Britten's Simple Symphony

It's amazing (and perhaps a little daunting) to read that Britten composed some of this material when he was as young as nine and assembled it into this delightful and memorable string symphony when he was 20.

Eugene Goossens

This recording from November 1953 was not the first of the piece. (Boyd Neel recorded it in 1939), but it is a very fine one led by composer-conductor Eugene Goossens, and one that evidently had he approval of Britten, who wrote the (also delightful) liner notes, which are included in the package.

The recording, made by John Culshaw and Kenneth Wilkinson in Decca's West Hampstead Studios in London, is excellent.

LINK (August 2025 remaster in ambient stereo)

Music for Mid-Century British Films

Although this is an American Columbia LP, it mostly consists of recordings of British film music circa mid-20th century.

The only well-known item on the record the one American item, Miklos Rozsa's music from Spellbound, here in a British performance. The best known composer represented is Ralph Vaughan Williams, whose beautiful score for the Loves of Joanna Godden was almost unknown until a recent re-recording.

Also on board are Allan Gray, with two very effective items, and Lord Berners, who wrote concert as well as film music. This is all that was ever recorded of Gray's film music.

Much of the record is devoted to three pieces by the now little-known (but very talented) Mischa Spoliansky. His A Voice in the Night from Wanted for Murder is one of the most effective of the many quasi-romantic piano concertos that turned up in film music following the success of Richard Addinsell's Warsaw Concerto. That latter piece is not included here. However, I have added another Addinsell item as a bonus. It is the original recording of music from Passionate Friends by the Philharmonia Orchestra and Muir Mathieson, and it comes from a different Entre album that otherwise is not film music.

Promoting the Perfect Furlough

Here is the time-honored way of promoting a movie. First, get someone (in this case Frank Skinner) to write a theme song. Then get someone marketable to record that song, and send it out to the radio stations, promoting both it and the movie. With any luck, they both will become a hit.

In this case, the movie didn't do too badly, but the song went nowhere. The record above is the theme song for The Perfect Furlough, here presented by one of the stars of the film, Linda Cristal, whose character was "Sandra Roca, the Argentine Bombshell." A Universal promo man sent this record out to a radio station with his sticker that seems to suggest that the DJ should play the record because it is from a Universal film.

The promo man also sent along a recorded interview with Linda Cristal (see below). That would have been accompanied by a script (which I don't have). The DJ would read the questions off the script and this 45 would obligingly answer. The record has silences for the questions to be read, which I have edited out of the file linked below.

Besides the theme song and promo records, the file also includes the flip side of the musical 45, which is a tune called It's Better in Spanish. (English, Spanish, doesn't make much difference - it's not good.) Cristal is not a bad singer, but has a little too much "personality" for my taste.

LINK

Buddy Clark, Part 4

The latest post in our ongoing Buddy Clark series is this very early 10" LP, through the generosity of my friend Bill Reed of the People vs. Dr. Chilledair.

This set was designed to be an album, rather being a collection of singles. It contains standards (rather than new songs of the day), with all items conducted by the reliable Mitchell Ayres.

The anonymous liner notes tell us that Clark was the favorite singer of Al Jolson. (I would have guessed that Al Jolson was Jolie's favorite.) That shows the high regard in which Clark was held - although it's also true that you can hear Jolson in Clark's style. It's a shame his life ended so prematurely.

Angela Morley

One of the recurring themes in this blog has been paying tribute to musical figures who have recently passed on. Sad, but I guess it's to be expected when a blog covers music of 50-60 years ago.

Today's tribute is to arranger and film composer Angela Morley, who died last week. She was one of the best ever at her craft, in my view, and had been so for more than a half-century.

The early records presented here were made under her birth name of Wally (Walter) Stott soon after she joined Philips Records in London as music director in 1953. This issue is a repackaging on the American Epic label, which licensed Philips' product.

The LP contains music by Kern, Gershwin, and Berlin - four songs each. I suspect it may have originated as three EPs, but who knows. Whatever the origin and whoever the composer, each arrangement is very imaginative and just plain lovely.

For more on Morley, see an appreciation on the Robert Farnon Society site

NEW LINK

Tony Bennett, Part 2

Here are songs from two Tony Bennett EPs, with an early single thrown in for good measure. 

The EP above is in Columbia's Hall of Fame reprint series from the late 50s. I've only included "Blue Velvet" and "Sing You Sinners," because the other two numbers were in the earlier post on Tony. But the two songs that are here are outstanding. "Blue Velvet" was a good seller for Tony, and predates the Clovers and Bobby Vinton versions. A lovely song. And Bennett really gets into "Sing You Sinners." 

The other EP, a request by Scoredaddy, is presented in full. It's from 1955 and finds Tony working with Sid Feller rather than his usual mate, Percy Faith, who was in charge of the other items herein, save one. That is "Sing You Sinners," which is with Marty Manning. For whatever reason, Bennett does not sound at his best here, in a program of two songs from Damn Yankees, Johnny Mercer's "Something's Gotta Give," and "A Blossom Fell," which was a big hit for Nat Cole. 

