Musical Comedy Medleys from Arthur Fiedler and Leroy Anderson

Arthur Fiedler and Leroy Anderson had a symbiotic relationship. Anderson would produce arrangements for the Boston Pops, and Fiedler would introduce the composer's brilliant pop compositions.

This particular 10-inch record of Musical Comedy Medleys comes from 1950, relatively early in their association. Only five years before, Anderson, still in the US Army, had written his first notable composition, "The Syncopated Clock," and conducted it with the Pops at Fiedler's invitation.

Anderson's first big popular success was with "Sleigh Ride," in the Fielder recording of 1949. You have probably heard its concluding instrumental whinny one too many times in the past month.

Meanwhile, Anderson was producing arrangements for use by the Pops. The Musical Comedy Medleys LP is a good example of his work. In it, Anderson explores top tunes from the massive hit musicals of the time - Irving Berlin's Annie Get Your Gun (1946), Frederic Loewe's Brigadoon (1947), Cole Porter's Kiss Me, Kate (1948) and Richard Rodgers' South Pacific (1949).

Leroy Anderson and Arthur Fiedler

Anderson's arrangements were perfectly suited to Fiedler's approach. In a previous post, I described his recordings this way: "All feature the typical Fiedler élan that stops just this side of seeming rushed . . . If there is little depth in this approach - well, it is the Pops, after all."

That earlier post was devoted to a later LP called Curtain Going Up, also consisting of medleys. South Pacific and Brigadoon appear on the that album as well as on Musical Comedy Medleys.

The sound on Musical Comedy Medleys is reasonably good, although RCA had trouble delivering detail and presence from the resonant Symphony Hall acoustic. Nor was the LP especially well produced - most of it was considerably under pitch. Note (January 2024): this has now been remastered in ambient stereo.

Also on the blog: a post from 2010 has Fiedler conducting Anderson's own compositions for RCA, as well as Anderson leading his "Irish Suite" for Decca.

LINK to Musical Comedy Medleys