Morel Conducts Bizet and Chabrier

French music, particularly of the lighter variety, is not well represented on symphonic programs these days, with the exception of Debussy and Ravel. I took a look at the Cleveland Orchestra's upcoming season and there is exactly one piece from France, Debussy's Images.

Works from French composers (and those of other nationalities) such as those on today's LP are generally corralled into pops programs, which to me consigns their melodic and orchestral genius to a lesser status.

Be that as it may, this 1958 LP is a wonderfully entertaining example of music that is no longer heard very often in concert halls. It contains superior works from Georges Bizet (1838-75) and Emmanuel Chabrier (1841-94).

From the former, we have his two L'Arlésienne suites, from the latter his Rapsodie España and Joyeuse marche. (To be fair, España does at times lead off symphonic programs because it is an orchestral showpiece.)

Jean Morel

This post also gives us an opportunity to again explore the recorded legacy of a fine conductor, Jean Morel, who in this program is leading the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. He has been heard here previously in Albéniz and Ravel, Tchaikovsky, and a Mozart concerto with Rosina Lhévinne. (The latter is newly remastered.)

Most of today's album is devoted to Bizet's L'Arlésienne suites. These atmospheric and enchanting pieces were taken from the incidental music the composer wrote for Alphonse Daudet's play of that name. And while the music may be charming, the plot was serious. Set in Provence, it concerns a young man who commits suicide when he discovers his hoped-for bride (the "girl from Arles," who never appears on stage) has been unfaithful.

The play was not successful, but the music became popular. Bizet chose the seven most substantial pieces from the incidental music for his two suites. These show his gift for memorable themes and imaginative orchestration. 

Paul Affelder had this to say in High Fidelity: "One would expect idiomatic interpretations of this French music from a French conductor of Jean Morel's stature, and with one exception he does not disappoint. That exception is the second L'Arlésienne Suite, which he delivers in a routine fashion. This is surprising, because he infuses the first suite with poise and sensitivity." In my view, the only routine part of the second suite is the opening Pastorale, which is strangely inert.

Bizet's second suite closes with a Farandole that, following its opening recapitulation of the first suite's Prelude, turns into a remarkable orchestral showpiece. The Covent Garden orchestra was not considered to be first-rank, but they do well throughout the suites.

Emmanuel Chabrier

This fine playing extends to the colorful works of Chabrier. As I mentioned, España is an orchestral showpiece, and the performance here is faultless. Like Bizet's suites, it became popular and famous. The composer was moved to write the work following a trip to Spain.

I never tire of mentioning that Al Hoffman and Dick Manning turned one of España's subsidiary themes into something called "Hot Diggity (Dog Ziggity Boom)." It was a hit for Perry Como in 1956 (and I had the record back then).

Chabrier's Joyeuse marche is not as popular as España, but perhaps it should be. Chabrier tinkered with it for some time; it also exists in two different piano four-hands versions.

The recording of these pieces is one of the best from the late 1950s - well-balanced, atmospheric and convincing. It was done for the RCA Victor "Living Stereo" line by UK Decca in the person of engineer Kenneth Wilkinson, working in the Kingsway Hall, London.

Altogether, a most happy LP - well, except for the suicide.

LINK

David Allyn's 'Lost' Album, and More

After releasing albums for World-Pacific and Warner Bros., David Allyn went back in the studio to record his next LP with the great Johnny Mandel. It turned out to be the best album of all; trouble was it wouldn't be released for almost 20 years.

On the basis of artistic merit, it's hard to understand why. This is clearly one of the best vocal albums ever recorded. Allyn is in marvelous voice; he evidently had a great rapport with Mandel; the musicians were the best the West Coast had to offer.

For whatever reason, it didn't come out until 1978 on the Discovery label. The mastering was not good, however. I've significantly rebalanced matters and now it sounds great - to me, at least!

David Allyn

As a bonus, I've appended a 1960 Guest Star transcription for U.S. Savings Bonds where David sings three songs - all of them also on this LP, although in different performances. Details down below.

Discographies date the Blue of Evening LP from the early 60s, which seems about right considering the song selection. 

