Big 10-Inch Record

My great pal and sometimes contributor Ernie Haynes runs the web's most extensive and longest lasting site devoted to Christmas music. Just this morning, Ernie put up his five thousandth post, covering the 15 years his blog has been in existence. To give you an idea of how much work that is, I will reach ONE thousand posts in a few months, spread out over 12 years.

To make this even more impressive, Ernie generally only publishes in December (actually, from Thanksgiving into January) and July. During the Christmas season, he posts an album a day; in July he publishes "Christmas in July" music that he derives from singles and non-holiday LPs.

The annual July orgy (poor choice of words, I know) is on now, so be sure to make it over to his site. As a special bonus, he's been posting different versions of the Nutcracker Suite every day - so far, Steinberg, Rodziński, Ludwig, Grüner-Hegge, Karajan and today's selection - the "Amsterdam National Symphony Orchestra - Peter Haas, conductor," which is almost certainly one of those budget-label pseudonyms. (Rodziński is my favorite.)

Congratulations, Ernie!

This is one of my occasional posts devoted to promotional records, usually ones literally singing the praises of some mundane product line. In this one, we get to hear Les Baxter and three vocal quartets intone hymns to spark plugs and oil filters.

The Sounds of Selling was a 1962 effort from the AC plugs and filters people aimed at the good folks who retailed their products. The object was to convince them that AC was putting some advertising muscle behind their wares, the better to drive demand to the retailers' doors.

From AC's 1963 print campaign

Today, of course, you could send the merchants a link to a website where they could watch and listen to the ad spots. Sixty years ago, you sent them a record, which worked well enough for the radio spots. The TV commercials, however, were missing the visuals so required some explanation of what was going on, which was inevitably clumsy.

Cy Harrice

Fortunately, AC - or more accurately, its ad agency - employed the distinctive voice of Cy Harrice as the voice of the product line. Harrice had been a radio announcer and newscaster for many years, becoming best known for his commanding delivery of the final line of the commercials for Pall Mall cigarettes - "And they are mild!" Later on, his voice became just as associated with AC's wares.

On this record, he introduces three TV spots, two for spark plugs and one for oil filters. The latter tries to interest women in the health of their oil filters by mocking stereotypical "female" behavior - gossip, etc. I can't imagine why the agency thought this was a good idea. These TV ads were set to appear on the TV's Laramie, one of the then-popular Westerns.

Also on the LP are three radio spots featuring vocal quartets - the Modernaires, who began in the 1930s; the Sportsmen, who started in the 40s, and the more up-to-date if hardly hip Kirby Stone Four. The nostalgic approach is understandable - adults were buying spark plugs, not kids. The pleasant results all present some variation on AC's "Action Song."

Les Baxter in action

Vocalist-turned-arranger Les Baxter provided the musical background for these spots, or at least he arranged for the arrangements to come into being. He was notorious for not writing the charts ascribed to him, farming them out to others.

The AC spots take up one side of the record. The other is devoted to half of Baxter's latest LP, Voices in Rhythm. By this time, Baxter had abandoned the mood music/exotica realm for an impossibly bland, Ray Conniff-style vocal approach to such fare as "Pennies from Heaven." The results aren't especially good. I did replace the mono tracks found on The Sounds of Selling with stereo versions derived from my copy of the Voices in Rhythm LP.

Bios and photos are on the back of the Sounds of Selling album (below and in the download).

Click to enlarge

Today, two of my favorite records of American music newly remastered and reupped by request - Gian Carlo Menotti's Sebastian ballet suite, Virgil Thomson's The River and Otto Luening's Prelude on a Hymn Tune by William Billings and Two Symphonic Interludes.

Plus there are a variety of bonus uploads that have appeared in the comments to recent posts, courtesy of frequent contributors Eric and David.

Details below. On all items, go to the comments on the original post for the link.

Menotti - Sebastian Ballet Suite

Dimitri Mitropoulos led members of the Philadelphia Orchestra in this, the first recording of music from Menotti's 1944 ballet Sebastian. The transfer comes from the 78 set on Columbia first issued in 1944.

The performances are all that one could wish and the sound is good. It even has a typical Alex Steinweiss cover. The original post is here.

Thomson - The River, Luening - Prelude and Symphonic Interludes

Side one of this LP contains one of Virgil Thomson's best known works, The River, a suite derived from the music from Pare Lorentz's 1938 documentary on the Mississippi, in its first recording, led by Walter Hendl.

Also on the early ARS album are fine works by Otto Luening, conducted by the estimable American expatriate conductor, Dean Dixon - the Prelude on a Hymn Tune by William Billings and Two Symphonic Interludes, again in first recordings.

Here is a link to the original post.

Bonus Uploads

My friends David Federman and Eric have left behind bonuses in the comments to a number of recent posts. The items of interest are as follows.

Under First Recordings of Piston and MacDowell from the Boston Pops - Eric provided a recording of Piston's Violin Sonata with the composer and Louis Krasner, plus MacDowell's Indian Suite under Howard Barlow and a recording of "To a Wild Rose."

Under Remembering Johnny Mandel and Ida Haendel - David provided two 24-selection tributes to Mandel as a great songwriter; Eric added the album Bill Perkins Plays Johnny Mandel. Eric also provided several solo selections by Ida Haendel.

Under Jack Jones, Plus Margaret Whiting and Bob Manning Reups - Eric added Jones'This Love of Mine and There's Love & There's Love.

Under Gordon MacRae in The Student Prince and The Merry Widow - Eric contributed Mario Lanza's stereo version of The Student Prince.

Thanks as always to Eric and David!

When I posted Howard Swanson's Short Symphony a few years ago, I promised to revisit his oeuvre for the blog, and now (after a little prodding) I am making good.

This particular American Recording Society disc also contains what I believe to be the first recordings of music by Roger Goeb and Ben Weber - and fine pieces they are.

This release dates from 1950. The sessions were probably held in that year or possibly 1949.

I am indebted to musicologist Derek Katz for providing information about the provenance of these works. All three were presented in concerts of the Festival of Contemporary American Music at Columbia University's McMillan Theatre in 1947 and 1950. Details on each below.

Howard Swanson - Seven Songs

Howard Swanson

Swanson (1907-78) is perhaps best known for his vocal music, and among those pieces for his settings of the poetry of Langston Hughes. This collection includes three of his five settings of Hughes' verse, including the most famous, "The Negro Looks at Rivers." These are highly accomplished compositions, both subtle and evocative.

Helen Thigpen

Also in this collection are settings of Carl Sandburg, Vachel Lindsay and Edwin Markham. A detailed article on Swanson's song settings is in the download.

The artists presenting these selections are soprano Helen Thigpen and pianist David Allen. The versatile Thigpen was previously heard here in excerpts from Porgy and Bess. I haven't been able to turn up any information about David Allen.

Per Derek's research, the Swanson songs were performed by Thigpen and Allen at the opening concert of the 6th Festival of Contemporary American Music, on May 18, 1950. A New York Times review is in the download.

Roger Goeb - Prairie Songs for Woodwind Quintet

Roger Goeb

In common with all the works on this record, Goeb's Prairie Songs are both skillful and enjoyable. They are written in the then-common Americana style. The fluid performances are by the Five-Wind Ensemble.

The Goeb had been performed by that group at a Festival of Contemporary American Music concert on May 18, 1947. At the time, the then-new ensemble consisted of Ralph Eichar, flute, Lois Wann, oboe, Milton Shapiro, clarinet, David Manchester, bassoon, and John Barrows, horn. Derek has provided a Times review of the concert, which is in the download.

