music that every professional musician can play successfully. Badly played it loses more than half its value. Here it is brilliantly played by men who have specialised in its performance for many years.

PAT BRAND Editor, “Melody Maker”

Ido Martin and his Latin Beat - Mambos and Cha-Cha-Chas

Label: Society SOC 906

1963 1960s Covers

Johann Strauss - Die Fledermaus - World Record Club

Johann Strauss – Die Fledermaus

Sleeve Notes:

It was in 1863 that the history of the most perfect of operettas might perhaps be said to have begun. That year the Concordia, a journalists’ club in Vienna, had invited both Johann Strauss and the great Jacques Offenbach to contribute a new waltz to be played at their carnival ball.

Both obliged, Offenbach with Abendblatter (Evening Papers), Strauss with Morgenblatter (Morning Papers). The later edition was generally considered to be the better offering, perhaps because Offenbach was already a musical celebrity, although it is the Strauss waltz that is now remembered. After this friendly rivalry the two composers, who had never met, happened to find themselves sitting together in a restaurant. In the middle of a polite conversation, Offenbach said, probably with all sincerity ; “You ought to write operettas, you have the stuff in you”. He could hardly have looked forward to a time when Strauss’ operettas would prove even more popular than his own.

The logic of his statement had no effect until after a visit to Paris in 1867, when Strauss, after much pressure from his wife and friends, at last wrote Die Lustiger Welber von Wien. Unfortunately Strauss could not obtain the services of the leading lady he thought necessary to the production and the project was dropped. The world now waited until 1871 when Indigo und die vierzig Riluber was produced at the Theater an der Wien. It has a weak libretto, an Offenbach inspired score with only one Strauss waltz, but nevertheless attracted considerable attention. Der Karneval in Rom followed in 1873 and got contemporary approval, later to be forgotten.

The real truth of Offenbach’s prophecy came to light with Die Fledermaus, which was produced at the Theater an der Wien on April 5, 1874. With the exception of Der ligeuner-baron (1885) this was the best libretto that Strauss was ever to get in a long history of operetta writing, and he rose to the occasion with some of his most sparkling music. The original plot was born in a German comedy, Das Gefangnis, which was first turned into a Parisian vaudeville called Le Reveillon by Meilhac and Halevy and finally into Die Fledermaus by Richard Genee (also a composer of some standing) and Karl Haffner.

The Viennese cast included the celebrated Marie Geistinger as Rosalinde and it seems incredible that anything so vivaciously alive as Die Fledermaus could possibly fall flat. But perhaps the time was hardly propitious. 1873 had seen a great financial slump in Vienna, a depression that spread all over Europe, and there was much poverty and ill-feeling about. The champagne frivolities of Die Fledermaus were perhaps ill-timed. It managed 16 performances and then expired.

Put on in Paris, a city nurtured on the frivolities of Offenbach, it was an immediate success ; and even wilder acclaim followed in Berlin in June, 1874. The Viennese supporters, duly chastened, slipped Die Fledermaus back into the Theater an der Wien in September, and the public at last took this home product to its heart. It was a great success for Marie Geistinger, star of La belle Hélene and a director of the Viennese theatre; and a chapter of immortality for Strauss. The old hack, Karl Haffner, the bright young man, Richard Genee, and the waltz-king, between them, had triumphed.