On the LP, for three songs, Allyn is accompanied by a small group - Jimmy Rowles, piano, Larry Bunker, vibes, Herb Ellis, guitar, Joe Mondragon, bass and Shelly Manne, drums. They appear on "Dream a Little Dream of Me," "Remind Me" and "It All Comes Back to Me Now."

The next group featured a French horn section with Conte Candoli, trumpet; Frank Rosolino, trombone; Bud Shank, Bob Cooper, Joe Maini, and Chuck Gentry, reeds; and the same rhythm section except for Mel Lewis on drums. The songs are "Down with Love." "That Old Devil Called Love" and "Cocktails for Two."

Johnny Mandel

Mandel added strings and harp for the final grouping, which includes "In the Blue of Evening," "All Through the Day" and "And Now Goodbye."

Most of these songs are standards, with the possible exception of two. The first is "It All Comes Back to Me Now," one of my favorites. Alex Kramer, Joan Whitney and Hy Zaret wrote it in about 1940; David recorded it on one of his first sessions with Jack Teagarden's big band. You can find that version in this post devoted to Allyn's earliest recordings.

The second such song, "And Now Goodbye," is by David (music) and Steve Allen (lyrics). It's a very attractive number that should be better known.

Guest Star Transcription

The U.S. Treasury Department had a long-standing transcription series called Guest Star that it used to promote Savings Bonds. Allyn was a guest on a program distributed in 1960. The music director and producer of the series was former Phil Harris and Ozzie Nelson saxophonist Basil (Buzz) Adlam, who also worked on Ozzie's popular TV sitcom.

David's selections with Adlam's very good group are "Dream a Little Dream of Me," "It All Comes Back to Me Now" and "Give Me a Good Night Kiss." He's in excellent voice and does the numbers well; the latter better than the LP because he doesn't sound so besotted. He's stiff in the brief dialogues with announcer Lou Crosby, who is vaguely irritating. A very nice listen, however, and I've tracked it for you, so you can dispense with the superfluities.

FYI - You may note on the label above that Jo Stafford also had a Guest Star appearance on the same record. Unlike Allyn's program, her songs were taken from commercial recordings.

LINK to In the Blue of Evening and Guest Star

Karajan Conducts Bartok and Hindemith Masterworks

Two 20th century masterpieces - both also among the composers' most popular works - are today's subject matter.

The compositions are Béla Bartók's Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta and Paul Hindemith's Symphony: Mathis der Maler. The Berlin Philharmonic is conducted by Herbert von Karajan, making his debut here. The recordings are from 1960 (Bartók) and 1957 (Hindemith).

The music's importance is well captured by HiFi-Stereo Review's William Flanagan: "If there are  relatively few orchestral works composed since the end of World War I that can safely be said to have 'made' the standard repertory, there are even fewer that are conceded to be full-fledged masterpieces. Béla Bartók's Миsic for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta (1936), and Paul Hindemith's Mathis der Maler symphony (1934) have each, in their composer's time, staked a claim to this manner of immortality...

"Both pieces have that elusive combination of properties of which masterpieces would seem to be made. They elicit the unswerving awe and respect of experienced listeners, and they still are accessible to the general public."

Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta

Béla Bartók

Bartók's work was a commission by Paul Sacher for the 10th anniversary of his Basel Chamber Orchestra. The piece is quite extraordinary. "Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta occupies a special place among Bartók’s compositions," per Orrin Howard's notes for the Los Angeles Philharmonic, "not only for its fearlessly independent choice of instruments, but also for the intense expressiveness and vitality of the materials."

"What is the source of such diabolical music? The chromatic wanderings suggest Wagner and his Tristan, which gave us early Schoenberg. But there are other antecedents, and these include Strauss, Stravinsky, Debussy, Ravel, and, crucially, the folk music of Bartók’s native Hungary and its environs. It was this latter, large body of music, researched for years by Bartók, that became the all-pervading force of his creativity, the distinctive elements of which gave his work an individuality as unmistakable to the ear as a well-developed photograph is to the eye: rhythms that pound insistently or that are arrestingly irregular; modes and exotic scale combinations; severely simple melodies whose rise and fall stem from speech patterns; driving, often barbaric energy and, in contrast, wondrously provocative calms; an amalgam of simple triadic harmonies and acerbic dissonances. From all of these elements came Bartók’s ingenious, novel language."

