From Vaughan Williams: Mass in G minor, Five Mystical Songs

Here is the latest in a series of Vaughan Williams choral works recorded by David Willcocks for HMV in the 1960s. These transfers are all from vintage EMI vinyl sources.

The previous posts in the series were Hodie, Sancta Civitas and Benedicite.

David Willcocks

Of the Mass in G minor, Vaughan Williams authority Michael Kennedy has written, "The temptation is strong to describe the Mass in G minor as the greatest choral music Vaughan Williams wrote. It was one of three outstanding works which he composed shortly after the end of the First World War, the others being A Pastoral Symphony and the one-act "pastoral episode," The Shepherds of the Delectable Mountains. All three are similar in mood, their outward tranquility masking a profound inner intensity."

Opinions are split on the performance here: some critics thought it was fine, others took issue with the choir's white tone and slack intonation (which really isn't as bad as all that). Despite the Turner painting of the King's College Chapel on the cover above, the choir actually decamped for the Chapel of Trinity College for this recording.

John Shirley-Quirk

For the Five Mystical Songs and accompanying Motet, O Clap Your Hands, the choir was back at home base and joined by the English Chamber Orchestra and baritone John Shirley-Quirk. The songs are setting of texts by the metaphysical poet George Herbert, and both the poetry and music are inspired. Vaughan Williams' varied settings are by turns rapt and joyful, and brought to life in these exceptional performances, particularly by Shirley-Quirk. As Alec Robertson wrote in his Gramophone review, "John Shirley-Quirk's singing of these songs is worthy of the highest praise in point of fervour, interior feeling and clarity of enunciation."

The songs are complemented well by the celebratory motet, O Clap Your Hands, with words from Psalm 47, which concludes the album. As Robertson wrote, it is "a triumphant sound to fill a great church with." The songs date from 1906-11, the motet from 1920.

King's College Chapel

There is some dispute about the dates of the recording. It's possible that some of it was recorded in 1966 and some in 1968. It wasn't published until 1969. The sound is excellent, showing that producer Christopher Bishop and balance engineer Neville Boyling had mastered the art of recording in these vast spaces. The download includes several reviews and the texts, among other items.

The recording of the Five Mystical Songs has long been a favorite of mine; I enjoyed transferring it and its discmates for this post. As with other entries in this series, the transfer is from an HMV vinyl source, in this case a boxed set of Vaughan Williams' choral music, which will also be the source of future entries in this series.

From The Gramophone, May 1969

Dolf van der Linden, Master of Light Music

This blog has presented a great deal of light music over the years - Kostelanetz, Paul Weston, Morton Gould and Leroy Anderson, among others. Today we turn our attention to one of the music's finest practitioners, Dolf van der Linden, who was and is almost unknown in America.

Van der Linden (1915-99) was the founder and leader of the Metropole Orchestra for 35 years (1945-80) while working for Netherlands Radio. He became well known throughout Europe for his orchestra's superb technical command, along with his own arrangements and compositions.

Renown in America didn't follow for a number of reasons. While RCA Camden and Capitol released several albums under his own name, as many or more came out under the pseudonyms of Daniel De Carlo and Van Lynn (both on Decca) and Gerard Blene (on Jubilee), among others.

Today we have two of the three LPs that Camden released under the conductor's own name. These mainly comprised van der Linden's compositions, although it's difficult to tell with certainty because he also used pseudonyms for many of his works.

The Camden LPs are labeled as being by "Dolf van der Linden and His Orchestra," but it's fair to speculate that this is the Metropole Orchestra, or substantially so.

Dolf van der Linden and the Metropole Orchestra 

Floating on a Cloud

The van der Linden LPs on Camden date from 1956, although I suspect they were recorded earlier. The sound is fine, but more characteristic of the postwar years than later in the 50s.

Floating on a Cloud is the more romantic of the two albums. "Love Affair," "Stormy Heart" and "Little Romance" are the bandleader's contributions under his own name, and he added "Meditation," "For Us No Moon Is Shining" and "Keep Pretending" as Guy Brain.

Also contributing songs were Metropole pianist and arranger Manny Oets, and European bandleaders José Fontaine and Emile DeRadoux. Two songs came from Gun Finlay, whom I know from "Rain," the fine tune on the flip side of Sinatra's "Three Coins in the Fountain."

All these items are immensely pleasing and exceptionally well played. They are sure to appeal if you like string choirs, woodwinds and harp playing beautiful arrangements.