Goeb (1914-97) had been a pupil of Nadia Boulanger, Otto Luening and Herbert Elwell. At mid-century he was entering a productive phase that would have as a highlight the premiere and recording of his Symphony No. 3 by Leopold Stokowski.

The download also includes a Bruce Duffie interview with Goeb.

Ben Weber - Concert Aria after Solomon, Op. 29

Ben Weber by Roger Tréfousse

The largely self-taught Weber (1916-79) was one of the first American composers to adopt the twelve-tone method, although his music remained lyrical and accessible. This quality is well demonstrated in his Concert Aria after Solomon, a setting from the Song of Songs.

Bethany Beardslee

This performance is by soprano Bethany Beardslee, making the first of many appearances in recordings of contemporary music. Her complete command of this unfamiliar music is remarkable.

Although the players are unidentified on the LP, the performance at the 1950 Festival of American Contemporary Music included the Five-Wind Ensemble along with Broadus Erle and Claus Adam of the Fine Arts Quartet, so they perhaps are on this recording. The conductor here is Frank Brieff, rather than Saul Schechtmann, who led the Festival performance. Brieff was a former viola player under Toscanini in the NBC Symphony. He would become the music director of the New Haven Symphony in 1952.

The download includes reviews of the live performance from the Times and the Brooklyn Eagle. If you like this music, be sure to read the affectionate remembrance of the reclusive and eccentric Weber by his student, the composer Roger Tréfousse.

Thanks again to Derek for his help with this post.

Second LP cover

This Harry Geller LP is titled, For Cat Dancers Only, which begs the question, "What is cat dancing?"

Well, actually, I'm not sure. I was around when this record came out (1954), but I have no recollection of anyone using the term. (Then again, I was five at the time.)

The cover seems to want to align "cat dancer" with "cat burglar" by putting masks on the gyrating couple. Nor are the liner notes terribly informative. They tell us that the music will make you want to dance and the whole experience will turn you into "the coolest of cats." Apparently this makes you a "cat dancer."

Harry Geller's
disembodied head

The 10-inch album contains eight numbers, all from Geller's pen (he even takes credit for "Stagger Lee") and presumably in his arrangements. This riff-based music is actually highly appealing, being a particularly well played example of the big-band R&B that goes back at least as far as the Lionel Hampton band and its 1942 recording of "Flying Home." Closer to the date of Geller's recording, it is somewhat like the records of Freddie Mitchell and Todd Rhodes, who have appeared here in years past. The Geller band does have a more aggressive rhythm section, which is somewhat akin to the rock 'n' roll to come.

For Cat Dancers Only includes two accomplished vocals by a gravelly voiced singer who is unidentified, as are the fine instrumental soloists.

In 1954, Geller (1913-2008) had already been a big-band trumpet player (Goodman, Tommy Dorsey), an arranger for bands and many vocalists, including Frankie Laine, and an A&R executive for Mercury and RCA Victor. He later worked extensively in television as a composer and conductor.

For Cat Dancers Only isn't seen that often in the record racks, but its successor, New York, New York, is fairly common. You also may come across The Eddy Duchin Story LP, which he conducted, and Play, Gypsy, Play, which came to us from the "Fiery Mandolins of Harry Geller."

Patti Clayton and Bob Carroll

As a bonus, I've added a Geller single to the download. It dates from 1950, during his time at Mercury. One side is "Golden Sails on a Sea of Blue" with a smooth vocal by Bob Carroll. There is more information about Carroll on my other blog, where he was featured several years ago.

The other side of the single contains a peculiar quasi-folk song called "The Monkey Coachman," with vocal by the excellent Patti Clayton, who was doing radio work at the time. The songwriter was Michael Brown, whose best known work involved Lizzie Borden taking an ax and giving her mother forty whacks.

I was inveigled into transferring this record by reader and contributor Eric, who requested it some time ago, perhaps in an effort to learn cat dancing. I am happy to oblige, belatedly.

Andre Kostelanetz made quite a living by playing and recording popular classical music and classy popular music. This was true even in the early years of his recording career, when he provided eager listeners with albums of the best songs in sumptuous arrangements and plush recordings.

Musical Comedy Favorites, Vol. 1 (1946 cover)

Today's LP is an example, bringing together two of his earliest Columbia 78 sets - Musical Comedy Favorites Vol. 1 and 2, dating from 1940 and 1941-2. In 1949, soon after introducing the long-playing record, Columbia combined the two eight-selection albums on this LP, which remained in the catalog throughout the mono era.

Musical Comedy Favorites, Vol. 2

Kostelanetz (1901-80) was born in Russia. He came to the U.S. following the Russian Revolution, and soon began conducting in the nascent radio industry. He had his own broadcast in the 1930s, which led to a Victor record contract. By the late 30s he had moved to Brunswick and then its successor, Columbia.

Kostelanetz conducts in 1942. Albert Spalding is the soloist.

Kostelanetz's first album for his new label was a Victor Herbert collection, followed by the first selection of Musical Comedy Favorites. The latter contains songs by Porter, Kern, Gershwin, Rodgers, Youmans, and Arthur Schwartz, leading off with Porter's "Begin the Beguine," a massive hit for Artie Shaw a few years earlier.

Irving Berlin with Kostelanetz, 1950

Musical Comedy Favorites Vol. 2 repeats the formula with the same composers, adding a contribution from Noël Coward ("I'll See You Again").

Both albums slightly predated the so-called golden age of the musical, and some of the greatest songs of Berlin, Rodgers and Porter, along with the entire output of Loesser, Lane, Bernstein, Sondheim and many others. Even so, the songs in Kostelanetz's collections are familiar even today, at least to those who are devotees of the "Great American Songbook."

Also during the early 1940s, Kosty was busy with albums presenting the music of Stephen Foster and Johann Strauss, along with Grofé's Grand Canyon Suite and Gershwin's Concerto in F with Oscar Levant. He also conducted a "Pons-Kostelanetz Concert" album for his wife, the soprano Lily Pons.

Alternative early LP cover

Columbia recorded both volumes of Musical Comedy Favorites in its main recording venue of the time, Liederkranz Hall, which Kostelanetz favored as a recording studio. As he wrote in his biography, "To have played there is to be spoiled forever as far as acoustical standards are concerned." The sound on this LP is atmospheric, adding to the success of the production. When Columbia converted the old German music hall into a television studio later in the 1940s, Kostelanetz was unhappy. However, Liederkranz's successor, Columbia's 30th Street Studio, was hardly less successful as a setting for recordings.

I don't know who arranged the songs for this collection, although Kostelanetz said in his biography that his radio arrangers included Carroll Huxley, Nathan Van Cleave and George Bassman, mentioning some of the same songs included in this collection.

1956 LP cover

I haven't featured Sammy Davis, Jr. here much before, so I hope today's post makes amends. It includes his 1958 LP All the Way . . . and Then Some! with a substantial bonus of nine relatively rare single sides, also from Davis' time at Decca.

I transferred the LP for my friend John Morris, who is assembling all Sammy's recorded output. I then added the singles from lossless needle drops on Internet Archive that I remastered.

My previous Davis post involved his brief contribution to a PanAm promotional LP.

All the Way . . . and Then Some!

In the time-honored record company practice, the title of this LP is different from front cover to back cover to liner notes to label. (That's OK, I'm not entirely consistent myself.) I'm going with the front cover title, with standard capitalization.

The LP consists of the usual 12 tracks, assembled from six 1957-58 recording session with five different arrangers - Morty Stevens, Sonny Burke, Dick Stabile, Russ Garcia and Jack Pleis. In other words, it's not the sort of cohesive entity that Davis' great friend Frank Sinatra was putting out at the time. Usually when this is the case with an LP, the tracks are collated from previously released singles. But all of these songs were first issued on this LP and contemporary EPs.