The work is intricately worked out and endlessly fascinating.

Symphony: Mathis der Maler

Paul Hindemith

Hindemith's Symphony: Mathis der Maler also is a near contemporary of the Bartók. It was the result of a 1934 request by conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler for a new work that he could take on tour with the Berlin Philharmonic. The composer had been working on an opera on the subject of Renaissance painter Matthias Grünewald. (Mathis der maler = Matthias the painter). He decided to compose symphonic movements that also could be used as interludes in the opera, and Furtwängler did then tour the piece.

Howard Posner wrote this for a Los Angeles Philharmonic program note: "Hindemith’s Mathis story is based loosely on history, but inspired by Grünewald’s famous paintings for the altar of the abbey at Isenheim in Alsace. Hindemith’s Grünewald decides that he cannot continue his comfortable life as a court painter while the peasants’ struggle for justice is exploding around him. He joins their revolt, only to be repelled by their violence. While taking refuge in the forest, he dreams that he is St. Anthony, subject of two of the Isenheim altarpiece paintings. In a scene based on one of those panels, St. Paul the Hermit tells Grunewald/Anthony that it was wrong to turn his back on his God-given artistic gifts, and that he must 'bow humbly before your brother and selflessly offer him the holiest creation of your inmost faculties' to become 'great, a part of the people, the people itself' - words reminiscent of Brahms’ 'republic' letter to Clara Schumann. The painter goes home, and finishes his life in a draining creative burst."

Grünewald's "Concert of Angels"

The opening movement is based on the painter's "Concert of Angels" from the Isenheim altarpiece, with Mary and the baby Jesus. It formed the opera's overture.

"Entombment"

The second movement is "Entombment," depicting Christ's burial. It comes from the end of the opera as Grünewald's life and career comes to an end.

"Temptation of St. Anthony"

Howard Posner: "The last movement is a wholly symphonic creation using music from the extended climactic scene in the opera, which is based on two of the Isenheim paintings. In one of them, St. Anthony is assailed by grotesque demons (Hindemith’s Anthony/Grünewald is confronted with his life choices in the form of characters from the opera). The other shows St. Anthony meeting St. Paul the Hermit. Shortly before the end of a movement of explosive force and great churning energy, the woodwinds introduce the 13th-century chant 'Lauda Sion Salvatorem,' which is answered by majestic alleluias in the brass."

The newly ascendant Nazis were none too pleased with either Hindemith or Furtwängler. Following the premiere, the work was banned as "decadent." The composer left Germany in 1938, eventually coming to the U.S.

Herbert von Karajan

The performances and recording are excellent. Howard Flanagan: "Karajan's attitude toward both works is admirable. He plays them as if they had existed quite as long, and just as significantly, as any major work by Beethoven or Brahms. The tempi are relaxed and judicious, the music doesn't sound aggressive or defiant. And the conductor has brought a splendid lucidity to the complex linear fabric that is the essence of both works."

The conductor recorded the Bartok work five times, but this is the only recording he made of Hindemith's music.

LINK

More Bartók and Hindemith

I've newly remastered the other recordings of Bartók and Hindemith that have appeared on this site. The links below are to the download files.

Lili Kraus plays Bartók. The famed Hungarian pianist had been a pupil of the composer. The folk-derived works on this 10-inch LP - Three Rondos on Slovak Folk Tunes and Romanian Folk Dances - were recorded in 1938.

György Sándor plays Bartók. The pianist is the soloist in the first recording of the composer's Concerto No. 3. The Columbia LP includes Miaskovsky's excellent Symphony No. 21. Eugene Ormandy conducts. The download also includes a bonus in the form of Sándor's 1959 recording of the concerto. 

Hindemith's Four Temperaments. An early LP recording by the Boston-based Zimbler String Sinfonietta with pianist Lukas Foss. This composition is in a similar style to Mathis der Maler, and also is one of the composer's most popular works.

Piatigorsky plays Hindemith. The eminent cellist Gregor Piatigorsky performs the Hindemith Sonata (1948) and Samuel Barber's Sonata in C minor, Op. 6. Ralph Berkowitz is the pianist.

Three Early LPs from Les Brown and Band

Les and admirers

Les Brown and his band have always been popular around here, so here goes  a triple play of 10-inch LPs from his early years with Coral records.