More to my taste are the two unfamiliar songs on an early 78 (from 1952) - "You Could Make Me Smile Again" and Irving Berlin's "Roses of Yesterday."

Note (July 2023): These recordings have now been remastered in ambient stereo.

1952 ad

Diana Lynn, Part 2

Back in August I featured a Diana Lynn LP called Piano Moods. At that time, I said I thought the six Cole Porter items on the record were from a 78 album and the other two items (Lover and Slaughter on 10th Avenue) were from another album.

Pretty good guess - this is the 78 album those two items are from. It was in my collection all along. I forgot I had it.

As I mentioned in the earlier post, Diana Lynn nowadays is remembered for her films, although she started out as a musician. She was good at both arts - a very facile pianist and a very charming film presence. Also very good looking. We should all be so gifted.

A technical note: the arrangement of Mozart's Ronda alla Turca sounds like it was sped up in the mastering, perhaps so it would sound more impressively dynamic. In this transfer, I've kept that fast version but added one that is slowed down so it is pitched a semitone lower. That alternative sounds more natural to me, but you decide.

As with the previous set, the piano arrangements are by George Greeley, and the band is led by Paul Weston. This post is for my friend Mel.

Magnificent Obsession

Had a request for this one from Dylan over at Franklynot. He has developed a thing for Frank Skinner's scores for some of those overripe 50s dramas.

So here is the music from Magnificent Obsession, with a cover featuring Rock Hudson's magnificent compression against Jane Wyman's chest. In this score, Skinner riffs on themes from some fellows named Beethoven, Chopin, and Johann Strauss.

The story is a soupy one, with Rock as a drunken playboy who becomes a great surgeon after causing the Jane's husband to die and Jane to go blind. A contrite Rock operates and restores Jane's sight. I think there is a sequel called Magnificent Resurrection in which Rock brings the husband back to life, but maybe I am imagining that.

Digression No. 15

A fellow by the name of Zorchman stopped by the other day, thanked me for the Lord Buckley album on this site, and invited us all to visit his emporium, Zorch's Inner Sanctum.

Well, I did stop by, and I have to say it's quite a lot of fun for a record guy. He says nice things about this site, and inspired by our focus on 10-inch LPs shares a few of his own, both of which are very desirable. One is a Bob and Ray album (don't see too many of those), and the other is an album by a fellow named Dick Wetmore (don't see any of those). He also offers an alternate take of one of the Lord Buckley sides.

Zorchman's main interests are 78s and 45s, with an emphasis on the obscure and incongruous, such as Edith Piaf doing Black Leather Trousers and Motorcycle Boots or Jo Stafford doing Ray Charles' I Got a Woman (which became I Got a Sweetie). There's also a 78 of Robert McBride performing Sweet Sue on the english horn. I am fairly sure this is the same Robert McBride whose violin concerto is coupled below with Ives' Three Places in New England.

And related to the previous post on Ronnie Deauville, coincidentally Zorchman shares a Mills Brothers version of Gloria that is contemporaneous with the Deauville record.

Ronnie Deauville, Part 3

Bill Reed (of the People vs. Dr. Chilledair) and I have been attempting to draw attention to the wonderful singer Ronnie Deauville lately by writing about him and sharing his recordings. (See my two previous posts on Ronnie for more information.)

Today I am pleased to present one of Deauville's best records, Gloria (yes, it's the same song that later became a doo-wop staple). This is, in my view, simply one of the great vocal records, with Ronnie perfectly in tune with the lyrics. The same is true of the second item for today, Deauville's version of The Night Is Young and You're So Beautiful.

Both of these sides were made with Ray Anthony's band, where Deauville first made his name. The earlier record is on Signature. Most of the Anthony recordings (including The Night Is Young) were on Capitol, where the bandleader made records for many years. The Night Is Young is an excellent example of Anthony's many Glenn Miller-style arrangements.

See Bill Reed's blog for a real Deauville rarity, Ronnie's version of Comme Ci, Comme Ca.

LINK

First Recording of Copland's Clarinet Concerto

Benny Goodman commissioned Aaron Copland's Clarinet Concerto in 1948, and although Goodman's stereo recording is well known, this earlier edition, from 1950, is not.

Columbia took Goodman and Copland to its 30th Street studio in New York for the November 1950 session. Benny sounds cautious but does no serious harm to this gorgeous composition.

A few months later, the illustrious New York Quartet went to the same studio to tape a thornier composition, Copland's Piano Quartet, for the Clarinet Concerto's coupling. These days, works in Copland's populist style are generally packaged together. Not so back then.