I don't mean to signal that it's a bad record - far from it. Davis was almost as engaging on record as he was on stage - and he was famed as one of the world's greatest live entertainers. That said, it's hard to convey Sam's multiple talents on record - dancing, playing drums and trumpet, impressions and comedy along with the singing. But Davis did incorporate his gift for mimicry onto the occasional record, to the extent of producing an All Star Spectacular of impersonations for Reprise in 1961.

This particular LP starts off, in fact, with a credible impression of Frank Sinatra singing his then-current hit, "All the Way." After finishing the song, "Frank" dismisses conductor Nelson Riddle with the wish that he "sleep warm" (the title of a Sinatra-Riddle single and LP track). Davis then enters in his own voice and asks Frank to leave the band behind so he can do his own version of the song - which is more uptempo.

The LP follows "All the Way" with "Look to You Heart," a Sinatra song from several years earlier. Davis then leaves the Voice's repertoire behind in favor of an unlikely resurrection of Jane Powell's "Wonder Why" from the 1953 film Rich, Young and Pretty. It's good!

The balance of the songs are standards, with the possible exception of 1934's "Stay as Sweet as You Are," a Revel-Gordon tune from College Rhythm. As usual, Davis is effective whether in lyric or swinging mode.

Sammy Davis and Eartha Kitt in Anna Lucasta

The recording of the first track here ("They Can't Take That Away from Me") took place just as Mr. Wonderful, the Broadway show that had been written for Davis, was closing in February 1957. The last song recorded was "All the Way" in May 1958, after which Davis left for California and a starring role in the film Anna Lucasta, opposite Eartha Kitt. Later that year, he was Sportin' Life in the film version of Porgy and Bess.

Decca Singles

Unlike the LP's material, the songs from the singles are largely unfamiliar. I chose singles that the online Davis sessionography says haven't had an official re-release.

First up is "The Red Grapes," a Ross Bagdasarian tune. This recording, from a 1954 session, came after Bagdasarian's first big success as a songwriter, "Come on-a My House," but before his hits with "Witch Doctor" and the "The Chipmunk Song." Sy Oliver is the maestro for the Sammy single.

The four succeeding songs, all dating from 1955, are directed by Morty Stevens. "A Man with a Dream" comes from Victor Young's short-lived Broadway musical Seventh Heaven. Next are two duets with Gary Crosby - "Ac-cent-tchu-ate the Positive" and "Beat Me Daddy Eight to the Bar," the Ray McKinley specialty. Sam and Gary have no special chemistry, but the results are not unpleasant, and Sammy manages to work in an excellent Louis Armstrong impression. These are the only two records that Crosby and Davis made together.

Frank and Sam

The final song from 1955 is notable as a Jimmy Van Heusen-Sammy Cahn song written for Sinatra that Frank never released. It is "The Man with the Golden Arm," a title song manque for the film of the same name that starred Sinatra. The music for the film was by Elmer Bernstein and was superb. The Van Heusen-Cahn song was designed as a promotional song for the film. Frank recorded it, but it went unreleased until the 90s. Odd - it's a good song, and Davis does it beautifully, a few intonation problems aside.

Mr. Wonderful: Olga James, Sammy Davis, Chita Rivera

As 1956 began, Davis was preparing the Broadway show that was built around his talents, Mr. Wonderful, which opened in March and ran for nearly a year. In the run-up to the opening, Decca had him record the Jerry Bock-Lawrence Holofcener-George David Weiss songs from the score, including "Jacques d'Iraque." This take is different from the one that appeared on the cast album. Morty Stevens - who also did some of the arrangements and conducted the Broadway show - is again the leader of the band.

Peter Cadby's "'Specially for Little Girls" is a sensitive song done beautifully by Sammy with Sy Oliver conducting. At about this time, Cadby scored a children's film sponsored by the American Jewish Committee. This song may be from that film.

"Good Bye, So Long, I'm Gone" and "French Fried Potatoes and Ketchup" are the final two songs in this set, both from May 1956. They are essentially R&B numbers that David handles very nicely, particularly the latter item, which also was done by Amos Milburn for Aladdin. Sy Oliver is again in charge of the band.

The sound both on the LP and the singles is more than adequate.

The compositions of Paul Bowles have been presented here a few times, notably in an M-G-M LP combining his music with that of Peggy Glanville-Hicks.

In today's post, his work is mated with a composition by Francis Poulenc. The source is a Columbia LP presenting two works commissioned by duo-pianists Arthur Gold and Robert Fizdale.

For this post, in addition to the LP, I've added an early Concert Hall 78 set containing a Bowles sonata, also written for and performed by Gold and Fizdale.

Bowles - A Picnic Cantata

The main work on the Columbia album is "A Picnic Cantata," Bowles' setting of a poem by his contemporary, James Schuyler.

Paul Bowles, 1946

In the poem, four women make plans for a picnic, drive to Hat Hill Park, discuss its namesake (Henry Hat), then look into the Sunday newspaper, particularly the garden section. The protagonists are in turn robotic and dreamy. ("We can't go on a picnic/without ketchup and a car./Have you got a car?/You are in my car./So we are.") In a droll turn, the most colorful section of the poem comes not from a description of the park but from reading an ad for flowers - "tulips in balanced color,/flame pink, shaded rose,/glowing orange, shaded yellow". Similarly, the sole conflict in the poem is found not among the participants but in the newspaper's advice column. The friends do become reflective on the way home - "Is the evening star/Venus or Mars?/I see it set/in the peal of the moon,/a bit of ice/in an iced-tea sky."

James Schuyler by Fairfield Porter

As you can tell, I am taken with the Schuyler poem, and the setting by Bowles is entirely apt. It's been said that the work was inspired by Virgil Thomson's opera Four Saints in Three Acts, with libretto by Gertrude Stein, and there's that.

Gloria Day as Aida

Bowles was a protégé of Thomson. The producers went so far as to cast three vocalists from the 1952 revival of Four Saints - sopranos Gloria Davy and Martha Flowers and contralto Gloria Wynder. The other singer was mezzo Mareda Gaither, who had recently been in Earl Robinson's Sandhog. Also participating in the recording was percussionist Al Howard.

The members of the vocal ensemble all had successful careers. Perhaps the most notable was Gloria Davy. In 1958, she was first Black artist to perform the role of Aida at the Metropolitan Opera. The download includes a lengthy New York Times obituary for her.

Poulenc - Sonata for Two Pianos (1953)

Francis Poulenc

Poulenc wrote two sonatas for duo pianists, among his many keyboard compositions. A Sonata for Piano Four Hands from 1918 had been recorded by Gold and Fizdale in 1953. This Sonata for Two Pianos, written in that same year, was commissioned for the pair.

A word about the artists: Arthur Gold (1917-90) and Robert Fizdale (1920-95) met at Juilliard and formed a lifelong partnership. They premiered a long list of works, including three by Poulenc and four by Bowles, as well as works by Germaine Tailleferre, Samuel Barber, John Cage and Vittorio Rieti.

Bowles - Sonata for Two Pianos

Arthur Gold and Robert Fizdale, 1952

Among the works commissioned by Gold and Fizdale was the 1946-47 Sonata by Bowles. The transfer of this angular work comes from an early 78 rpm release on Concert Hall that I remastered from a lossless needle drop on Internet Archive. The sound is good enough, although there is some discoloration on the characteristically ringing tone of the pianists.