Back then it was fashionable to adopt themes for each record, and today's first two items follow that rule. 

For 1951's You're My Everything, the "theme" was that all eight songs began with "You're" - except for "You Are My Sunshine."

The following year, the idea was that all the numbers had to do with the weather - Musical Weather Vane is what the Coral folks called it.

All this started with Les' first LP for Coral, 1951's Over the Rainbow (A Panorama of Color), which has previously appeared here.

They must have run out of concepts by 1953, for the theme for that year's record was Le's Dance. Freed from the need to work to a stated theme, Les and his forces produced the best record of the bunch - possibly because it reflected their work at dances such as the one shown at top.

The other two records are quite satisfying as well, with fine arrangements, superb ensemble, and varied and at times witty solos.

By the way, my friend Dave Federman has produced several posts devoted to Les on his Substack site, Dave's Desk. These include vocals by the supreme Lucy Ann Polk - there isn't any singing on these LPs.

You're My Everything

The titles of the songs do suggest the vagaries of a love affair: "You're Driving Me Crazy,"  "You're the Cream in My Coffee," "You're a Sweetheart," "You're the Top," "You're Blasé" and "You're an Old Smoothie." The couple on the cover seem to be getting along fine, though.

The personnel for the band did not vary much over the next few years. The occasional soloists you hear on this LP likely include Don Paladino, trumpet, Ray Sims, trombone, Dave Pell, tenor sax, Tony Rizzi, guitar, and Geoff Clarkson, piano.

The arrangers for these records were Frank Comstock, Skip Martin and Wes Hensel. Comstock was the head arranger and did all the charts for this LP.

LINK to You're My Everything

Musical Weather Vane

For the Musical Weather Vane, the selections were "Clouds," "Heat Wave," "Rain," "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!", "Blue Skies," "Ill Wind,"
"Stormy Weather" and "Lost in a Fog."

I wasn't familiar with two of the songs, even though they have a nice pedigree. "Clouds" is a Gus Kahn-Walter Donaldson song first recorded by Connie Boswell in 1935.

"Lost in a Fog" is by Dorothy Fields and Jimmy McHugh. It was released by any number of artists in 1934, including Connie Boswell.

I've prepared a companion post for my other blog with Connie's recording of "Lost in a Fog" and the Ray Noble-Al Bowlly version of "Clouds."

The other song that may be unfamiliar to some is "Ill Wind," which Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler wrote for the Cotton Club Parade revue of 1934. The first recording of this tune was by Arlen himself, and can be found in a collection of his vocal discs on my other blog.

Wes Hensel was the arranger of "Heat Wave" and "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!". Frank Comstock was responsible for the others.

LINK to Musical Weather Vane

Le's Dance

I said that Brown ditched the theme album idea for a dance album in 1953, but that's not entirely true. The implicit theme in this case - it's not stated on the cover - is the songs were all associated with other bandleaders.

Here's the information missing from the cover:

"Flying Home" was written by Lionel Hampton and Benny Goodman for the Goodman Sextet in 1939. The most famous version, however, may be the one with Hamp's own big band in 1942, with a blazing solo by Illinois Jacquet on tenor sax. Both versions can be found on my other blog. For Les' rendition, Wes Hensel and Skip Martin handled the charts.

Another item from Benny's band is "Lullaby in Rhythm" by Benny, Clarence Profit, Edgar Sampson and Walter Hirsch. The latter was a lyricist; there also were and are vocal versions of the song. Skip Martin wrote this arrangement.

I'd rather give up drinking than
tote around a jug like that

"Brown's Little Jug" is a takeoff on "Little Brown Jug," which had been a hit for Glenn Miller in 1939. The piece itself dates to the 1860s and probably earlier. It's a drinking song - "O - ho - ho, you and me, little brown jug how I love thee." (Drinkers are well known for using archaic English.) Martin was the arranger.

Taking its name from a street in New Orleans, "Perdido" was written by trombonist Juan Tizol in 1941 for the Duke Ellington band. It quickly became a jazz standard - and with lyrics added, a vocal standard. This chart was by Martin and Hensel.