In a Casino on the Riviera

I don't suspect that the casinos on the Riviera are playing Palm Court music these days, but if they were, they could do worse than the music on this second Camden LP.

In a Casino on the Riviera is no less appealing than Floating on a Cloud, but the compositions are much different.

Van der Linden immediately is in Leroy Anderson territory with the first item, "Fiddler's Escapade," written by Belgian arranger-composer Johnny Steggerda. Dolf then breaks out the castanets for his own "Prima Ballerina." He also contributes "Song of Spain" (more castanets), "Les Danseurs Mondains" and "Slavia," all under his own name. The latter is a quasi-Slavonic dance.

Dolf's Guy Brain persona provided the tango "Tus Ojos," "Round and Round" and "Concha." Other items came from the Belgian composers Fud Candrix and René Costy and van der Linden arranger Joop Elders. H. Ackermans and B. Speguel wrote "Her Majesty's Gypsy," a Lisztian Hungarian dance.

The only familiar item on either LP, to me at least, is the "Petite Waltz" from French songwriter Joe Heyne. I suspect you would have to be of my advanced age to recall this tune, but it's delightful either way, and here in a stellar performance.

If you want to learn more about the Metropole Orchestra and van der Linden, the orchestra has a series of brief videos on their history along with associated playlists.

I strongly recommend these albums if you like light music. My thanks to friend and discographer Nigel Burlinson for passing along a helpful article about van der Linden and his recordings.

Milhaud Plays and Conducts His Compositions

More today from the fertile imagination of composer Darius Milhaud, in the form of four works issued by Columbia at mid-century. All involve Milhaud as conductor or pianist.

The compositions are his Symphony No. 1, Suite  Française, Cantate de l'Enfant et de la Mère and La Muse Mènagére.

Symphony No. 1

Milhaud's music seldom conveys anguish, and such emotion can't be found in the first symphony, even though it was written at a difficult time for the composer.

While it is perhaps not as sunny as Columbia's LP cover would have you believe, it is nonetheless melodic and as genial much of Milhaud's output.

The symphony was written on commission from the Chicago Symphony for its 50th anniversary year, 1940-41. But as Milhaud started to work on the piece, war broke out in Europe. The composer was unable to work for a few months, but finally was able to finish the work just before fleeing Aix-en-Provence for the U.S. Only in the slow movement is there any hint of the struggle in Europe.

Milhaud himself conducted the first performance in October 1940, and went on to perform his work with several other orchestras, including the Columbia Broadcasting Symphony, which performs in this January 1947 recording.

In his survey of Milhaud's recordings, critic Robert Matthew-Walker wrote, "The recorded performance of the symphony is magnificent; indeed, this composer-conducted account has always convinced me that it is one of the very greatest symphonies of the twentieth century."

The 78 set included a short piece, "In Memoriam," in commemoration of the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. It was not included on the 10-inch LP that I transferred, and I've been unable to find a copy of it.

Suite Française

Cover of the 78 set

The Suite Française also has a connection to the Second World War. Milhaud named the five parts of te suite for five French provinces - Normandy, Brittany, Ile-de-France, Alsace-Lorraine and Provence - "the very ones in which the American and Allied armies fought together with the French underground for the liberation of my country," he wrote.

Milhaud's aim was to make the music accessible to student ensembles. "I used some folk tunes of these provinces. I wanted the young Americans to hear the popular melodies from those parts of France where their fathers and brothers fought to defend the country from the German invaders." This joyous music has pre-echoes of the suites soon to be written by the British composer Malcolm Arnold.

The first version of the suite was written for band, and was introduced by the Goldman Band only six weeks after V-E Day. The orchestral version soon followed and was premiered by the New York Philharmonic and Maurice Abravanel in July. Milhaud conducted the same orchestra in this recording, dating from early January 1946.

The original issue of the suite was in a 78 set whose cover is depicted above. My transfer comes from a Columbia Entré LP reissue from the mid-1950s.

Cantate de l'Enfant et de la Mère; La Muse Mènagére

The next record moves away from orchestral works to chamber music with poetry and a piano suite with the composer performing.

Maurice Carême

The first work is La Cantate de L'Enfant et de la Mère, settings of poetry by the Belgian Maurice Carême. The cantata was written in 1938 for performance by the composer's wife, Madeleine Milhaud, the Pro Arte Quartet and pianist Paul Collaer.

Milhaud relates of the premiere, "I conducted the performance in the enormous concert hall of the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels.... It must have looked like a flea-circus, for our soft music and tender, intimate poetry recital came after some bravura pieces executed by the military band of the Guides, in full dress uniform."