The download includes the usual restored front and back LP covers (with the text of "A Picnic Cantata"), label scans, photos and High Fidelity and Billboard reviews of the LP. I've also included an excellent New York Review of Books article, "So Why Did I Defend Paul Bowles?" by Hisham Aidi, which discusses the relation between Bowles and Tangier, where the composer-writer lived for many years. (The earlier post mentioned previously includes Peggy Glanville-Hicks' settings of Bowles'"Letters from Morocco.")

I do like the cover of the LP above, with all participants stuffed into a jitney for the trip to Hat Hill Park, except for the composer, who is buzzing by in a streamlined mini-car. I assume this signifies that Bowles was not on hand for the April 1954 recording session.

When I pulled my copy of this Dick Haymes LP down from the shelf, all I had in my hand was the cover. The disc had departed for places unknown. Fortunately, my friend John Morris supplied his transfer of this fine album of Irish songs, which then I cleaned up, adding scans of my forlorn cover.

To fill out the program, I've added three Irish numbers that Haymes sang in the 1944 film Irish Eyes Are Smiling, sourced from the soundtrack and V-Discs.

Dick Haymes

Although Haymes was born in Argentina, he was of Anglo-Irish descent, his mother having been born in Ireland. He made only this one album of Irish songs; it is quite a good one.

The back cover of the LP tells us that Decca decided to make an Irish-themed album with Haymes following the success of his recording of "How Are Things in Glocca Mora?", from the then-current Broadway show Finian's Rainbow. The "Glocca Mora" 78, which came out in early 1947, was coupled with "'Twas Only an Irishman's Dream." The balance of the LP was recorded late that same year, in time to beat the union recording ban that went into effect on New Year's Day 1948. I believe the set debuted as a 78 album in 1948, followed by this 10-inch LP in 1949.

The fare on the album is somewhat unusual - it avoided the popular favorites like "Galway Bay." Instead, Decca reached back to songs that had been recorded by John McCormack decades earlier, while adding one song from a then-current movie.

"Glocca Mora" and its discmate were arranged by Gordon Jenkins. The balance of the numbers were led by Victor Young. Here are a few notes on the selections.

"'Twas Only an Irishman's Dream" is a memorable song dating from 1916. It was the first hit for durable lyricist Al Dubin, working with John O'Brien and Rennie Cormack. The song was featured by Blanche Ring in the revue Broadway and Buttermilk. The song title has more recently lent itself to the book 'Twas Only an Irishman's Dream: The Image of Ireland and the Irish in American Popular Song Lyrics, 1800-1920.

"There's a Dear Little Plant" is usually called "The Dear Little Shamrock," and was recorded under that title by John McCormack in 1910. It dates from the 18th century and has been attributed to Andrew Cherry.

"Eilleen Allanna" is another McCormack song, released in 1913. The song dates from 1873, and seems to have been written in America by J.R. Thomas and E.S. Marble.

"My Snowy Breasted Pearl," written by George Petrie, dates back to 1855. It was recorded by Paddy Reilly, The Wolfe Tones and McCormack, to name a few.

"The Blarney Roses" is another traditional song, with words by Alex Melville and music arranged by D. Frame Flint. It was recorded by George O'Brien in 1926.

"Hush-a-Bye (Wee Rose of Killarney)"comes from the 1947 film My Wild Irish Rose, where it was sung by Dennis Morgan. The music was by M.K. Jerome; lyrics by Ted Koehler.

"The Ould Plaid Shawl" dates to 1895, when it was published as by Francis Fahy and William Glancy. It was interpolated into the Broadway show Peggy Machree in late 1908 and recorded by McCormack the following year. At that time the song was credited to Fahy and Clarence Lucas. When Haymes got a hold of it, the credits were Fahy and Battison Haynes. Fahy wrote the words; the music attribution may relate to different arrangements of the same folk-derived tune, or even different melodies - I'm not sure.

Bonus Songs from Irish Eyes Are Smiling

I mentioned that the bonus items were all featured in Haymes' 1944 film Irish Eyes Are Smiling, a biopic about songwriter Ernest R. Ball. As far as I can tell (and I am no discographer), Decca only had the singer record "Let the Rest of the World Go By" from that film's songs. So my bonus selections of three Irish-themed numbers are from different sources.

The first item is Haymes' brief recording of"When Irish Eyes Are Smiling,"which comes from the soundtrack.

I have taken the other two from V-Disc sources. The first, "A Little Bit of Heaven," also is supposedly from the soundtrack - or so the label and V-Disc discography seem to indicate. However, IMDb suggests that Haymes did not sing the piece in the movie.

That also is true about the final selection, "Mother Machree," which comes from an unknown source per the discography. My guess is that both songs were taken from radio programs of the time.

The sound on all these items is reasonably good, although you may notice some background occasionally on the LP and V-Discs.

Thanks again to John for his transfer of the LP!

A 1946 ad in which Haymes, Jenkins and Helen Forrest
demonstrate their enthusiasm about spark plugs

An article this week on the Jazzwax blog reminded me that I had processed a set of files by Earle Spencer and His Band a while back, for possible posting here.

Earle Spencer

If you are asking, "Who's Earle Spencer?", I am sure you aren't alone. He was a very young and ambitious West Coast bandleader who achieved some popularity regionally in the postwar years, then dropped out of sight. The quickest (and most accurate) way to characterize his sound is "Stan Kenton-like." But while his approach was an homage, it was a high quality one, with powerful brass and good arrangements, and remains enjoyable 70 years later.

My set includes 10 of the 19 songs that Spencer recorded for the Black & White label from 1946-49, all remastered from 78 needle drops found on Internet Archive. If you like what you hear, the Fresh Sounds label has a new release with all the Black & Whites along with a second disc of live performances.

There is more about Spencer in the Jazzwax article. Also, a detailed look at his career written by Fresh Sounds' Jordi Pujol can be found here.

The records are well worth hearing if you like the Kenton blast-attack, and deserve to be better known.

Artur Rodziński (1892-1958) has appeared on this blog as many times as anyone, for the simple reason that he is one of my favorites. A great conductor, he is seldom recognized as such, and his records are not often reissued - particularly the early ones with the Cleveland Orchestra, which he led from 1933-43.

Artur Rodziński by Lino Lepinsky

Here is an excellent example of those Severance Hall recordings - his 1941-42 version of the Overture and Incidental Music for A Midsummer Night's Dream by Felix Mendelssohn, during his one of his last recording sessions with the orchestra.

This performance is everything that one might wish, both enchanted and virtuosic - quite a feat with a orchestra barely 20 years old. The sound is clear and well balanced, if not terribly plush. Until fairly recently, Severance was a dry hall, so much so that Decca-London decamped for the Masonic Auditorium to record the Maazel-era Clevelanders. Another issue was the size of the string section at the time: much smaller than the orchestra's East Coast rivals.

This transfer comes from a mint first-generation LP copy, which came shrouded in the usual Columbia tombstone cover of the time. I've chosen to head this post with the far more colorful and apt cover that Alex Steinweiss designed for the 78 set - one of his best.

This transfer comes as the result of a request at another forum. I am told the performance has not been available for a long time, so please enjoy what is apparently a rare item.

Detail from a 1943 Columbia ad

This is a soundtrack requested by my friend Ernie, I suspect as much for the star of the film, Natalie Wood, as for the music.

Neal Hefti

Even so, it's a good record with music by blog favorite Neal Hefti. It's also notably short - barely 30 minutes. So I've added six songs that Hefti recorded for the Coral label in the early 1950s that have not had an official re-release, as far as I can tell.

The title of the 1964 film, Sex and the Single Girl, is far more suggestive than the final product turned out to be. The movie derived its name from the book that Wood and Tony Curtis are coyly perusing on the album cover. That 1962 tome, written by ad copywriter Helen Gurley Brown, was a notable best-seller, and the author went on to be the editor of Cosmopolitan magazine for 32 years.