The overture to Die Fledermaus is a sparkling potpourri made up of some of the operetta’s best tunes, an exhilarating portent of the rich entertainment to come. The curtain rises on the drawing-room of the house where the rich Gabriel von Eisenstein lives with his beautiful young wife Rosalinde. The first voice we hear is that of one Alfred, a professional singer and teacher, serenading the fair Rosalinde from outside the window, “Taubchen, das entflattert ist”, recalling their past amours. His efforts fall on unheeding ears, as the only person in the room is Adele the maid who is pre-occupied by a letter from her sister which suggests that she borrows some of her mistress’s clothes and comes to the grand ball to be held by Prince Orlofsky that evening. The singing at last intruding on her thoughts, she opens the window to shoo him away, Rosalinde entering just in time to remind Alfred that she is now a married woman – but she leaves a future meeting an open prospect, however. Adele now concocts a story of a sick aunt and asks for the evening off. The plans are only slightly complicated by the fact that Eisenstein is to go to prison for eight days, that very evening, a five-day sentence having been increased by the blunderings of his incompetent lawyer, Dr. Blind. This involves some heated discussion between Blind, Rosalinde and Eisenstein “Nein, mit solchen Advokaten”. However, his friend, Dr. Falke, appears and suggests secretly to Eisenstein that he should at least enjoy himself at the ball that evening under the name of Marquis Renard ; Dr. Falke has a spiteful little plan in mind. They imagine the gay time they are going to have – “Ein Souper uns heute winkt”. Rosalinde sees a chance also to have a gay time with her old flame Alfred but now has to pretend great sorrow at her husband’s imprisonment; Adele is covering up her own little plans with sorrow for her fictitious aunt; and Eisenstein thinks of the good time he will have. Each bemoans their fate while anticipating the evening in the famous “So muss allein ich bleiben” with its accelerating refrain “o je, o je, wie ruhrt mich dies”.

As Eisenstein and Adele depart, Alfred is quickly upon the scene. He dons the husband’s dressing-gown and fez and they merrily drink together for old time’s sake – “Glucklich ist, wer vergisst”. The prison governor arrives and discovers this situation ; so they have to pretend that Alfred really is Rosalinde’s husband —” Mein Herr, was dachten Sie von mir “. The governor advocates the joys of a cell, ” Mein schemes, grosses Voglehaus “, and the unfortunate man is taken off to prison.

The second act, in the ballroom, finds Prince Orlofsky extremely bored by it all. Falke enters and promises him some entertainment. In return for a prank Eisenstein once played on him, leaving him after a fancy-dress ball dressed as a bat in a drunken sleep by the road, to wander home in much ridicule in broad daylight – ever after to be known as Dr. Bat – he has contrived the Bat’s revenge. He has sent a note to Rosalinde suggesting she comes to the ball in disguise to see what her husband is up to. Orlofsky enters the spirit of the thing and declares he likes to see people enjoying themselves – “Ich lade gem mir Gaste ein” – “chacun a son gout”. Eisenstein, introduced as the French Marquis, is shattered to bump into his wife’s maid Adele, dressed in his wife’s clothes. Adele is equally surprised to find him there, imagining him in prison, but remains composed calling herself Fraulein Olga. She pretends to be indignant at being taken for a lady’s maid – ” Min Herr Marquis”. The next arrival is the prison governor, who should not be there either, disguised as the Chevalier Chagrin. He takes Adele for a grand lady and makes passes. Rosalinde enters, disguised by a mask as a mysterious Hungarian countess. Eisenstein, ever the one for a conquest, thinks that here is an easy one. Rosalinde decides to play him along, secretly most annoyed at his deception “Wie er gieret, kokettieret”. Eisenstein takes out his chiming-watch, always a fascinating weapon in affairs of this sort, and Rosalinde decides she must get hold of it for evidence. She swoons and asks Eisenstein to check her pulse, which he does rather un-successfully – and she manages to take the watch from him. Adele now challenges Rosalinde to take off her mask, Orlofsky enjoying the joke supports Rosalinde, and Rosalinde declares her true Hungarian birth in ” Klange der Heimat “. Eisen-stein, poor fish, tells once more the story of the bat episode, boasting that he has been too clever for Falke to get revenge. “We’ll see,” says Falke. They all sit down to dinner and Orlofsky praises the wine – “Im Feuerstrom der Reben” and Falke exhorts that they all be one big, happy family – “Briiderlein und Schwesterlein . . . Dui-du!”. All anxiously watch the clock as it strikes six – remembering their various appointments.