Ray Noble wrote "Cherokee" in 1938, but it is more associated with Charlie Barnet, who not only adopted it as his theme, but elaborated the piece into "Redskin Rhumba." The tune was a favorite with boppers. Charlie Parker, for example, turned it into one of his best-known numbers, "Ko-Ko." Comstock arranged "Cherokee" for the Brown band.

At a 1950s dance

The Coral label lists "Stompin' at the Savoy" as being written by Goodman, Chick Webb, Edgar Sampson and Andy Razaf, but the music was written by Sampson alone for Rex Stewart's band in 1933. They took it to Webb band the following year, then Benny got hold of it a few years later. I assume Andy Razaf wrote the lyrics that are sometimes heard. Comstock did this chart.

"Jersey Bounce" comes from Tiny Bradshaw, Eddie Johnson and Bobby Plater. "R. B. Wright" is a pseudonym for lyricist Buddy Feyne. Bradshaw was a bandleader, but he didn't have a record contract when the song was written. The first disc was by Earl Hines in 1941. The most popular was, once again, the Benny Goodman record. (I loved it; I inherited the 78 from my mom when I was a kid.) The chart was by Frank Comstock.

The final selection is one of the most famous of all - Count Basie's "One O'Clock Jump," a 1937 riff tune popular with bands and everyone else since then. (Yes, Benny recorded it.) This is a wonderful, imaginative version.

For this third record, two distinguished soloists - trumpeter Don Fagerquist and alto saxophonist Ronnie Lang - were added.

The sound on all the records is very good. The first two were a little boxy; they have benefitted from a small amount of natural reverb. All are excellent records; the third is even better than that!

LINK to Le's Dance

From the Back Room: Historic Delius from Toye, Barbirolli and May Harrison

The music of Frederick Delius (1862-1934) is an acquired taste, but, as the saying goes, it is a taste worth acquiring. Today's program includes fine performances by artists who were devoted to his music, almost all of which were made during the final years of the composer's life, when he was increasingly infirm and eventually blind.

On the program are orchestral works conducted by Geoffrey Toye and John Barbirolli, and the Sonata No. 1 with violinist May Harrison and pianist Arnold Bax, better known as a composer.

Geoffrey Toye Conducts

Geoffrey Toye

The name Geoffrey Toye (1889-1942) will be unfamiliar to most people, so a few words of introduction follow. He was a conductor, composer and opera producer best remembered for his leadership of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company and association with Sadler's Wells. His principal composition was the ballet The Haunted Ballroom. This program includes a recording of a waltz from that work as a bonus.

As it happened, Toye's only commercial recordings were of Delius' music. These include "On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring" and "In a Summer Garden" with the London Symphony in 1928, and "Summer Night on the River" with the New Symphony Orchestra the following year. All are very well done, giving a good representation of the music, and are a credit to Toye's memory.

Toye died of lung damage sustained in the London blitz. The conductor Sidney Torch recorded the waltz from Toye's The Haunted Ballroom with his orchestra in 1947.

John Barbirolli Conducts

John Barbirolli

The conductor John Barbirolli (later Sir John) was a strong proponent of the composers Elgar, Vaughan Williams and Delius. He began recording in 1927; one of the first pieces he chose was Delius' "Summer Night on the River" for the National Gramophonic Society, soon followed by an HMV recording of "A Song Before Sunrise" in 1928. The latter, with the New Symphony, is included in this program.

We then jump ahead to 1948 for "Deux Aquarelles" with the Hallé Orchestra, which body Sir John conducted from 1943 until his death in 1970. The Aquarelles are arrangements for string orchestra by Eric Fenby made from two songs without words that Delius had composed for chorus in 1917. Fenby was the composer's amanuensis during his last years - and himself made excellent recordings of Delius' music in the 1970s.

May Harrison and the Sonata No. 1

May Harrison

The violinist May Harrison (1890-1959) and her sister Beatrice were close associates of Delius. He wrote his Double Concerto for them and his Violin Sonata No. 3 for May.

Arnold Bax

May recorded the Sonata No. 1 for HMV in 1929; the piano part was taken by the composer Arnold Bax, who may have being making his only recording as an instrumentalist. In any event, he is quite good - and Harrison is of course authoritative.