Helen Gurley Brown

Wikipedia tells us, "In the 1960s, Brown was an outspoken advocate of women's sexual freedom and sought to provide women with role models in her magazine. She claimed that women could have it all - 'love, sex, and money' ... Her work played a part in what is often called the sexual revolution." I remember all the hubbub about the book and the movie; unfortunately, I was slightly too young to participate in what is often called the sexual revolution.

Natalie Wood

So while the Sex and the Single Girl title might lead you to think that the movie was a sex manual of sorts, I believe it was actually your standard farce of the time. Some of it is knock-off of Pillow Talk, with Curtis taking the Rock Hudson impersonation route to deceive Wood. And apparently Tony ends up in drag at one point (see below), reprising his Some Like It Hot antics (and those of Cary Grant in Bringing Up Baby 25 years earlier).

Tony Curtis and Natalie Wood

The score, too, is not terribly original, although entirely pleasant. "Legs" is a smooth swinger, very early 60s, as is "The Game," with piano, strings and woodwinds led by flute played by jazz standout Buddy Collette. "Midnight Swim" has a twist-frug beat and an organ lead, which was then becoming popular. Hefti reused the "City Style" riff in his 1968 theme for The Odd Couple. "I've Got Love" sounds like any number of soul-jazz anthems.

Fran Jeffries

One oddity is that the title song was written by Richard Quine, the producer. The vocalist on that piece and Jolie's "Anniversary Song" was singer-dancer-actor Fran Jeffries, who appears in the film. A fine entertainer, she was married at the time to blog favorite Dick Haymes.

Coral Singles

Frances Wayne

The Coral singles all date from 1951-53. Three of the six feature a vocal by Frances Wayne, who, I will admit, is not a favorite of mine. The first cut is, by chance, "Regular Man," the Jeri Sullivan song that recently appeared here as interpreted by its author. Wayne's externalized reading is less pleasing that Sullivan's simpler approach. The backing is "You're the Only One I Love."

The single above was issued under Wayne's name. On "Lonesome and Blue," Wayne and Hefti are listed as co-leaders of the orchestra. Its flip side is a Hefti instrumental, "Why Not?", which he also arranged for Count Basie, who recorded it at about the same time.

Bunny Briggs

The final two songs have vocals by the excellent dancer-singer Bunny Briggs - "Cecilia" and the traditional New Orleans number "Eh! La Bas," here credited to Maddy Russell. Very enjoyable stuff!

Briggs appeared with several big bands. I plan to feature a few of his records with Charlie Barnet on the singles blog.

The sound on all these items is excellent.

Quick: what was the most popular film of 1955? Well, it probably doesn't take much imagination to guess Cinerama Holiday, the subject of this post and the correct answer.

Now then, who were the stars of this spectacle? Ha! Got you there. They were non-professionals, John and Betty Marsh and Beatrice and Fred Troller. The movie got away with having zero star power among the actors because the film projection system itself was the principal attraction.

The premiere of This Is Cinerama

Cinerama was a three-projector system that played on a huge curved screen in specially equipped theaters. The first such film, This Is Cinerama, dates from 1952. Cinerama Holiday was the second. The process underwent some changes as time went on, and production fizzled out in the 1960s. A few Cinerama theaters are still hanging around for revivals, and the films have appeared on DVD and Blu-Ray.

Promotional postcard for Cinerama Holiday

As the name suggests, Cinerama Holiday was a travelogue of sorts, following two couples on their journeys. The Trollers, from Switzerland, came to the Americas. The Marshes, from Kansas City, traveled to Europe.

Morton Gould

The score for Cinerama Holiday is credited to Morton Gould, but the LP cover says that additional music was contributed by Van Cleave (aka Nathan Van Cleave). Jack Shaindlin is credited as conductor and musical director. Mysteriously, a few of the album selections are attributed to Shaindlin on the labels, and none to Van Cleave. The Argentine composer Terig Tucci contributed "Holiday in Rio."

When you examine the musical credits in the film's souvenir booklet, you find that the movie itself had a much more varied soundtrack than the LP. It presented such attractions as a "traditional Chinese orchestra," the Dartmouth Glee Club, the congregation of the Second Free Mission Baptist Church, yodelers, an excerpt from Rameau's Les Indes Galantes, and Papa Celestin's Original Tuxedo Dixieland Jazz Band - among others.

None of these appear on the album, which is almost entirely orchestral, with the notable exception of a awful piece called "Hail to Our Land," which ends the LP.

Scene from Cinerama Holiday on the curved screen

This is not to say that the record is unpleasant; quite the contrary. As always with Gould, the melodies and orchestrations are apt and enjoyable.

Oddly, Gould decided to compete against himself in the market by recording an EP of the Cinerama Holiday music for RCA Victor, which I unfortunately do not have. I did locate two numbers by Papa Celestin, which Columbia issued on a single purportedly as being from the soundtrack. The musical credits mentioned above, however, claim that Celestin and band only performed one of the two during the film - "Tiger Rag." I've included both sides as a bonus.

Papa Celestin picture sleeve

The sound is quite good for both LP and single. The film soundtrack was recorded in stereo, but Mercury's 1955 issue was mono-only.

This is another one of the LPs I transferred many years ago that has never appeared on the blog.

Souvenir booklet

In common with many late 19th century and early 20th century composers, Bedřich Smetana was inspired by the indigenous Czech music he heard when he was young - as was his successor, the even more renowned Antonín Dvořák.

In today's post he hear the music of a Czech composer, František Hilmar, whose published dance music may have influenced Smetana and Dvořák. We also hear some of Smetana's earliest music, as well as folk-inflected compositions by Jan Malát and by Otakar Ostrčil, a student of Dvořák's contemporary Zdenek Fibich.

These come from two early Supraphon LPs, the second of which has an incongruous full-up of Gounod's Faust ballet music, included here for the sake of completeness.

František Hilmar - Czech Polkas

František Hilmar

František Hilmar (1803-81), who is sometimes called the "Father of the Polka," was a teacher who also composed, making use of the dance tunes that were then becoming popular, especially the polka. He reputedly was the author of the first published polka, dating from 1837. Hilmar's works are said to have influenced Smetana in his younger years, as well as Dvořák. The influence will be immediately clear, I believe.

Hilmar's most famous composition was the "Esmeralda Polka," named in honor of the central character in Victor Hugo's novel The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, which had been published in 1831.(A more euphonious title than the "Quasimodo Polka," I suppose.)"Esmeralda" leads off this selection of six Hilmar polkas. The recordings, dating from 1950, are by the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra under Alois Klíma.

Jan Malát - Slavonic Maidens

Jan Malát

Jan Malát (1843-1915), a younger contemporary of Smetana, was a composer and teacher who collected and edited folk songs. In "Slavonic Maidens," he characterizes Slovak, Czech, Polish and Bulgarian girls, making use of traditional tunes.

The 1950 recordings come from Václav Smetácek and the Prague Symphony Orchestra FOK (Film-Opera-Koncert).

Both the Hilmar and Malát works are tuneful pieces that will be enjoyed by anyone who likes Smetana's Bartered Bride dances. The performances are idiomatic and the 70-year-old sound is true to life. These come from a 10-inch Supraphon LP.

Bedřich Smetana - Wedding Scenes

Bedřich Smetana

Now on to a 12-inch Supraphon album combining works by Smetana, Ostrčil and Gounod.

"Wedding Scenes" is a very early, folk-inspired composition by Bedřich Smetana (1824-84), dating from his high school years. Even so, it is characteristic enough of his later output that he utilized some of the motifs in his music for The Bartered Bride.