In the prison, the third act finds Alfred singing in his cell attended by a very intoxicated warder. Frank, the prison governor, now staggers in and is revived by a cup of coffee. No sooner is he asleep than Adele and her friend arrive looking for the Chevalier Chagrin to confess that Adele is only an un-sophisticated lady’s maid “Speil ‘ich die Unschild vom Lande”. Next the phony Marquis comes, Eisenstein arriving to give himself up. Adele and her friend are hidden away. Frank explains he is the prison governor, but when Eisenstein tells who he is, says he can’t be as he arrested him last night. Dr. Blind arrives, and while Frank goes for the prisoner Eisenstein takes Blind’s coat, wig and spectacles and disguises himself as the lawyer, pushing Blind out of the way. Enter Alfred in Eisenstein’s dressing-gown. At this moment Rosalinde comes in, heavily veiled. The deceptions and Falke’s joke are all revealed after much confusion and heart-searching, with Eisenstein eventually coming off worse. “O Fledermaus”, they all beg, say it was all a joke. In the end, as no one was without some disgrace, they decide that the champagne was to blame, ” Champagner hat’s verschuldet “, and under its lingering influence all differences are settled and Eisenstein and his Rosalinde reunited.

PETER GAMMOND

Johann Strauss - Die Fledermaus - World Record Club

Label: World Record Club T 187

1963 1960s Covers

Ronnie Aldrich - The Magnificent Pianos of

Ronnie Aldrich – The Magnificent Pianos of

Sleeve Notes:

No single team in Decca Records’ “phase 4” Stereo Line works harder at making records than does the “Aldrich Group” which, of course, includes the Pianist-Arranger-Conductor, Mr. Aldrich; Producers Hugh Mendl and Mark White; and Engineer Arthur “Butch” Bannister.

The planning, material selection and LP format is the precious concern of the Producers who are ever mindful of the splendid track-record of Mr. Aldrich’s previous “phase 4” LPs (both LPs “MELODY AND PERCUSSION FOR TWO PIANOS” and “RONNIE ALDRICH AND HIS TWO PIANOS” achieved hit status on the best selling charts).

The planning, material selection and LP format is the precious concern of the Producers who are ever mindful of the splendid track-record of Mr. Aldrich’s previous “phase 4” LPs (both LPs “MELODY AND PERCUSSION FOR TWO PIANOS” and “RONNIE ALDRICH AND HIS TWO PIANOS” achieved hit status on the best selling charts).

The writing and performance of the final selected material rests with the talented Mr. Aldrich. But his job is more involved than just writing good arrangements and playing well; in addition, he must write within the margins set up by the hard rules of the “phase 4” stereo two-speaker system. He must alternate between two pianos, which he plays at different times; he must always be aware of multi-track problems; he must always strive to balance the piano sounds between speakers, etc.

And to realize all this technically requires the services of a top-drawer engineer; someone who lives in the world of stereo, who understands its exciting possibilities and respects its limitations — and so Mr. Bannister does, as he takes his place on the “Aldrich Team.

“The “Team” has come up with its very best LP so far: an album wonderfully alive with timeless hit songs, stunningly performed and recorded. Mr. Aldrich’s two concert grand pianos are featured with the magnificent strings of the Festival Orchestra, who supply, in the background, a curtain of splendid textures, rich and warm.

The orchestra is placed across the speakers: the violins are on the left side; the violas and cellos are on the right. Mr. Aldrich’s pianos (of course, left and right), emerging nobly and firmly in front of the strings, are captured thrillingly in a display of wonderful playing.

As the left and right speakers alternately come to life, as the piano comments grandly about some melodies, gently about others as the entire musical experience unfolds to reveal a world of taste and style, feeling and skill, you will become aware of two things: the technical excellence of the sound itself, and the perfect wedding effected between the arrangements and the songs.