Madeleine and Darius Milhaud

Carême, whose works also were set by Poulenc among other composers, was inspired by children's poetry, and wrote simple verses concerned with the family.

This 1950 performance marked the recording debut of the Juilliard String Quartet, which in its various incarnations has been in residence at that school for the past 75 years. This recording features the original personnel: violinists Robert Mann and Robert Koff, violist Raphael Hillyer and cellist Arthur Winograd. The piano part is taken by Leonid Hambro.

The Juilliards: violinists Robert Mann and Robert Koff, violist Raphael Hillyer, and cellist Arthur Winograd

Madeleine Milhaud was an actress and writer, who was responsible for the libretti of her husband's operas Médée, Bolivar and La Mère Coupable. Her lovely voice is just right for this material.

While I have been unable to locate either texts or translations of Carême's poetry, friend of the blog Peter has come up with the back cover of the Seraphim reissue of the disc, which does include translations of the verse. It is included in the download. It's a low-resolution scan, but can be read with some squinting. Thanks, Peter.

The second side of the record continues the domestic theme. The Household Muse (La Muse Mènagére) is a piano suite in which the composer depicts scenes from the Milhauds' everyday life. The gentle music shows the influence of Milhaud's mentor, Eric Satie.

I believe this recording was made in early 1946 bur not issued before this LP came out. That lapse may have been because of technical considerations: Milhaud's piano is dully recorded and there apparently was rustle on the master (an early review complains about it).

I've brightened the sound of Milhaud's piano a bit and lowered the background noise. The Cantata had the opposite problem - close and harsh sound. I've added a small amount of convolution reverberation to the mix and the results are pleasing, at least to me.

As mentioned, the Symphony and Suite Française come from my collection. I worked from a lossless transfer on Internet Archive for the other works, which were requested by longtime friend of the blog rev.b.

This post is a follow-up to a recent item with Milhaud's Saudades do Brasil and Piano Concerto No. 4 in brilliant performances by Zadel Skolofsky. 

GM's 50th Anniversary Show, Plus Bonus GM Songs

As 1957 drew to a close, General Motors was looking forward to its 50th Anniversary. The previous year had not been its best. Despite offering cars that still are considered classics - particularly by volume leader Chevrolet - that marque had been dethroned in the 1957 sales race by Ford. GM was determined not to have that happen again.

And so for the traditional fall unveiling of the new models, GM went all out to ensure that its cars would be noticed in the market during its 50th year. They started by pumping up the size of their relatively svelte 1957 counterparts. The Chevy Bel Air, for example, gained nine inches in length on a stretched wheelbase, and acquired a bloated look accentuated by new double headlights up front. You could order the Chevy (or any other GM line) in a hideous "Anniversary Gold" that would guarantee they would see you coming down the road.

"Anniversary Gold"

Meanwhile the other GM models gained all manner of chrome gee-gaws on their similarly bulging exteriors - rockets on the Pontiac, glitzy quarter panels on the prestigious Cadillac, and multiple accent pieces on the Oldsmobile and Buick.

GM planned a two-hour television special to mark its 50th, and, unlike the products it had newly introduced, it took pains to make it as tasteful and distinguished as possible. The show had a long list of celebrities taking part, everyone from actor Ernest Borgnine to dancers Jacques d'Amboise and Bambi Lynn. There was comedy with Eddie Bracken and Alice Ghostley, drama with Don Ameche and Peg Lynch, and the obligatory moment of prestige with Helen Hayes intoning a poem written for the occasion by scriptwriter/lyricist Helen Deutsch.

New York Times ad, November 17, 1958

About half the program was given over to music, and much of that was captured on a commercial LP issued by RCA Victor, which is the first musical specimen presented in today's post. (Please see below for bonus items.)

The show began with a Sammy Fain number written for the occasion, "The Happiness Theme," befitting the special's theme, "The Pursuit of Happiness." 

The vocal numbers start with Pat Boone, who had made his name with bland covers of R&B hits and latterly had become a GM spokesperson. Based on his vocal style, I'd say Boone was a follower of Bing Crosby rather than Little Richard, and here he is assigned "Where Are You," a 1937 Jimmy McHugh-Harold Adamson piece that Frank Sinatra had revived a few months earlier for the title song of one of his best Capitol LPs. Boone is not at all a bad singer, some insecure intonation aside, and he does well here.