Smetana wrote the work for piano; this version has been orchestrated by Josef Hüttl. The 1951 performance is by the Film Symphony Orchestra, directed by Otakar Pařik. The sessions were in the Rudolfinum.

Otakar Ostrčil - Peasant Festival

Otakar Ostrčil

As with the Smetana work, the "Peasant Festival" by Otakar Ostrčil (1879-1935) is an early work, his Op. 1. Unlike "Wedding Scenes," however, it is somewhat uncharacteristic of Ostrčil's major, late-Romantic compositions to come. As the name implies, "Peasant Festival"derives its themes from folk and popular music.

The Ostrčil recording is also by the Film Symphony Orchestra, here conducted by Zbynek Vostrák. I don't have a date for the recording but it was before 1955, when the conductor passed away.

The Smetana and Ostrčil works are most affectionately and effectively done, and the sound is well-balanced.

Charles Gounod - Ballet Music for Faust

Charles Gounod

In this program of folk-influenced music by Czech composers, a suite by the Frenchman Charles Gounod (1818-93) may seem to be an odd disk mate. But consider that it is from the same period (written in 1869) and is dance music. Also, it is tuneful, direct, and was a great hit with the Parisians and for the Paris Opera. Gounod's score for his opera Faust was composed in 1859 and did not have a dance interlude until the Opera took the production on 10 years later. Ballets were de rigueur at the Paris Opera of the time.

The straightforward performance is led by Václav Smetácek, conducting the Prague Symphony Orchestra FOK, which does sound a little thin here. The 1953 recording comes from Prague's Domovina Studio.

If you want to compare this recording of the Faust music to another, I shared the George Weldon version last year.

I am sure I have a few of Hal Derwin's Capitol 78s, but I paid him little mind until my recent post of the first Buddy DeSylva tribute album. There, Derwin contributed a most pleasing account of "When Day Is Done," so I decided to look at his recorded legacy more closely.

Today's post, consisting of 25 Derwin single sides from 1946-49, is the result of that examination. Most of these little-known recordings are distinguished by Derwin's warm, relaxed vocals - in the vein of Crosby or Como, and not markedly inferior to them, either. The set also includes two pleasant instrumentals from the big band that Derwin was leading at the time. And it also includes the sole single by an odd Capitol all-star ensemble called Ten Cats and a Kitten, which included Derwin. In total, the collection includes all but six of the songs that Derwin recorded for Capitol.

Hal Derwin is answering fan mail -
or so his publicist informs us

Derwin (1914-98) apparently started off as a vocalist (he was in a trio with Lee Gillette, himself later associated with Capitol), but also played guitar at times when he was with several bands, including Shep Fields and Artie Shaw (where he was called Hal Stevens). I'll post a few of his Shaw records later on. Derwin eventually got the call to record for Capitol, and formed his own band at about the same time.

Fortunately for him, his first record - "The Old Lamplighter" - did well, and that set Derwin up for a three-year run in the Capitol studios. The flip side of the record - "I Guess I'll Get the Papers and Go Home" - may bear some explanation to any young readers. "Papers" refers to newspapers, now scarce, but then plentiful. In the major cities, publishers would time the first edition of the morning paper to his newsstands at about midnight. So theoretically, one could finish a lonely evening by picking up the papers and heading home.

Next in queue is Lecuona's "Another Night Like This," from Dick Haymes' feature Carnival in Costa Rica, featured here in the soundtrack rendition. Derwin does well by it, even if he is not in the Haymes class. The coupling is "You'll Always Be the One I Love." The romantic backing on these earliest records is by the busy maestro Frank De Vol.

"It Might Have Been a Different Story" and "You Can Take My Word for It, Baby" are two pop items of the day, the latter also recorded by a bouncy Frank Sinatra.

At this point (1947), Derwin switches to his own band for backing, along with a vocal group. For "An Apple Blossom Wedding" and "Blue and Broken Hearted" the vocal assistance is by Gloria and Diane, of whom I know nothing. (If I were to speculate wildly, the Gloria might be Gloria Wood.)

For "How Lucky You Are" (also done by Buddy Clark) and "On the Avenue," Gloria and Diane are supplanted by the Co-Eds. In turn, they were replaced by the Hi-Liters for "My, How the Time Goes By" and "The Little Old Mill" (another song that Clark put out). The Hi-Liters stayed around for "The Dream Peddler" and "You're Too Dangerous, Cherie." The latter song is "La Vie en Rose" in English mufti - and another Clark specialty.

Hal Derwin and two unidentified members of the Hi-Liters.
That could be Gloria Wood on the right.

Derwin reached back to 1932 for the old favorite "We Just Couldn't Say Goodbye," which came out then on a memorable Boswell Sisters disc that he does not surpass (who could?). The flip is "Worry Worry Worry."

Capitol assembled the Ten Cats and a Mouse is October 1947 to play "Ja-Da" and "Three O'Clock Jump," the latter credited to "Felis Domestica." The trick here is that the musicians all play instruments other than their specialties. So, for example, trumpeters Billy May and Bobby Sherwood take up the trombone, lamentably. The best soloist is surely Benny Carter on tenor saxophone, but this is a bit of a cheat, since Carter played that instrument (and several others, including trumpet) regularly. The inaudible drummer is Peggy Lee (presumably the Mouse). Derwin plays guitar.

In addition to its Buddy DeSylva tribute album, Capitol included Derwin in a Jerome Kern memorial package in 1947, assigning him one of my favorite songs, "The Touch of Your Hand," an quasi-operetta piece that is not suited to the singer's style.

We move on to 1948 and "Melody Time" from the Disney film. The backing was an instrumental from Derwin's band, "Always," from Irving Berlin and 1925. The group sounds very good; I suspect it was a studio ensemble rather than a road band.

Derwin's last solo in this set is another lonely-guy song, "I Go In When the Moon Comes Out." Capitol coupled it with an instrumental of "Louise."

The final, 1949 recordings were two enjoyable duets with ex-Goodman singer Martha Tilton, both backed by Frank De Vol. The dance novelty "Ballin' the Jack" was coupled with Derwin's own "Take Me Back," a nostalgic number that features an unconvincing "soft-shoe" solo probably played by the drummer. It's nicely done, even so.

Derwin had his limitations, and his band was nothing to sett the pulse racing, but at his best he was a smooth and very pleasing singer who deserves to be remembered. After his Capitol stint, he continued to lead a band for a piece, and eventually landed back at Capitol in an A&R role.

These records were obtained from lossless needle drops on Internet Archive, as redone by me. The sound is generally very good.

Following up on my recent post of Czech music, here is a set of delightful polkas and Czech dances by Bedřich Smetana.

Bedřich Smetana

The composer wrote these works for piano, but in this set they are heard in orchestral guise. Smetana himself orchestrated two of the works; the other arrangements are by Iša Krejči, Jiří Hudec, Ludmilla Úlehlová, František Hertl, Otokar Zich and Václav Trojan.

Performing the works is the Brno State Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by František Jílek, who was with the Brno Opera for many years and the Brno Philharmonic from 1978-83.

František Jílek

These particular recordings date from 1971, and were made in the Stadion Studio in Brno. The sound was a tad opaque due to a dip in the upper mid-range frequency response, which I adjusted.

The download includes reviews from Gramophone and Stereo Review.

František Jílek at a recording session

Dick Haymes and
Carmen Cavallaro

The amazingly long-lived and prolific songwriter Irving Berlin (1888-1989) produced a huge number of classic songs that are still heard today. In the late 1940s, he was celebrating forty years in the business - nearly all of them at the summit - while passing his 60th birthday. But he was still at the height of his powers.

