1960s

101 Strings - East of Suez - another beautiful record cover from Cover Heaven

101 Strings – East of Suez

Sleeve Notes:

All the spices of the exotic lands east of Suez are wrapped in the warm rich tones of 101 Strings in this magnificently scored album. From the brilliant and scintillating percussive effects that depict the busy bazaars in Baghdad to the sensuous woodwinds that take us to the forbidden halls of the Temple Dancers— these are the moods and sounds that portray the fascinating ports and places of our sojourn in music. From the tent harems of Arab Dance to the nostalgic loveliness of Song of India, this brilliant high fidelity programme is your passport to adventure and romance East of Suez.

101 Strings - East of Suez - another beautiful record cover from Cover Heaven

Label: Pye Golden Guinea GGL 0055

1960 1960s Covers

The London Philharmonic Orchestra - Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 5

The London Philharmonic Orchestra – Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 5

Sleeve Notes:

FIRST MOVEMENT: Allegro
SECOND MOVEMENT: Adagio Un Poco Mosso
THIRD MOVEMENT: Rondo; Allegro

Beethoven’s Piano Concerto in E Flat belongs to the greatest masterpieces of classical music. It was the last of Beethoven’s Piano Concertos and was composed in 1808-1809.

The key of E Flat chosen by Beethoven expresses the solemn and heroic character of the whole work.
Therefore it is not without reason that this concerto has become known as ‘The Emperor’. The splendid introductory cadences at the beginning of the concerto, prepare the listener for the titanic greatness of the work.

The London Philharmonic Orchestra - Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 5

Label: Marble Arch MAL 550

1964 1960s Covers

Victor Silvester and His Orchestra - Love Is A Many Splendoured Thing

Victor Silvester and His Orchestra – Love Is A Many Splendoured Thing

Sleeve Notes:

The name of Hollywood has been associated with films for many years past and most of America\’s great films have been made there. Although the motion picture industry has now spread far beyond the confines of Hollywood itself, people all over the world still associate the name of this Californian city with any American film they may chance to see.

This album contains just a few of the many outstanding melodies that have been presented to a world-wide audience through the medium of the silver screen. Some of these tunes were specifically written for certain films; some were old favourites revived because they happened to suit the mood of the picture in which they were featured; others were composed as theme music and because they were so popular with the public, lyrics were added at a later date.

These melodies will recall the memories of films made during four decades, and they were used to express the various moods of the stories. Love is a many splendoured thing, My foolish heart, themes from Limelight and Moulin Rouge were sentimental and sad; As time goes by, It can’t be wrong, Laura, Diane, All of you, Around the world, Goodnight my love, Moonglow and the Picnic theme were all melodies of tenderness and love; That old black magic, Sand in my shoes and Gal in calico were bright and scintillating. All of them evoke a variety of emotions – sad, happy, gay, dreamy and romantic.

This is Victor Silvester’s tribute to the music of what is, to many people, an almost legendary city – a city whose name has become a household word in almost every civilised country throughout the world – Hollywood, California U.S.A.

VICTOR SILVESTER Junior

Victor Silvester and His Orchestra - Love Is A Many Splendoured Thing

Label: World Record Club TP616

1966 1960s Covers

Like Blue - André Previn David Rose

Like Blue – André Previn David Rose

Sleeve Notes:

HOLLYWOOD, a land of fabulous success stories, can point to none more fabulous than that of Andre Previn. Young in years, a preponderance of experience has gained him recognition as one of America’s outstanding concert pianists, an established ding artist and one of the screen’s foremost musical composers and conductors at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, where he has been employed since 1945. He is currently musical director for two of M-G-M’s most important pictures — Bells Are Ringing and The Subterraneans, both produced by Arthur Freed.