Although she often performed the sonata, Harrison preferred the composer's music with orchestra. "Of Delius's music nothing can to me surpass in beauty and poignancy the end of his Village Romeo and Juliet, or the beginning of Sea Drift. His chamber music is a mere drop in the ocean, so to speak, for he always thought in terms of the orchestra," she said, in a 1945 talk on the composer. The violinist Midori Komachi expands on this with reference to the Sonata: "Delius came back to his initial sketches of the Sonata in 1914, then with a mind full of orchestral sounds. Inevitably, harmonic colours and [a] stream of chromaticism are explored as if the violin and piano could sound like an orchestra."

Delius wrote his Caprice and Elegy for Beatrice Harrison. She recorded it, scored and conducted by Fenby, in 1930. It can be found in a previous collection of historic Delius performances that also includes: the Violin Concerto with Albert Sammons and conductor Malcolm Sargent; the Piano Concerto with Benno Moiseiwitsch and conductor Constant Lambert; and Lambert conducting "On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring," the Intermezzo and Serenade from Hassan, and "La Calinda" from Koanga.

The download includes a 1985 issue of The Delius Journal devoted to the Harrison sisters.

* * *

The sound on all of today's selections is quite good, even though most of them are nearly 100 years old. On a few of the disks there is some background rustle.

Addendum: reader Andrew has kindly provided a link to Ken Russell's classic film on Delius and Fenby, A Song of Summer. It's available under the name Delius as I Knew Him on YouTube.

LINK to the Toye and Barbirolli recordings

LINK to the Harrison-Bax sonata recording

From the Back Room: Dottie Evans Sings the Hits

It was when I was preparing the post of the Ray Charles Singers' Cadence recordings that I had the idea of featuring one of the singers on the set. That person is Dorothy Evans - better known as Dottie Evans on seemingly innumerable Enoch Light budget records of the 1950s, which will be the focus of today's proceedings.

Dottie was a wonderfully versatile singer, able to tackle ballads, rhythm numbers and novelties with equal aplomb. She had excellent intonation and diction, and a lovely vocal quality. She's just fun to hear.

About Dottie Evans

The Murphy Sisters

Dottie was born Dorothy MacNicholl in Port Chester, NY in 1921 and died in Stamford, CT in 2000 as Dorothy Koczanski, the wife of the late Elmer Koczanski. She and her sisters Muriel and Marge toured as the Murphy Sisters (Murphy was her mother's maiden name) in the 1930s and 40s. They worked with the Carl Hoff and Vaughn Monroe bands, made at least one Soundie, and about 12 recordings for Apollo in 1947. The trio, a close-harmony outfit a la the Andrews Sisters, was versatile - ballads, oldies, even bizarre novelties like "Don't Eat Me." They were good, even if the material was not. I may devote a post to them.

Thereafter Dottie made her name as a studio singer, available for radio and television work, for jobs with such groups as the Ray Charles Singers, and for ads. In the 1960s, she made three LPs with folk singer Tom Glazer that were part of a six-album set known as "Ballads for the Age of Science." The songs by Hy Zaret and Lou Singer explained science concepts to children.

Sister Marge - also a skillful and appealing singer - made a quite a few budget records under the name Margie Murphy. She worked with Enoch Light's labels, as did Dottie, whose career we examine below.

The 1954-58 Budget Recordings

The Dottie Evans recordings in this set come primarily from the "18 Top Hits" label, which was one of Enoch Light's portfolio of budget marques, the best known of which may have been Waldorf Music Hall. 18 Tops Hits was exclusive to the Woolworth dime store chain. All this was before the impresario and former bandleader went upscale and started the Command label. Some of today's selections also appeared on the Bell label, which Light did not own, to my knowledge, so perhaps he leased some recordings to or from that operation.

Enoch Light the bandleader

Light's stock-in-trade was high quality budget cover recordings of the top hits of the day. He had a retinue of multi-talented studio singers - among them Artie Malvin, Loren Becker and of course Dottie and her sister Margie.

Most of Dottie's records have backing by Enoch Light and orchestra, although sometimes the bandleader is not named. Vincent Lopez and Jimmy Carroll also appear on a few records.

These records come primarily from Internet Archive 78s. Most of them cleaned up well; a few are a little scratchy.