Steve Lawrence

Up-and-coming crooner Steve Lawrence had the next spot, at least on the LP, and works wonders with 1948's "Far Away Places," often heard on the variety shows of the time. It lent itself to exotic scenery.

Lawrence sticks around for a less-familiar novelty, "The Bullfrog Patrol," penned by none other than Jerome Kern with lyricist Anne Caldwell for the 1919 show, She's a Good Fellow. Joining in are musical comedy veteran Dan Dailey and newcomer Carol Burnett, who had recently become popular on television and in night spots.

Just as recherché was the next number, "The March of the Ill-Assorted Guards" from the 1956 Producer's Showcase television musical Jack and the Beanstalk. The March seems to have been assigned this outing because it was penned by scriptwriter Helen Deutsch in collaboration with Jay Livingston.

The proceedings turned strange for the following number. Not that the song "Mutual Admiration Society" was strange. It was at the time inescapable whenever two people who could carry a tune found themselves on the same stage. The song comes from 1955's Happy Hunting, the Ethel Merman starrer, where it was an attempt to replicate the success of the duet "You're Just in Love," featured in Merman's Call Me Madam of a few years earlier.

Claudia Crawford and Cyril Ritchard

No, the strangeness came from the setting, in which seven-year-old Claudia Crawford talks that old scene stealer, Cyril Ritchard, out of a suicide attempt. The melodrama ends with a traversal of "Mutual Admiration Society," and everyone goes home happy (as was the theme of the show).

Doretta Morrow

Doretta Morrow made the first of her three appearances with "Hi Lili, Hi Lo" (another Deutsch song). Morrow had an active career at the time, both on Broadway (Where's Charley?, The King and I and Kismet) and in Hollywood, (opposite Mario Lanza in Because You're Mine). Earlier in 1957 she had toured in Fanny.

1958 ad plugging RCA TVs and Dinah's Chevy show

No GM show would have been complete without an appearance or three by long-time Chevy mouthpiece Dinah Shore. She is exceptionally good in "They Say It's Wonderful," mostly keeping Dan Dailey on pitch. The always-welcome Howard Keel is characteristically sonorous in "Where or When," then Doretta Morrow returns for another Rodgers and Hart song, "My Romance."

These vocal items are punctuated on the LP by instrumentals from an orchestra led by Bernard Green - "It Might as Well Be Spring," "Out of Nowhere" and "Lover." On television, the latter two were backings for dance numbers from Jacques d'Amboise, Bambi Lynn and Chita Rivera. The orchestrations by Sidney Fine and Milton Weinstein are excellent.

Dan Dailey

Dinah has a solo spot with "These Foolish Things," an Eric Maschwitz-Jack Strachey piece from 1936, and includes the seldom-heard verse. Doretta Morrow and Howard Keel follow with a pleasing medley. The show's finale, "Taking a Chance on Love," was allotted to Dan and Dinah.

There are a quite a few excerpts from the show on YouTube, mainly provided by the son of producer Jess Oppenheimer. The program was broadcast in color, but the excerpts are from black-and-white kinescopes.

• Introductions
• Bullfrog Patrol
• Carol Burnett, Steve Lawrence, Dan Dailey, Chita Rivera
• Eddie Bracken and Alice Ghostley sketch
• Claudia Crawford and Cyril Ritchard
• Extended excerpt

The Anniversary Show was well received. The New York Times' Jack Gould was ecstatic, calling it "artistic television of a high order." Perhaps it was, but it was hardly diverse, neither in participants nor material. And while the LP is pleasant to hear, it leaves out any hint of the unconventional or experimental.

The Fisher Body version of GM's 50th Anniversary graphic

Bonus: I Want a Merry Little Lavender Rocket 88 (GM Songs)

You don't need me to tell you that music was changing at the time, and other musical traditions besides the pop song and musical comedy were becoming increasingly popular. Although GM did not acknowledge these in its program, the practitioners of various alternative musical genres had been extolling the merits of GM cars for many years.

Indeed, the most famous song about a GM product was written even before there was a General Motors. That was Gus Edwards' "In My Merry Oldsmobile," from 1905. It also was the first of many tunes to equate the automobile with freedom and even sex! As young Johnny Steele tells his Lucille, "You can go as far as you like with me / In my merry Oldsmobile."

The hit version of the song was by the prolific Billy Murray on Victor. Murray recorded it in 1905, 1906 and 1909, under the same catalogue number. The pressing in this set could be any of those.

A second version of "In My Merry Oldsmobile" dates from about 1918 and was produced specifically for Oldsmobile, with unidentified artists. Olds would go on to use the song for promotional purposes for many years.