For the material is truly wonderful. The list of composers reads like a “who’s who” in music: Berlin, Kern, Noble, Fain, Rodgers, Van Heusen, Young, Maxwell—and we include Mr. Aldrich, himself, who has written, especially for this album, a lovely, haunting melody called “Evening Star.”

For an album already made great by magnificent sound, wonderful arrangements and superb performances, you couldn’t ask for a more outstanding list of songs than:

Ebb Tide
The Very Thought Of You
I’ll Be Seeing You
Love Letters
Long Ago And Far Away
How Deep Is The Ocean
Smoke Gets In Your Eyes
Stella By Starlight
Among My Souvenirs
Darn That Dream
Evening Star
Where Or When

Ronnie Aldrich - The Magnificent Pianos of

Label: Decca PFS 4028

1963 1960s Covers

Felix Mendelssohn and his Hawaiian Serenaders - Serenade to Hawaii - Cover Heaven beautiful record covers

Felix Mendelssohn and his Hawaiian Serenaders – Serenade to Hawaii

Sleeve Notes:

“0 who can . . . wallow naked in December snow By thinking on fantastic summer’s heat?” (Shakespeare: King Richard II)

It may not be possible to feel warm in a British winter by merely thinking of some by-gone summer, but the music of Felix Mendelssohn and his orchestra on record is almost guaranteed to bring a vision of the sun to the most arctic climate. Hawaii! The very name conjures up a picture of waving palms, blue seas and sky and the surf creaming along the golden sand. Even the geography text-books fail to dispel the illusion and the atlas shows Hawaii as a string of islands, between twenty and thirty degrees north of the equator, set somewhere near the centre of the Pacific.

For many years the Hawaiians have been looked upon, quite rightly, as a gay, fun-loving people and music to them is an essential part of their life. Dancing and singing mean much to them and a, great deal of their traditional ceremonies use music as an integral ingredient. “Hula dancers” is a term used to describe young ladies swaying to the sound of dream music, but “hula” in itself means simply “to dance”. Hawaiian hula takes on an infinite variety of forms each described in its title; hula pahu, for example, is a drum dance in which the big drums dominate the rhythm. Felix Mendelssohn’s Sophisticated Hula represents a fusion of island rhythms and Western music. Three Hawaiian towns are saluted here; Hilo and Kalua are situated on the main island of Hawaii while Honolulu, the capital of the islands, is on Oahu.

Films about Hawaii invariably include scenes in which the lei plays a big part and the Felix Mendelssohn orchestra gives its impression of one such lei formed from sweet gardenias. Lei is a Hawaiian word meaning any garland or necklace, although it is a term which tends to be reserved for hoops of flowers nowadays. On a number of tracks extensive use is made of the Hawaiian guitar, a four-stringed instrument with a long neck which helps to give the music its distinctive colouration. The sweet harmonies and graceful, flowing melodies are pleasingly and accurately played by Felix Mendelssohn’s orchestra, for Felix has made a particular study of music from this corner of the world. Parting is such sweet sorrow, and, as the record comes to an end, we remember the traditional Hawaiian farewell “Liliha Lele’o”. There is no simple English translation for this touching phrase but one authority on Hawaii and its peoples has likened it to Horatio’s words at the death of Hamlet: “Good night Sweet Prince, and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest”.

The music of Hawaii is even more enchanting in Hawaii. Fly the B.O.A.C. Pacific Jet Bridge – Stopover en route in Honolulu at no extra fare. London – New York – San Francisco – Tokyo – Hong Kong by BOAC ROLLS-ROYCE 707 -Aristocrat of the Skies.

Felix Mendelssohn and his Hawaiian Serenaders - Serenade to Hawaii - Cover Heaven beautiful record covers

Label: Encore! ENC 142

1963 1960s Covers

Werner Müller and His Orchestra - On The Move

Werner Müller and His Orchestra – On The Move

Sleeve Notes:

His musical sights set on distant lands and faraway places, Werner Müller, who brought you such great previous “phase 4” stereo LP’s such as PERCUSSION IN THE SKY and HAWAIIAN SWING, has constructed a highly imaginative musical holiday for you in this, his latest and newest “phase 4” album. The orchestral globe-trotting takes us to Mexico, France, England, Brazil, Hawaii, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Japan, India and Turkey – and what a trip it is!

