by Peter Cates Dick Haymes Sings Irving Berlin MCA, MCL 1773, LP, released 1983 and based on Decca 78 originals. Irving Berlin (1888-1989), born Israel Baline, in Czarist Russia, came to America with his parents to escape the frequent bloody pogroms occurring there. He left home at the age of eight years, eking out a […]
by Peter Cates Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet starring Ozzie, Harriet, David and Ricky Nelson; ABC network, 435 episodes between Oct. 3, 1952 – April 23, 1966. The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet was one of the two or three longest running comedy shows in TV history. From 1944-54 – the last two years simultaneously […]
by Peter Cates Breakout Kings starring Laz Alonso, Dominick Lombardozzi, Malcolm Goodwin, Serinda Swan, Jimmi Simpson and Brooke Nevin, produced for A&E, 2011-12, 23 episodes, 43 minutes each. Breakout Kings dealt with a special task force, led by an investigator, Charlie (Laz Alonso), and his assistant, Ray (Dominick Lombardozzi), to catch prisonors who have escaped, […]
by Peter Cates Cheers for Miss Bishop starring Martha Scott, William Gargan, Edmund Gwenn, Sterling Holloway, Sidney Blackmer, etc.; directed by Tay Garnett; United Artists, 1941, 95 minutes, DVD. I have seen and enjoyed this warm-hearted soap opera twice, if such a term can be employed. Martha Scott (1913-2003) portrays an English teacher, Ella Bishop, […]
by Peter Cates Mozart 4th Violin Concerto Szymanowski Ist Violin Concerto – Piotr Janowski, violin; Stanislaw Wislocki conducting the Warsaw National Philharmonic; Stolat SZM 0105, stereo LP, recorded 1967-68. Polish born Piotr Janowski (1951-2008) recorded both of these Concertos when he was 16 years old but plays in a wonderfully matured, accomplished manner with musicality […]
by Peter Cates After the Ball Joan Morris, soprano, with William Bolcom, piano. Nonesuch H-71304, stereo LP, recorded 1974. Joan Morris and her husband, William Bolcom, have been serving up records and concerts for over 45 years since the early seventies, their specialty being popular songs and composers from the Civil War to the ‘50s […]
by Peter Cates Schumann Symphonies and various works for piano and orchestra and solo piano Heidrun Holtmann and Denes Varjon, pianists; Sir Neville Marriner conducting the Stuttgart Radio Orchestra; Stefan Soltesz conducting the Berlin Radio Symphony; Capriccio- LC 08748, 5 CDs, released 2006. This very generously filled package of five CDs contains some of the […]
REVIEW POTPOURRI by Peter Cates Elvis Presley Loving You; Teddy Bear RCA Victor 47-7000, seven-inch picture sleeve 45 rpm, recorded 1957. Teddy Bear was a huge number one hit on the rock, country and rhythm and blues charts for the great Elvis (1935-1977). Both songs here were also part of the 1957 film, with the […]
by Peter Cates Tahra Story Tah 768, one CD, released 2014. Tahra was a historical CD label started in 1992 by Myriam Scherchen, daughter of the conductor, Hermann Scherchen (1891-1966), and her late husband, Rene Tremaine, journalist, producer and voracious record collector. They started the label as a means of releasing previously unavailable tapes, recordings […]
REVIEW POTPOURRI by Peter Cates How I started collecting records My first experience of Mozart came with the beautiful set of his 40th Symphony, three Columbia 78s recorded in 1937, that were given to me in seventh grade – I remember to this day the captivating, rolling rhythms of the opening movement. The conductor, Sir […]