Next we have a 1924 record from Bennie Krueger, his alto sax and orchestra. "Ray and His Little Chevrolet" drolly tells the tale of how the protagonist has no trouble attracting girls despite his undersized equipment. The vocalists are studio regulars Billy Jones and Ernest Hare.

Switching genres, we move to 1930's "Riding in a Chevrolet Six" with Oscar Ford, one of the Georgia string band musicians who also included Gid Tanner and Riley Puckett. (Puckett plays on this record.) Oscar tells us that "If you're single and you wanna get a wife / Just buy you a Chevrolet Six." He also advises that "You can outrun the revenuers night and day / If you travel in a Chevrolet Six."

Ben Webster, with Buck Clayton at right

The enduringly popular Cadillacs were the subjects of a few jazz songs, including Dizzy Gillespie's "Swing Low, Sweet Cadillac." But today we turn to alto saxophonist Benny Carter and tenor saxophonist Ben Webster for the latter's terrific instrumental "Cadillac Slim" from 1946. The record was issued under Carter's name, but the bulk of the solo space is given over to Webster, although Carter and trumpeter Buck Clayton also appear. Interestingly, Webster's solos are entirely in the swing idiom, but the theme is clearly influenced by the then-new bop music.

Sonny Boy Williamson

Now we move over to the blues realm for "Pontiac Blues" by Sonny Boy Williamson. This is the musician sometimes called Sonny Boy Williamson II, whose real name was Aleck or Alex (or Rice) Miller. Miller had rebranded himself in the early 40s to capitalize on the fame of another harmonica player. By the time of this 1951 record, Sonny Boy Williamson I had died, so Miller had the name to himself.

I don't mean to take anything away from Miller. "Pontiac Blues," an early issue on the Trumpet label, is a entertaining opus featuring Sonny Boy's powerful harmonica. He tells us, "I found out what my baby likes. / That's a whole lotta lovin' / And that straight-eight Pontiac."

Bea (soon to be LaVern) Baker

From that same year comes a wonderful 78 on OKeh, the first to be issued on the label's new incarnation as Columbia's R&B outfit. It also was the first record by Maurice King and the Wolverines. King was previously music director for the International Sweethearts Of Rhythm. Singer Bea Baker (later to become very well known as LaVern Baker) insists that "I Want a Lavender Cadillac," assuring us that if she gets what she wants, "I'll be good to you."

The final song is "Rocket 88," a big hit for Jackie Brenston and His Delta Cats on Chess. The band was actually Ike Turner and His Kings of Rhythm (Brenston being one of the royal family), but Jackie sang and got the credit. The story is that producer Sam Phillips changed the attribution when he shopped the master to Chess records.

Jackie Brenston emotes while Ike Turner stares

Whoever gets credit, it's a deservedly famous record. Jackie assures us that "Takin' my Rocket on a long, hot run / Ooh, goin' out, oozin' and cruisin' and havin' fun!" (Rocket 88 was an Oldsmobile model, by the way.)

"Rocket 88" is sometimes claimed to be the first rock 'n' roll record, a pointless discussion if ever there was one. What is true is that it has musical antecedents, among them boogie-woogie pianist Pete Johnson's "Rocket 88 Boogie" and jump blues artist Jimmy Liggins' "Cadillac Boogie." The Brenston record is an amalgamation of both styles, accentuated by Ike Turner's terrific band and the novelty of a fuzztone guitar playing the bass figure. The fuzztone was supposedly caused by the an accidental tear in the amplifier speaker, which sounds like an apocryphal tale. Whatever, it's most effective.

There have been many more songs about GM cars, but these are a few of the ones that preceded the GM 50th Anniversary Show, and present a more diverse range of styles. The 50th Anniversary Show album comes from my collection. The 78s are from the endless reaches of the Internet Archive. The sound on the LP was shrill, which I have amended. The 78s can be a bit crackly, but even the Billy Murray record is more than listenable.

In its heyday, GM had five marques - in ascending order of prestige, Chevrolet, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Buick and Cadillac. Only Buick is unrepresented here; however, I have posted two different versions of the promotional song, "My Buick, My Love and I" on my singles blog, where I also detail a few other Buick songs.

If you are more inclined to the Ford lineup, this blog has a post devoted to a 1970 album by The Going Thing, a semi-folk-rock, Ford-sponsored group, and another to the dealer introduction show for the ill-fated Edsel, not one of Ford's better ideas. Nothing yet from Chrysler!