As you would expect, it is a journey filled with the tonal colours and harmonic hues that most appropriately and happily describe the visited place. Mr. Müller employs his orchestra the way a painter uses a brush: a touch here, a blend there; there a bold stroke, here a soft one – until each picture bears the unmistakable mark of the place. While you will easily pinpoint the directions from which the many sounds emanate, you will be sure to note with pleasure how richly wide-spread the strings are handled; they stretch across both speakers a lustrous curtain of sound. Always on the left is a chorus of women whose high-registered singing blends with the violins to give a brilliant edge to the sound. This combination of strings and voices (always prepared for you by a run or glissando on the piano) is delightfully used by Mr. Müller on each title to contrast and/or enhance the instrumentation that precedes it, an instrumentation which is usually geared to a description of the land or city being visited. Rarely has an album striven so pointedly to provide such multi-coloured effects: the splashes are brilliant, the textures scintillate with excitement, the blendings fuse to a level of sheer tonal excellence; rarely, too, has an album been so successfully completed.
Werner Müller and His Orchestra - On The Move

Label: Decca PFS 4029

1963 1960s Covers

Jay Clever and his Orchestra - Tonight, My Darling

Jay Clever and his Orchestra – Tonight, My Darling

Sleeve Notes:

An atmosphere of relaxation is a welcome thing these day,. I’ll leave a discourse concerning the tensions and turmoil of today’s ulcer-times to the sociologists; I just know it’s nice to hear pleasant sound. I like pretty music. But not wishy-washy music; not music obviously created to fill a cream puff and no more. You won’t find that kind of music in this album. You will find class A workmanship in both the arranging and performing categories.

Precisely where you will be helped to let your flight of imagination carry you, will of course be up to you. But whether whisking you to sunny wave-splattered shores or moonlight lanes, your favourite dim corner café or quiet rendezvous in the country, you’ll know you’ve been transported FIRST CLASS all the way. Beautiful melody has a habit of taking the listener to just the perfect place he wants to be.

And, oh yes, to completely enjoy an album such as this you can be either the musical purist or the I-don’t-know-why-I-like-it-but-by-gosh-I-like-it type and get equal satisfaction from the lovely sounds that Monsieur Clever has created. The knowing musician will applaud much of the technical force of the orchestration; the brilliant use of strings, the unexpected soaring-then-retreating of plush harmonic backgrounds, the often unexpected voicing in many of the sections. The casual listener, however, will get just as much pure pleasure (if I can borrow a commercial phrase) from all that will be heard. Actually, the ” how ” isn’t as important as the ” when ” anyway.

Your personal and delightful trip of fancy is at hand; the “when” provided by the lovely music is whenever and as often as you choose to play this record.

Frankly, I think you were quite shrewd in buying this album (or perhaps you have some discerning gift-giving friend who should now be treated with more respect), it will give you a lot of listening satisfaction.

Sleeve Notes: Jack Lazare
© Associated Recordings Company, London. 1963

Jay Clever and his Orchestra - Tonight, My Darling

Label: Society SOC 935

1963 1960s Covers

The Jay Norman Quintet - Somebody Loves Me

The Jay Norman Quintet – Somebody Loves Me

Sleeve Notes:

Jay Norman, whose brilliant piano-playing is featured on this album, and his colleagues are well-known to the American public, and we figure that it won’t be long before they are established as a household word in this country. Individually and as an ensemble, these players are familiar figures on television on the other side of the Atlantic and they have an enormous listening public on steam radio and disc. Here for the first time they are brought to the music-lover in this country, recorded in breathtaking realism by American engineers.

Every shading of their subtle and satisfying artistry is captured in this recording.