Previn’s talent has been channelled into all facets of the musical world from arranger to composer-conductor and music director. In fourteen years, he has composed and scored thirty pictures. He has been nominated for an Academy Award five times, and won the Oscar for Gigi. In 1958, he also received the Screen Composers’ Association Award for his original ballet in Invitation To The Dance. Truly a year of achievement, he received the Berlin Film Festival Award for the best original score in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s Bad Day At Black Rock, and the Downbeat Poll in two categories: Best Motion Picture Composer and Best Motion Picture Arranger in 1958. In 1959, Samuel Goldwyn chose Previn to score Porgy And Bess.

Previn’s composing encompasses both jazz and classical music. He has written piano solo works, chamber music and in 1958 completed his first symphony. He has also originated a great deal of material in the popular field. He began his recording career in 1945 and has many records to his credit. These run the gamut from jazz versions of Broadway shows, such as My Fair Lady, Pal Joey, etc., to the classics. In 1959, with David Rose, he won a Grammy Award for their recording of LIKE YOUNG. Previn has presented concerts, as pianist and conductor, in New York, Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco and for seven years in succession with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra in the Hollywood Bowl. He has appeared for recitals or presented chamber music in most of the major cities in the United States and Europe, and is famous for his jazz concerts throughout the United States.

Previn was born in Berlin, where his father was a piano teacher. The elder Previn discovered that his young son, at the age of four, had rare musical abilities. When he was six, Andre began to study music with his father extensively. In the 1930’s, just in time to miss the horror that followed, the family left Berlin. Andre’s older brother, Steve, had preceded the family to the United States, and taken a job in the motion picture studios of Hollywood. As a result, the rest of the Previns followed him there. The father resumed his teaching of the piano, and Andre was enrolled in Beverly Hills High School.

In May, 1950, he was inducted into the Armed Services. Two years later, upon being honourably discharged, he returned immediately to his film work, his recordings and his concert tours.

King-size in talent and heart is a brief but apt description of conductor-composer-arranger David Rose — one of the top-ranking music personalities in the world today. His name is synonymous with the finest in both classical and popular music presentation in the recording, film, radio, television and concert fields. His versatility and high standards in musical achievements have made him world-renowned.

In any given month, David Rose will compose and direct an outstanding score for an important screen musical, fly to some major city throughout the world to guest-conduct a famed symphony orchestra or compose and record a new and delightful musical number to bring pleasure to the public.

He started with M-G-M Records when it was organised in 1946. During this time, he has consistently been on the top list of record sellers for the company. His records are a must for the record collections of all music lovers. His popular compositions include Holiday For Strings, Our Waltz, Dance Of The Spanish Onion and One Love — now rated as standards.

On U.S. television, he has achieved recognition for his outstanding music direction of the Red Skelton Show, Fred Astaire Show, Bob Hope Show, Jack Benny Show, Dean Martin Show, Ziv-TV Productions and ” Bonanza “. Rose won an Emmy Award for his outstanding music direction of the Astaire Show. He also won the Grammy Award in 1959 for his recording of LIKE YOUNG which he did with Andre Previn. Also in 1959, he scored the UI motion picture, Operation Petticoat; and in 1960, M-G-M’s Please Don’t Eat The Daisies.

As a guest conductor, Rose has led symphony orchestras in major cities throughout the world. He has appeared with the Chicago, Milwaukee, Portland, San Francisco and Hollywood Bowl orchestras among many in America. He has also conducted orchestras in Copenhagen, London, Paris, Berlin, Rome and other metropolitan centres. He has been honoured by the BBC by a special David Rose Tribute Show featuring many of his compositions.

Unlikely though it seems, Rose would have really preferred to have become a railway engineer. He has turned his early desire into a rather large hobby, having one of the most complete and detailed collections of miniature live steam engines. His miniature track encircles his one-acre Sherman Oaks estate. He has built or bought three engines, and has a complete shop for repairs and construction of parts.