The first two songs come from 1954 and were both Bob Merrill inspirations. We start with "Mambo Italiano," which Mitch Miller somehow got Rosemary Clooney to record. Rosie is great, but if anything Dottie is even more into the stage-Italian business that was popular in the postwar era. (Thanks, Louis Prima.)

Merrill also came up with "Make Yourself Comfortable," a success for Sarah Vaughan, and a record I bought when I was five. (I started young.) Dottie is just as welcoming as Sarah.

The marvelous "When You Wish Upon a Star" is by Leigh Harline and Ned Washington, written in 1940 for Disney's Pinocchio. I suspect that Evans' record was stimulated by a new TV show, Walt Disney's Disneyland, which began in 1954 and used the song as its theme.

"Hard to Get" is forgotten today, but the Jack Segal song was a smash for Gisele MacKenzie in 1955 - the biggest hit of her career. Gisele herself made budget records for Camden - an example, also from 1955, is here.

"Suddenly There's a Valley" is by Chuck Meyer and Biff Jones, and became a major hit for Gogi Grant on the Era label. It's one of the uplifting, quasi-religious songs that were popular at the time. Gogi's version can be found on my other blog.

Not well remembered - at least by me - is "You Are My Love." Jimmie Nabbie wrote it for Joni James, who apparently did well with it.

Another song that has not persisted in popularity is Kim Gannon's "Croce di Oro (Cross of Gold)." Patti Page had the hit with it in 1955-56.

"Cry Me a River" is an unusual song in that it was written by Arthur Hamilton for Ella Fitzgerald to sing in the film Pete Kelly's Blues, but not used. It was recorded a few years later by Julie London at the urging of Bobby Troup, who would later become London's husband. The song made her career. Evans' emotive version is accomplished as well.

The final song from 1955 is "When Christmas Comes to Our House," which is the only number that is original to Dottie. It was composed by Light and a writer named Kurzene, who is possibly the Iranian-American composer Massard Kur-Zhene. Enoch included it on his holiday compilations of the time. My friend Ernie has posted the complete LP a few times, most recently last year.

"Mr. Wonderful" is by Jerry Bock, George David Weiss and Larry Holofcener, written for the Broadway musical of that name starring Sammy Davis, Jr. (Olga James sang the number on stage.) Teddi King put out a popular version of the song in 1956 - her version is in this collection of her Victor singles.

One of the biggest hits of 1956 was "The Wayward Wind," which was Gogi Grant's other big success along with "Suddenly There's a Valley." In a post on my other blog about Gogi, I noted that, "'The Wayward Wind' is a second cousin lyrically to Lerner and Loewe's 'Wand'rin' Star' from the Paint Your Wagon score."

For a while there, songs by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans seemed to pop up in every other film that Hollywood released. One of their best items was "Que Será, Será (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)," which formed part of the plot in Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much. Doris Day sang it in the film, it became a very popular Columbia single and won an Oscar.

"Gonna Get Along Without Ya Now" has a peculiar history in that the Milton Kellems song was first recorded by country singer Roy Hogsed, who was better known for "Cocaine Blues." That first recording was in 1951. The song then went to Teresa Brewer. Finally the unknown juveniles Patience and Prudence set it down it in 1956, and it became a big seller. (I had it on 78.) Pat and Pru were the daughters of Mark McIntyre, former Sinatra pianist. For Dottie's recording, she is joined by Audrey Marsh, who also appeared on the Cadence Pajama Game LP.

The lovely "Graduation Day" is a Joe and Noel Sherman song that did nicely for the Four Freshman and the Rover Boys. I missed it the first time around and learned it from the Beach Boys' Freshmen-esque recording.

Jack Fulton and Lois Steele wrote "Ivory Tower," which hit for Cathy Carr, Gale Storm and Otis Williams (separately, not together).

The Ethel Merman vehicle Happy Hunting spawned "Mutual Admiration Society." For a while there, this Harold Karr-Matt Dubey was inescapable whenever two singers showed up on the same stage (assuming they didn't want to do "Me and My Shadow"). La Merman was joined by Virginia Gibson for the Broadway duet.

Moving to 1957, the song "Old Cape Cod" by Claire Rothrock, Milton Yakus and Allan Jeffrey put the Massachusetts peninsula on the map, as it were. Patti Page's voice was the vehicle.