Record enthusiasts throughout the U.S.A. have been demanding a disc of smooth and sophisticated dance music. This record was the answer to that demand; a superbly balanced programme of all-time favourites from the past twenty years. Old and new, fast or dreamy, tunes of every variety are included. Whatever your taste you’ll find something here to bring back memories. This is popular music, styled to suit your every musical mood.

© Associated Recordings Company London, 1961

The Jay Norman Quintet - Somebody Loves Me

Label: Society SOC 933

1963 1960s Covers

Maria Elena - 50 Guitars Go South of the Border

The 50 Guitars of Tommy Garrett – Maria Elena

Sleeve Notes:

The one fact about popular music which can be stated with authority and no serious risk of contradiction is that it travels in circles. The circles may be wide in circumference and it may take decades for pop music to return to the initial point of departure, but it inevitably does just that in the end. Those old enough to remember what was going on before the circular journey began usually scoff derisively at younger generations who enthuse about the ‘new’ trend or sound. The youngsters in turn tend to view these deprecating assertions with suspicion, often to the extent of actually checking up on whether Grandpa really did serenade Grandma in their courting days with the current No. 1 hit now recorded in a somewhat different manner by Willie Precipice.

One instrument can always be relied upon to be prominent and in widespread use in pop music at any given time too, and that is the guitar. It may be a medieval troubadour entertaining the household of a noble knight as they slump glassy-eyed and bloated in their chairs after another bout of over-eating and drinking; it may be a Latin beau softly intoning some sensual love ballad beneath the balcony of his beloved, keeping a wary eye open for the disapproving dad and his dog; it may be a gypsy strumming passionate chords of fiery flamenco in the dank, murky interior of an Andalusian cave, mentally adding up the pesetas as they drop from the eager hands of enthralled tourists; or it may be the latest teenage idol in a glittering suit of excruciating tightness and enough electrical amplification equipment ranged around him to restock the BBC. In each and every case, the person concerned was and is clutching a guitar in some shape or form.

This LP emphasizes the point of our first paragraph nicely, and beautifully demonstrates the continuing attraction and potency of the guitar. The album’s title and main inspiration is a thirty-year-old Mexican love ballad written by Lorenzo Barcelata, which first achieved international popularity via some English lyrics during the nineteen-forties, and now in 1964 is again high in the hit parades on both sides of the Atlantic in a guitar setting of the utmost charm and simplicity. The turning of this particular full circle has enabled Tommy Garrett and his 50 Guitars to go South of the Border once more to the sunny, rhythmical musical territory where they attained their initial and establishing album success. The 50 Guitars bestow the straightforward attention to Maria Elena, which derives the best from the gentle, easily remembered melody without even the embellishment of any Latin American percussion. An Ernesto Lecuona classic, Jungle Drums, or Canto Karabali, follows, with bongos and finger-bells marking the strong Afro-Cuban beat, and Anna, one of the first baions to register internationally, is re-introduced with all her own charms, decorated by the jingling pandeiro, or samba tambourine.

Without You, by Osvaldo Farres, has the same eloquent, slightly wistful appeal as Maria Elena, especially when given this languorous bolero setting by the 50 Guitars. Cherry Pink enables the cha cha cha to make its first appearance in the selection, with some nimble double-tempo from the maracas during the middle eight bars. Taboo, written by Ernesto Lecuona’s sister Margarita, is the most famous Afro-Cuban of all, and loses none of its dark, ritualistic character in this unique styling for guitars with the bongos injecting the jungle atmosphere.

There is an intriguing admixture of rhythmic influences in the new arrangement of El Choclo or Kiss Of Fire which opens Side Two. Part tango, part bolero, part cha cha cha and part pasodoble, with the castanets imparting a definite Spanish tinge. The bolero, and cha cha cha combine to provide the foundation for the lovely Poinciana (Song of the tree), and the bossa nova or modern samba is unmistakably present as the 50 Guitars play Ary Barroso’s Brazil, now almost a second national anthem of that huge republic.