Though born in London, he was brought to Chicago by his parents while still a small child. Rose’s musical talent at the piano brought him acclaim when in high school. His remarkable keyboard dexterity opened doors at NBC, Chicago. He became network pianist and arranger there. Then, he joined the Ted Fio Rito Orchestra. In 1938 he came to Hollywood and was associated with the Mutual Broadcasting System. He started to compose, conduct and write scores for motion pictures. During World War II, he served four years with the U.S. Air Force, and when honourably discharged he returned to Hollywood to resume his professional career.

Like Blue - André Previn David Rose

Label: MGM CS 6003

1960 1960s Covers

Eugene Ormondy conducts the Philadelphia Orchestra - Orchestral Spectacular

Eugene Ormondy conducts the Philadelphia Orchestra – Orchestral Spectacular

Sleeve Notes:

The eight selections performed here represent out-standing peaks of musical achievement in which the composers pull out all the stops and use the combined resources of that formidable body known as the full orchestra to underscore or actually convey a dramatic scene. Melodic suggestion and paraphrase, the infinite varieties of tonal colour, the sweep and interplay of instrumental contours, the soloist or special ensemble against the backdrop of the larger group—these are some of the devices employed. In these pieces however they have been employed so well, so brilliantly, that the selections have assumed a role and validity of their own. They are in fact among the most stunning examples of musical imagination—no less enduring for the music lover for their sonic grandeur, and no less appealing to the sound enthusiast for their solid musical content.

What I call the “total performance” approach of Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra—in which maestro and players combine to translate the sonic fabric as well as the musical content of a piece—is eminently suited to recreating these eight masterworks. Producer Thomas Frost and the CBS engineers have spared no effort to produce a recording which, to the ears of one not familiar with these works, will probably come as a revelation—to the listener already familiar with them as a rediscovery.

First comes the Sabre Dance from the suite Gayaneh by the contemporary Russian composer Aram Khacha-turian. Sinewy and bubbling with vigour, it is—like the other dances in this ballet—based on Armenian folk themes, treated and orchestrated in a distinct and characteristic style, and exemplifying a dazzling tour de force for the symphony orchestra.

The Ride Of The Valkyries, which opens Act III of Wagner’s Die Walkare, depicts the ascent of Wotan’s warrior maidens as they carry slain heroes across their steeds through a gathering storm to their mountain meeting place. The awesome,, pageantry of this scene is echoed in brilliant brass and percussive effects.

The Dance Of The Tumblers is a particularly light-hearted excerpt from Rimsky-Korsakov’s otherwise sad opera The Snow Maiden. The pace set by the tumblers—somewhat slow but nonetheless vigorous—creates large fireworks that burn long but go off with a bang!

In the Bacchanale, which occurs in the last act of the opera Samson and Delilah, Saint-Saens unleashes a torrent of rhythmic episodes that conveys a blend of orgiastic revelry and pagan ritual celebrated by the Philistines. The dance’precedes the savage climax when Samson, his strength restored, topples the pillars and sends everything crashing down.

The Comedians is probably the best-known work in this country of another contemporary Russian composer Dmitri Kabalevsky. The Comedians’ Galop played here is the second of ten numbers comprising the suite. The distinctly modern orchestration assigns the main theme to the xylophone, with a lively interplay of woodwinds and brass.

Wagner’s Prelude To Act III from Lohengrin sparkles with the glint of gold and a kind of stately exuberance. The heroic main theme, carried by the brass, is inter-spersed with a more sedate—almost solemn—motif.

From its slow, deliberate beginning In The Hall Of The Mountain King carries the listener through a series of intensified dynamics, faster tempos, and increasingly complex orchestration to its spectacular finish.

The Sorcerers Apprentice by Paul Dukas is as popular today as it proved to be at its first performance in Paris in 1897.
NORMAN EISENBERG

Eugene Ormondy conducts the Philadelphia Orchestra - Orchestral Spectacular

Label: CBS 62503

1964 1960s Covers