The New York Quartet had presented the first performance of the Piano Quartet a few months before this recording, which must have been all that Copland could have wished for. The quartet's members were Mieczysław Horszowski, piano, Alexander Schneider, violin, Milton Katims, viola, and Frank Miller, cello.

Perhaps Columbia sensed that they were creating historic recordings, because the sound is better than much of the sludge that came out of its 30th Street site. And these are historic recordings indeed. It's curious that they are not better known.

NEW LINK

Tony Bennett, Part 1

I had a request from Scoredaddy, a Tony Bennett fancier, for some early sides by the great singer. So here is Tony's first LP, from 1952, featuring his first mega-hit, "Because of You." 

In the time-honored practice of record companies everywhere, in 1956 Columbia released another 10-inch LP with the same name but with almost completely different contents (the cover is below). For this post I have combined the eight songs on the LP above with the four songs on the LP below that aren't redundant. I suppose that makes this the "Complete Because of You." 

In the time between the two LPs, Columbia decided that it made great sense to add even more reverb to the already echoey sound on the original recordings, making the newer LP somewhat boomy sounding. This is a near-universal tendency among reissue engineers that has always baffled me. Today's reissues of the material from this era usually have reverb added, a heightened mid-range, and are cut at a high level. As a result they sound overbearing and are hard to listen to for any length of time. 

Well, enough of the diatribe, which has nothing to do with Bennett, after all. Those of you who have not heard much early Tony will discover that his approach back then was more intense and showy than his later style. By the way, this record includes "While We're Young," which is one of Alec Wilder's best known tunes. I suspect the influence of Columbia A&R chief Mitch Miller, who was a Wilder associate. Columbia's Rosemary Clooney also recorded the tune at about the same time, and it is the the title song of one of her early LPs. 

Note (July 2023): this has not been remastered in ambient stereo.

High Tor

Here is a fine musical adaptation of Maxwell Anderson's 1937 fantasy, High Tor, produced for television in 1956. It starred one long-time star, Bing Crosby, and one future star, Julie Andrews. The music was by Arthur Schwartz and lyrics by Anderson himself.

Julie Andrews and Bing Crosby

Crosby plays Van Van Dorn, who owns High Tor (a real mountain along the Hudson). The character is very close to Bing's usual persona, an unassuming, unambitious, but wise and highly principled fellow - a type that was a common hero figure in those times, an idealized American Everyman.

Nancy Olson and Everett Sloane

I am fond of the music, and the background scoring by Joseph J. Lilley (who did a lot of work with Bing and Bob Hope, among other major stars) adds greatly to the mood. Crosby narrates the story in characteristic fashion. Also in the cast are Everett Sloane (who even sings), Nancy Olson and the ubiquitous character actors Hans Conried and Lloyd Corrigan.

Here is an article on the production - thanks to noted musician Dana Countryman for the link.

This record was not reissued for many years, and may never have had an official reissue. It now (June 2023) has been remastered in very good ambient stereo.

Rozsa's Own Recording of The Red House

The fine film composer Miklos Rozsa made a suite from the music he wrote for the 1947 Edward G. Robinson potboiler The Red House, and recorded it for this Capitol release. It first came out on 78s and then in 1951 on this EP (among other formats).

While the music is not Rozsa's best work, nor is this Capitol's best recording, it is certainly worth your time.

I have to admit that my favorite part of this release is this wonderfully melodramatic (and anonymous) cover, which is redolent of the best contemporary poster art. The title and the cover images may lead you to believe that the film has something to do with clandestine Commies, but not so, according to IMDB.

Capitol packaged these recordings with other EPs containing Rozsa's music from Quo Vadis and Spellbound for a 12-inch recording (which I also have if anyone is interested).

Buddy Clark, Part 3

Another post devoted to the work of the short-lived singer Buddy Clark, here in the company of Dinah Shore, who brightened the American airwaves until relatively recently.

This LP is actually a compilation of singles: two sides by Clark, two by Shore, and four duets. Columbia issued this album among its first LPs, in 1948.

This record's original owner was one Ross C. Kendall of Polk, Pa., who helpfully noted that it is "An Excellent Record" in large script on the cover. I won't disagree, although I did obliterate Ross' evaluation in preparing the image above.

Jimmy Yancey

Returning to the Label "X" series of blues and jazz reissues, here is Jimmy Yancey, a Chicago pianist who achieved a certain renown relatively late in life.

This 10-inch record collates sides that Yancey made in 1939 and 1940 for Bluebird, the RCA label. They were among his first recordings, and the first for a major label. He was about 40 years old (his birth year is disputed).

At that time Yancey had been a Chicago White Sox groundskeeper for some years and did not play music full-time. But his playing nonetheless was held in high regard by his fellow pianists. Yancey's imagination and sense of style are in full display here.

The cover of this album, in common with the others on Label "X" featured on this site previously, is by Paul Bacon.

You can read more about Yancey here. He died in 1951.