Amapola is a vintage rumba of unfading popularity, and lilts along with as much toe-teasing vigour as ever in this massed-guitar version. Flamenco Love is dressed in the rhythmic guise of the bolero cha cha cha, and merges into the album so admirably that one recalls with surprise that its origins are not Latin American. Another Ernesto Lecuona classic from his ‘Andalucia’ suite climaxes the LP with an appropriately Ravelian bolero beat.

Several circles in fact are completed by the material in this album, and the 50 Guitars officiate at the ceremony with impeccable skill. It is safe to say that if any new circles begin again now in 1964 with Maria Elena or any other of these splendid tunes, the renditions of them by the 50 Guitars of Tommy Garrett will be as fresh, acceptable and definitive when those circles complete themselves as they are now.

NIGEL HUNTER

Maria Elena - 50 Guitars Go South of the Border

Label: Liberty LBY 1184

1963 1960s Covers

George Arlt & His Orchestra - The Sound of Strings

George Arlt & His Orchestra – The Sound of Strings

George Arlt was born in 1928 in Berlin. He was one of the most prominent German orchestra leaders of the fifties and sixties.

Sleeve Notes:

“You are listening to well-known melodies played by George Arlt and his augmented string orchestra“: this announcement is heard almost daily from all German radio stations and heralds a transmission devoted to modern dance and light music of a most sophisticated kind. Alt recordings by this orchestra attain a standard of professional artistry far beyond the normal.

Arlt loves soft melodic lines but they must be rhythmical. The 35 year old conductor is a Berliner end a quiet and modest artist. Whether on the conducting podium or involved in the administration of a radio station, his art and not his sell is prominent. As a violinist he has a tone to satisfy the most demanding ear. From the violin, Arlt demands all. He comes from a family of musicians; his mother was a well-known pianist and his grandfather a repetiteur. No wonder then that his musical career began early. After many years of patient study and hard work, Arlt completed his studies at the famous Berlin High School for Music.

From 1940-1950 he was concert master of the Berlin Radio. He then continued his activities as concert master and violin virtuoso with the RIAS Dance Orchestra. In 1958 he formed the String Orchestra whose sound, through innumerable broadcasts, has become a household name to radio and television audiences throughout Germany, Arlt is one of the very few concert masters whose immense knowledge of the technique of violin playing has enabled him to weld his players into an orchestra of extraordinary refinement.

His “Venus Waltz,” “C’est si bon” and “La Mer” are magnificent examples of this. Here then, are twelve world-famous hits, enchantingly played by a great orchestra and superbly recorded.

George Arlt & His Orchestra - The Sound of Strings

Label: Realm RM 143

1963 1960s Covers

The Tahitis - Hawaii

The Tahitis – Hawaii

Sleeve Notes:

Magical oases in the endless ocean wastes. So we know the South Sea Islands from films. books and enticing travel brochures. Even the names of these islands have a magical, poetic sound: Hawaii, Tahiti, Samoa. Their numbers go into thousands, these islands on the equator. They are divided by experts into three groups: Polynesia, Melanesia and Micronesia. It is a legendary realm holding a powerful fascination.

The music of the islands draws us, in our imagination, to them. It is music which transcends the fluctuations of fashion and preserves its unique flavour and great popularity. The insidious melody of the South Seas envelops us in a mood of sun.drenched romanticism_ It is a mood difficult to define because elements of yearning, melancholy, gaiety and fulfilment are inextricably interwoven in this music.

This LP. seeks to communicate this mood through careful preparation and selection of the. most appropriate material. It is a record that will remain in ‘avow because the style and character of the music is authentic and unchanging. Whether it be the Moana Ouartet with Rudy Wairata or The Tahitis which bring the music to you, a special effort has been made to achieve the richest possible musical palette.

The Tahitis - Hawaii

Label: Oriole RM 137

1963 1960s Covers