Film Music from Louis Lane and the Clevelanders

Here is the second in a series of recordings that the late conductor Louis Lane made with the Cleveland Orchestra's summer assembly, then called the Cleveland Pops Orchestra.

Lane in his summer Pops garb

This program of film music is varied, with contributions from composers who concentrated in musicals (Frederick Loewe, Richard Rodgers, Harold Rome), classical composers (William Walton, Virgil Thomson) and a film score specialist (Ernest Gold).

As you might expect, Lane and his group do particularly well with Walton's beautiful string pieces from Henry V and Thomson's characteristic Acadian Dances from Louisiana Story. When they get into fare that requires ardor, such as the theme from Gigi, they seem detached in a way that (for example) the Boston Pops did not in its recording of the same music.

The analytical recording from Severance Hall (then a rather dry acoustic) adds to this impression - so different from the billowing reverberation that RCA Victor derived from Boston's Symphony Hall. But the clarity in the Cleveland sound has its benefits, allowing you to fully enjoy the superb playing throughout the program.

Epic's sessions for the Thomson and Walton were in July 1961, per Michael Gray's discography. It's likely that the other works were set down at about the same time. Lane was then the assistant conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra.