Malcolm Arnold's The Key, Plus Reups

This is the third in a series of Malcolm Arnold's soundtrack recordings, this one for The Key, a 1958 war story that starred Sophia Loren, along with William Holden and Trevor Howard as naval officers competing for her affections. I haven't seen the film, but the cover suggests that Holden wins out.

The Key was not one of Arnold's more elaborate scores, but it does have a simple but attractive theme that appears throughout. Columbia thought enough of it that it had Al Stillman come up with lyrics, and bearded maestro Mitch Miller recorded it for single release. Columbia then added it to the LP. (Mercifully, they did not include the single's flip side, "Rockabye in Beardland.")

Composer Malcolm Arnold (left) and conductor Muir Mathieson flank David Lean
at a recording session

Also prominent in the music mix was a theme Arnold (or someone) called "Chop Suey Polka," which appears as its own cut and also at some length during the "U-Boat Alley" montage. You will not want to have more than one course of this dish, so I have helpfully separated "U-Boat Alley" into several cues, allowing the polka to be avoided.

Then again, some of you may enjoy the tune more than I suspect. If so, I invite you to visit my singles blog, where I have posted a version by a real polka band (not Muir Mathieson's English impostors), that of Frankie Yankovic, who was a Columbia recording stalwart for many years. Yankovic backs the "Chop Suey" number with the "Roseann Polka," a terrific number that shows off his excellent ensemble.

Now a few reups by request - both remastered for much better sound.

Morton Gould - Music of Morton Gould. An early Columbia 45 set presenting Gould conducting his own music and arrangements. He leads the Robin Hood Dell (that is, Philadephia) Orchestra. Features the "Cowboy Rhapsody."

Fritz Lehmann Conducts Brahms, Schumann and Dvorak. Worthy recordings with the Bamberg Symphony and Berlin Philharmonic taken from early DGG LPs.

Sargent Conducts Holst; Walton Conducts Walton

Last night, after Britain voted to leave the European Union, reader Andrew wrote, "Buster, a few years ago, after it took the UK nearly a week to decide choose a Government, you found some Vaughan Williams to calm us down. We've just taken a day to leave the EU and we need it even more. Anything appropriate?"

Well, this music by Gustav Holst may not be soothing, but may be suitable for the situation. It is the ballet music from his opera The Perfect Fool, as performed by the London Philharmonic under Malcolm Sargent, in a Kingsway Hall session from March 1946. The transfer is from the original 78 set, with a fourth-side fill-up of Victor de Sabata's "Ride of the Valkyries," a left-over from his 1946 LPO dates.

At the same time, let me add a few noble and peaceful works (and one rowdier one) from another great British composer, Sir William Walton. These come from a 10-inch LP issued in celebration of Queen Elizabeth's coronation. They comprise the "Orb and Sceptre" coronation march written for Elizabeth, the "Crown Imperial" march from George VI's 1937 ceremony, the "Portsmouth Point" overture, and the arrangement of Bach's "Sheep May Safely Graze" done for Walton's "The Wise Virgins" ballet. The composer conducted the Philharmonia Orchestra in March 1953 Kingsway Hall sessions.

The sound on all these items is good.

Latin American Songs with Phyllis Curtin

This post is a remembrance of the American soprano Phyllis Curtin, who died earlier this month at age 95.

Music lovers of my generation will be familiar with her work - she was for many years associated with the New York City Opera and then the Met, and she recorded with such conductors as Reiner, Ormandy, Munch and Bernstein. She was closely associated with Carlyle Floyd, introducing the title character in his opera Susannah, among other roles.

Phyllis Curtin

This present 10-inch LP is possibly her first album, made for the Cambridge label in 1953, at about the time when she was moving from Boris Goldovsky's New England Opera Theater to the New York City Opera. It contains a enjoyable collection of Latin American and Afro-Cuban songs from four 20th century composers, and is strikingly well performed by Curtin and accompanist Gregory Tucker, a composer-pianist who taught at the Longy School.

These songs were among the soprano's regular repertoire. She included some of them in her recitals and many of them in a later LP for the Vanguard label.

The cover does not provide any information about the composers, so a few words may be helpful:

The best known of the four is Alberto Ginastera (1916-1983), an Argentine who was using folk materials during the period he composed these songs.

O. Lorenzo Fernández (1897-1948) was a Brazilian of Spanish descent. His works draw on Brazilian and Afro-Brazilian sources.

Blas Galindo (1910-1993) was a Mexican composer who used indigenous music in his works.

Alejandro Garcia Caturla (1906-1940) was a Cuban composer of Spanish descent who utilized Afro-Cuban materials. A lawyer who became a judge, he was killed by a gambler who had appeared before him in court.

For the recording, Cambridge set its microphone well away from Curtin and Tucker, which allows the voice to bloom but makes the piano sound indistinct.

Hanson Conducts Grieg and Hanson, with Firkušný

I recently posted this transfer on another site in response to a request, and thought I'd offer it here as well. The request was for a recording of Grieg's Holberg Suite, and my version is by the Eastman-Rochester Symphony Orchestra conducted by Howard Hanson. The Grieg is coupled with the first recording of Hanson's own Piano Concerto. The soloist is the estimable Rudolf Firkušný, who introduced the work in Boston in 1948.

Howard Hanson

Hanson is known these days for his Mercury recordings from the 1950s and 60s. Earlier, however, he conducted his Eastman-Rochester forces for both Victor and Columbia.

I believe these are his earliest Columbia efforts, made in that label's 30th Street Studio in December 1950. Later Columbia had him tape a coupling of his second symphony and MacDowell's second piano concerto (with Jesús María Sanromá), and also Wallingford Riegger's third symphony. I believe I have the former but not the latter disc.

Rudolf Firkušný

The concerto allies Hanson's spacious, romantic manner (here almost quoting Rachmaninoff in the opening theme) with the percussive, motoric approach to the piano that was then in vogue. Firkušný's performance is all you could hope for. The pianist had made records as early as 1937, for HMV, and had become a Columbia artist in 1949.

The performance of the Grieg is spirited, although the string sound of the Rochester band lacks glamour.

I actually transferred this for the blog a few years ago but never posted it because there is a bit of surface noise in the first minute or so of the concerto. It does not now strike me as all that distracting, and the balance of the recorded sound is very good.

Lecocq and Glazunov Ballet Scores from Robert Irving

For some time, I have wanted to feature some of the recordings of ballet conductor Robert Irving on this blog, but have never pulled the trigger (or more appropriately, dropped the stylus).

Robert Irving

The impetus for my finally doing so was a request for this particular LP on another site. It contains two ballet suites in 1956 stereo recordings conducted by Irving. They are the music from "Mam'zelle Angot," as arranged from Charles Lecocq's music by Gordon Jacob, and the "Birthday Offering" suite from music by Alexander Glazunov, as arranged (and in one sequence, orchestrated) by the conductor, who leads the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

Irving was at the time the music director of Sadler's Wells Ballet in London. He moved to the US in 1958 to become the music director of the New York City Ballet, staying in that post until just a few years before his 1991 death.

1956 UK cover

The conductor recorded fairly extensively in the 1950s, notably in the ballet repertoire, in which he excelled. This present record provides a very good example of his skills.

EMI issued this coupling in mono in 1956. The stereo issue was as late as 1959 - that is the publication date on the back cover of my pressing, which is an HMV Greensleeve reissue. Michael Gray's discography has the sessions taking place in August 1956 in Abbey Road Studio One. The sound is excellent.

Julius La Rosa on RCA Victor

This post is in response to a request to honor the memory of singer Julius La Rosa, who passed away last month.

I am happy to do so. I have long admired La Rosa's singing, and while I have never been an assiduous collector of his recordings, I seem to have accumulated most of them.

So for this entry, I have put together the majority of his recordings for RCA Victor, as issued on LP and singles in 1956-57.

This was just after the period of La Rosa's greatest popularity. He had come to notice on Arthur Godfrey's American television show in 1951, only to be summarily dismissed by the legendary broadcaster in 1953 because the singer had hired a manager.

By that time, however, La Rosa had achieved a renown comparable to Godfrey's own. In late 1952, Godfrey's music director, Archie Bleyer, established Cadence Records, with La Rosa as his first artist signing. The next year they had a tremendous hit with their adaptation of the Italian novelty "Eh, Cumpari!" and some of their other records did well.

La Rosa moved on to RCA Victor in late 1955 or 1956, staying there until shifting to Roulette records in 1958. RCA issued one LP and 24 single sides by the singer. This post contains the contents of the self-titled LP along with half of La Rosa's single output.

The LP consists almost entirely of easy-going standards, dispatched with winning sincerity, along with "Don't You Know I Care," a lesser-known Duke Ellington song (with Mack David lyrics), and "I Love My Bed," a weird Bob Haymes tune.

Whether because of his own taste, or that of his arranger-producer, Joe Reisman, La Rosa seemed to favor songs by Dick Haymes's brother. In the selection of single items, he does Haymes's "I've Got Love" and "Lipstick and Candy and Rubbersole Shoes." The latter, as you might guess, is a novelty, and in common with most pop singers of the era, La Rosa had a goodly number in his recorded repertoire.

Promotional EP

In what was probably an attempt to replicate the success of "Eh, Cumpari!", RCA had him do both a ersatz German number, "Augustine" ("To Brünnhilde and Marlene, I've just said 'auf wiedersehen'!"), and a fake Polish item called "Stashu Pandowski" ("She's not very much good for pretty, but she's very much good for strong!"). La Rosa dispatches both these with admirable enthusiasm and no apparent embarrassment.

The other items range from a cover of Eddie Cooley's rockish "Priscilla" to a pop number, "Famous Last Words," by R&B stalwarts Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller. There also are a few songs from My Fair Lady and a number of lesser known but attractive ballads. In all, La Rosa seems completely at home, showing off the expected influences, from Frank Sinatra to Tony Bennett, without ever sounding like a clone.

The singing on the singles is in some ways superior to the LP, where his intonation is not always secure and where he flubs a few lyrics. (Joe Reisman should have called for retakes.)

The sound is very good for the most part, after adjusting the shrill sonics that afflicted some of singles. There is a bit of surface noise on a few of the sides.

If this isn't enough Julie for you, I invite you to RCA's Julius La Rosa Pajama Party over on Buster's Swinging Singles.