All but one of these 15 Dick Haymes recordings were made after the tremendous success of Annie Get Your Gun once again demonstrated Berlin's primacy among popular songwriters. The collection is anchored by the 10-inch LP Haymes did with fellow Decca artist Carmen Cavallaro just a few days before the 1948 recording ban began. It also includes seven Berlin songs that Haymes recorded from 1945-49 - including three from Annie Get Your Gun and two from Berlin's follow-up, Miss Liberty.

The Haymes and Cavallaro LP

Decca's idea in the musical mating of Haymes with pianist Cavallaro was certainly to dazzle the market with their combined star power. Musically, however, the results are less successful than Haymes' usual orchestral backing.

Cavallaro's many-noted style is not ideally suited to accompaniment. His elaborate roulades draw attention to the pianist and away from the singer. He uses the same phrases over and over, in any context, apt or not. While I am not a fan, Cavallaro does have strengths - he has a beautiful tone and touch and plays with good rhythm.

Not to make too much of this - the LP is certainly enjoyable, even if not one of Haymes' best.

As with the last Haymes LP I presented, this post was a collaboration between me and vocal aficionado John Morris. This time, he supplied and scans and I did the transfer. Thank again, John!

Haymes Singles

Lyn Murray - or Gordon Jenkins?

Although Haymes recorded "How Deep Is the Ocean?" in 1945, it may have been made in the run-up to the 1946 Bing Crosby-Fred Astaire film Blue Skies, which showcased Berlin's songs. Bing does well by the number in the movie, but not better than Haymes' rendition. "How Deep Is the Ocean" is conducted by Lyn Murray, but the arrangement is strongly reminiscent of Gordon Jenkins, who had just joined Decca and had experience providing arrangements for Haymes.

Annie Get Your Gun was a Broadway sensation in 1946, and its score was fertile ground for pop singers of the day. It's surprising that Decca waited until the show had been open for six months before it brought Haymes into the studio to set down "The Girl That I Marry." Charles "Bud" Dant provides a mellow accompaniment of celesta and strings. A most beautiful record.

Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters with Irving Berlin

Decca waited even longer to bring Haymes together with two of its other leading acts - Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters. It took until March 1947 for them to assemble and record "There's No Business Like Show Business" and "Anything You Can Do." Bing and the sisters had a well-known rapport by that time, so Haymes seem like a fifth wheel, although the results are never less than pleasant. This may be the only time Haymes and Crosby collaborated, although Dick did record with the Andrews siblings one other time. The backing is by Vic Schoen, the sisters' music director.

In September 1947, Haymes set down his classic recording of the 1923 waltz, "What'll I Do," with a characteristic Gordon Jenkins arrangement.

While Annie Get Your Gun was the apex of Berlin's career, his next show, 1949's Miss Liberty, was a relative disappointment. It lacked the star power of Ethel Merman's Annie, relying instead on the genial Eddie Albert and the young Allyn Ann McLerie. (Tommy Rall and Dody Goodman had small roles.) Even so, its score was popular with the vocalists of the time, and today is much underrated - it includes "Homework,""Paris Wakes Up Smiles,""Only for Americans,""Just One Way to Say I Love You,""You Can Have Him" and "Me and My Bundle."

Haymes recorded the biggest song from the show, "Let's Take an Old-Fashioned Walk" and the delightful and much less-known "Little Fish in a Big Pond." The singer handles both beautifully, with apposite backing by Jenkins.

The sound on all these records is quite good.

A few reuploads for you today, all remastered to taste (my taste, that is), and presented to you via the original posts. The highlight is the spectacular original 1953 recording of Victory at Sea.

Click on the headers below to go to the original post for each item.

Victory at Sea

Richard Rodgers' memorable score for the television documentary series Victory at Sea was a huge success, so much so that RCA Victor brought in the music's orchestrator, the illustrious Robert Russell Bennett, and the NBC Symphony for a recording in summer 1953. This release would later be superseded by a stereo LP series that eventually reached three volumes. But the 1953 mono is plenty good enough. I've tamed the overly bright sound and fixed the pitch on this go-around.

Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer

Back in the early days of this blog, I tended to post more obscure stuff than I do today. This was among the more off-beat items. It's a 10-inch LP of tough-guy author Mickey Spillane in the role of his tough-guy invention, the gumshoe Mike Hammer. That short drama is on one side of the record. The other contains musical interludes by the obscure Stan Purdy that are enjoyable enough. The ghastly cover may lead you to think this was a low-budget production, but it's clear that Spillane spent some money on it. (Although I am surprised he allowed himself to be depicted on the cover with a fucshia face and trench coat.)

Lauritz Melchior in Two Sisters from Boston

Speaking of my odd obsessions, throughout this blog's existence I have featured classical artists in popular material - none odder than the occasional appearances of retired heldentenor Lauritz Melchior back in the days when Hollywood was trying to turn him into a Danish S.K. "Cuddles" Sakall. The 1946 musical Two Sisters from Boston is a good example. I wrote back in 2013 that "it plunders Liszt and Mendelssohn to concoct noisy cod arias that Melchior attacks with some enthusiasm in his role as an imperious tenor." This transfer was from the original 78 album, a gift from my long-suffering wife.

The composer-conductor Constant Lambert has been a periodic subject of posts hereabouts. Today he takes on the music of two people he knew well - "Peter Warlock" (Philip Heseltine) and Frederick Delius, along with his own most famous composition, "The Rio Grande."

Peter Warlock

Philip Heseltine by Gerald Brockhurst

In the 1920s, the young Lambert (1905-1951) was a close friend of the composer Philip Heseltine (1894-1930), who published his music under the name "Peter Warlock," supposedly because of his affinity for the occult.

Heseltine was principally known for his brilliant songs, which have appeared here more than once. His song cycle "The Curlew," set to Yeats, is one of the finest in the English language. Both "The Curlew" and the first work on today's program, the Capriol Suite, betray the influence of Vaughan Williams. The Suite was supposedly based on Renaissance dances, but it is more Warlock's work than any ancient source material.

The second Warlock work is his Serenade to Frederick Delius on His 60th Birthday, from 1922. Heseltine was a confirmed Delius disciple earlier in his life. Although the influence had faded by the time this music was written, this particular piece is a conscious homage to the older composer, and makes a good segue between Warlock's music and Delius' own.

These recordings were made at Abbey Road with the Constant Lambert String Orchestra in 1937.

Frederick Delius

Frederick Delius by Achille Ouvré

In 1938, Lambert was again in Abbey Road, this time with the London Philharmonic and Delius' most famous work, "On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring."

He returned to the studio in 1941 for two interludes from Delius opera, the Serenade from Hassan in Thomas Beecham's edition and "La Calinda" from Koanga as arranged by Eric Fenby. This time the orchestra was the Hallé and the site was the Houldsworth Hall in Manchester.

All these works are nicely handled and the recordings are more suitably atmospheric than those done in 1937.

Lambert's The Rio Grande

Vocal score

Lambert was well aware of currents in music, and was particularly inspired by what he considered jazz. He had been very impressed with the short-lived Florence Mills, whom he had seen in the West End revue Blackbirds in 1926. The composer wrote, "The colour and rhythm of the singing was an absolute revelation of the possibilities of choral writing and this Rio Grande is the first example of a serious and perfectly natural use of jazz technique in a choral work."

All this may be true, but the first name that comes to mind when listening is Gershwin. The writing in the important piano part is Gershwinesque in its rhythms and phrasing. The critic Angus Morrison also cites Liszt's Faust Symphony as a direct influence. Lambert was fond of Liszt; he mined the Abbe for the ballet music Apparitions, donefor Sadler's Wells and for a setting of the Dante Sonata for piano and orchestra.