Livingston and Evans return for "Tammy," the theme song for the Debbie Reynolds film Tammy and the Bachelor. Debbie sang it in the film and had a hit with it, although the version over the credits was by the Ames Brothers. You can find the soundtrack album for the film here.

Enoch Light also put out LP compilations in the late 50s, one of which contained the songs from My Fair Lady. Evans sang "I Could Have Danced All Night," which was a hit for Sylvia Syms and can be found in this Syms collection. Lerner and Loewe were the songwriters.

Light also issued a Show Spectacular album in 1958 with a various showtunes. From that collection we have Dottie singing "How Are Things in Glocca Morra?" from Finian's Rainbow, the handiwork of Burton Lane and Yip Harburg.

Hope you enjoyed this tribute to a fine, albeit overlooked singer.

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Charpentier from King's with Felicity Lott

This post is a tribute to the fine soprano Felicity Lott, who has died at age 79. It continues a series of choral recordings from the King's College Choir and Philip Ledger. These artists are heard in a 1977 recording of baroque music by Marc-Antoine Charpentier.

Dame Felicity Lott

The program is, in fact, somewhat unusual for Dame Felicity, who made her name via opera performances and song recitals. It does show her broad repertoire and artistic sympathies. You can read much more about her in a New York Times obituary (gift link).

In that article, critic Tim Page wrote of her:

Tall and self-possessed, with an air of wit and sophistication, Ms. Lott was ideal for parts like the introspective Marschallin in Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier, the Countess in his Capriccio and yet another wistful Countess, in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro.

While Ms. Lott’s voice was lucid and sensitive, what set her apart were her dramatic gifts and her refined yet warm bearing.

Today's program includes two Charpentier works: his Te Deum in D major, H.146, and Magnificat in D minor, H.74. They were composed while he was music director at the Church of Saint-Louis in Paris in the late 17th century.

An 18th century portrait of Marc-Antoine Charpentier,
which may or may not be accurate

"It is ceremonial music, for thanksgiving to God and perhaps almost equally to Louis XIV - after French victories, with the triumphal tones of trumpets and drums prominent," wrote Stanley Sadie in The Gramophone. "Not unlike Purcell's big court pieces, it mixes vigorous choruses with solo numbers and concertante movements (not unlike verse anthem style) for groups of soloists with the chorus."

Dame Felicity is heard in solo passages as well as ensembles with baritone Stephen Roberts, alto Charles Brett, tenor Ian Partridge and soprano Eiddwen Harry. The Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields provides the instrumental backing, Thomas Trotter the organ continuo. The orchestra is heard most prominently in the two preludes. The prelude to the Te Deum is widely known in Europe for its use by Eurovision, principally for its Song Contest.

Recording Charpentier in the King's College Chapel

Several recent posts have addressed the coming of the period performance practice movement in the 1970s and 80s. This LP represents the middle ground of using modern instruments and small forces, in contrast to symphonic performances of Baroque music or the newly ascendant historically informed performances. Julian Rushton, who prepared the parts for this recording, explained his methods in the sleeve note:

This recording is made with modern instruments, and at modern pitch. Pitch in 17th-century France was about one tone below ours, but transposition raises more problems than it solves. Charpentier would probably have had a bass viol continuo rather than cello, and recorders rather than flutes; high tenors (haute-contres) were used rather than altos, and the soloists, presumably all male, would have formed part of the choir.

To demonstrate the difference in sound between this recording and period performances, here is what the Te Deum's prelude sounds like as performed by William Christie's Les Arts Florissants.

Philip Ledger

Putting the matter of "authenticity" aside, the King's performance is a good one. Stanley Sadie's verdict was as follows: "The performances here, cleverly recorded in King's College Chapel in such a way as to sound both clear in detail and spaciously reverberant, are altogether superior to those on the Pye Vanguard disc cited above [referring to a performance by the Pailliard Orchestra directed by Louis Martini]: in the solo singing (better in tone and much more sensitive to line), in the choral singing (clearer in articulation, brighter in tone and in every way more alive), in the instrumental playing (neater and more expressive) and in the general direction (Philip Ledger conducts rhythmically and with a keen feeling for the character of each number)."

Dame Felicity shines throughout, demonstrating the versatility that was just one of her artistic talents.

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