Sacheverall Sitwell

As we have seen before on this blog, Lambert was close with the Sitwells, serving both as conductor and reciter in William Walton's various settings of Edith's Façade. For 1928's The Rio Grande, Lambert set a poetic exercise in exoticism by Sacheverall Sitwell. The poet moved the Rio Grande from North America to South America for the purpose of his verse, and imagines a dream world of dancing and revelers.

"The music of The Rio Grande no more represents any actual scene or event than the poem that inspired it," wrote Lambert. "It is an imaginary picture that it conjures up, a picture of the gay life of a riverside town which may be in either South or North America, as the listener chooses to fancy."

Kyla Greenbaum

The poetry is atmospheric, if dated, but you would have a hard time telling from the woolly diction of the Philharmonia Chorus and even at times the well-known contralto Gladys Ripley. I've included the text for those who want to understand the words.

The Philharmonia Orchestra plays well for Lambert. The stand-out performance is by pianist Kyla Greenbaum, one exposed slip aside. She did not have a big career, but on this evidence, was a fine talent.

For this recording, Lambert returned to Abbey Road in early 1949, two years before his early death. The recording is good. My transfer of The Rio Grande comes from a 1950s LP reissue on UK Columbia. The other works were remastered from lossless transfers found on Internet Archive and CHARM.

Muir Mathieson

This post supersedes and builds on one from the early days of the blog devoted to music from British films of the 1940s. It now is more than twice as extensive - including 16 examples drawn from the best films composers of the era - Vaughan Williams, Rosza, Addinsell, Mischa Spoliansky, Allan Gray, Bax, Alwyn, Ireland, Charles Williams and Arthur Benjamin - all in vintage performances. These come primarily from two albums, as detailed below.

Also today, to mark the transition between seasons, David F. has provided us with two of his fine compilations.

Summer Turns to Autumn

David has prepared a set of songs both for the waning of summer and for the coming of fall - "A Farewell to Summer" and "Autumn Auguries." These total 60 selections by artists known and obscure, as always well programmed and carefully considered. The downloads (links in comments) include David's thoughts on the music and the seasons.

One of our readers recently called his compilations "brilliant" - and I won't disagree!

'Music for Films' - the Columbia Entré LP

My 2009 post was mainly devoted to an early 50s Columbia Entré LP, Music for Films, which was almost entirely composed of British releases of the 1940s. The various recordings originated with EMI, and included performances by the Queen's Hall Light Orchestra as conducted by Charles Williams or Sidney Torch, and the Philharmonia conducted by Ernest Irving.

Here is what I wrote about these recordings a decade ago, much augmented.

The only well-known item on the record is the one American item, MiklosRozsa's music from Spellbound, here in a performance led by Charles Williams.

The best-known composer represented is Ralph Vaughan Williams, whose beautiful score for the Loves of Joanna Godden was almost unknown until a more recent re-recording. Here the music is performed by the Philharmonia and Irving, the music director of Ealing Studios.

Ernest Irving and Ralph Vaughan Williams at a recording session

The little-known composer Allan Gray appears with two very effective items - the memorable prelude from Stairway to Heaven and the theme from This Man Is Mine. These pieces are apparently all that was ever recorded of Gray's film music. The composer left Germany after the ascension of the Nazis, as did Mischa Spoliansky, also represented in the collection.

Mischa Spoliansky

Much of the Entré LP, in fact, is devoted to three pieces by the now little-known (but very talented) Spoliansky. His "A Voice in the Night," from Wanted for Murder, is one of the most effective of the many quasi-romantic film concertos that turned up following the 1941 success of Richard Addinsell's"Warsaw Concerto." The album also contains Spoliansky's music from Idol of Paris and That Dangerous Age.

Lord Berners in repose

Finally, the Entré LP includes the Nicholas Nickleby music from the eccentric composer-novelist-painter Lord Berners (Gerald Hugh Tyrwhitt-Wilson), who wrote concert as well as film music and was a friend of Constant Lambert and William Walton. I don't care for Berners' music, but he cut quite a figure!

'Film Music' - the 1947 Decca-London Album

Like EMI, UK Decca was active in the film music realm during the 1940s. I have included a new transfer of a six-sided 78 album, Film Music, from the London Symphony and Muir Mathieson, the music director for a large number of British films.

Mathieson's set is largely given over to composers better known for concert than film music. It leads off with one of the most beautiful themes ever written by Vaughan Williams - the hymn-like Epilogue from the film 49th Parallel.

Arthur Benjamin

Next is what is possibly Arthur Benjamin's greatest hit - the "Jamaican Rhumba" of 1938, which doesn't seem to be film music at all [thanks Boursin for the tip!]. Benjamin's other popular favorite ishis "Storm Clouds Cantata" (not included here), featured at the climactic moments of both versions of Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much.

Sir Arnold Bax's music for the short film Malta G.C. was one of his few scores for the screen. It concludes with an Elgarian march.

William Alwyn

We return to Jamaica for another well-known use of its music, as captured in William Alwyn's score for The Notorious Gentleman. Neither the Alwyn nor Benjamin pieces were what you would call authentic, but are enjoyable nonetheless. Alwyn was equally renowned for his film and concert scores.

The final composer in this set - John Ireland - only composed for one film, The Overlanders, which involved a cattle drive in Australia. (One wonders how they attracted people into the theaters for that scenario.) Ireland was an uneven composer, and this is not among his best work, although it has enjoyed several recordings, all of which I seem to own.

Bonus Items

Richard Addinsell

The talented Richard Addinsell was not represented on either album above, but I have added two of his finest themes as a bonus. First is the original recording of music from Passionate Friends by the Philharmonia Orchestra and Muir Mathieson, which comes from another Entré album that otherwise does not contain film music. (Parenthetically, I saw David Lean's Passionate Friends a long time ago, and remember it as excellent.)

I also wanted to include perhaps the most popular and influential piece of film scoring from that period - Addinsell's "Warsaw Concerto" from Dangerous Moonlight. Here from the original 78, Muir Mathieson conducts the London Symphony with uncredited pianist Louis Kentner.

As a final bonus, I have included the "Dream of Olwen" music from While I Live, another notable quasi-concerto of the period. The composer was Charles Williams, who conducted several of the works on the Entré LP above. In this recording William Hill-Bowen was the pianist, with George Melachrino leading his orchestra on an HMV 78.

All transfers are from my collection, except for the bonus items, which are remastered from lossless needle-drops from CHARM and the Internet Archive. The sound is good in all cases.

At Ernie's, Christmas Has Come 5,000 Times in 15 Years

The Sounds of Les Baxter Selling Spark Plugs

Menotti, Thomson and Luening Reups - Plus Much More

Mid-Century Music by Howard Swanson, Roger Goeb and Ben Weber

Let's Go Cat Dancing with Harry Geller

Musical Comedy Favorites from Kostelanetz

'All the Way' with Sammy, Plus Bonus Singles

Gold and Fizdale Perform Bowles and Poulenc

Irish Songs from Dick Haymes

The Kentonesque Earle Spencer

Rodziński Conducts Mendelssohn

Neal Hefti - 'Sex' and the Coral Singles

Morton Gould's Music for Cinerama Holiday

Folk-Influenced Czech Music By Hilmar, Malát, Smetana and Ostrčil

The Warm Voice of Hal Derwin

Polkas and Czech Dances by Smetana

Dick Haymes Sings Irving Berlin

The Original 'Victory at Sea' and More Re-ups

Lambert Conducts Warlock, Delius and Lambert

Music for 1940s British Films, Plus Songs for a Change of Seasons