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 same name, and its soundtrack LP, consisting totally of Presley performances. Teddy Bear’s lyricist Bernie Lowe (1917-2001) was also a businessman who established Cameo records in 1956, which later expanded to Cameo/Parkway. He would sign an unknown singer, Ernest Evans, to the label, who himself later changed his name to Chubby Checker!

Both are superb songs, performed in a first rate manner.

Gangster Story

directed by and starring Walter Matthau and Carol Grace; 68 minutes; released December, 1959.

Walter Matthau portrays a bank robber, Jack Martin, fleeing the police and needing cash. He then pulls a cleverly staged heist of a local bank in the town where he is hiding out, lays low at the library and becomes involved with a librarian, Carol Logan, played by his real life wife, Carol Grace; in fact, the couple married during the production of this film.

The main conflict is not only hiding from the cops but also from the local crime boss who wants a share of the loot.

I liked Matthau’s skilled acting, and directing, along with the shaping and development of the story. The obviously low budget cinematography brought out its own ‘50s small town ambiance – especially the beachside romance .

There are two delightful moments. When Jack is first scoping out the library, he asks Carol the rules. “No talking!” When sparks begin flying during their oceanside tryst, he asks again. “No talking!”

The DVD copy that I own was rather shabby but serviceable and part of an el cheapo three-movie package yet, despite these faults, the film was 68 minutes of captivating escapism.

Brahms

Symphony No. 2
Bruno Walter conducting the New York Philharmonic; Columbia, ML 5125, 12-inch mono LP, recorded December 28, 1953.

As I get older, I find it impossible to pick my favorite of the four Brahms Symphonies. They are all magnificent creations, each with a distinct quality that contributes to the number of times I listen to them again (not to mention the number of different recordings I own and to which I add).

Unlike the 1st Symphony which took ten years of effort before its 1876 premiere, the 2nd Symphony took final shape during a summer lakeside vacation a year later. The music is serene and comforting overall, although it too has its darker and more melancholy moments.

Bruno Walter (1876-1962) recorded it twice, the remake in stereo with members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and free lancers grouped together as the Columbia Symphony and released during the very early ‘60s. It was a poetic approach but lacking a bit too much in muscle and bite.

This week’s record is a different matter. Walter not only communicated the singing qualities throughout but brought to life the lights and shadows of the orchestration that was a major part of Brahms’s genius.He would also impose tempos that might seem too fast but worked in helping the music to sing even more beautifully.

And, despite the New York Philharmonic’s fearsome reputation for chewing up conductors they didn’t like with bad playing and snarky attitudes, they responded totally to Walter’s conducting with their best.

Recommended totally!

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 Thomas Beecham (1879-1961), had a knack, at his best, for making music heavenly sounding and he had a greater number of recordings than any other conductor, during the ‘30s and ‘40s, that were first class in both performance and sound.

Beecham was also quite the wit. A colleague of his, who remembered the conductor dismissing the composer, Brahms, as boring during his youth, noticed years later that Beecham conducted Brahms very well and asked if the latter had changed his mind: “No, Brahms still bores me but he bores me less. ”

Dark Mountain

starring Robert Lowery, Ellen Drew, Regis Toomey, etc.; directed by William Berke; Paramount Pictures; 1944; 57 minutes.

Dark Mountain deals with a newly promoted forest ranger, Don, who patrols the Dark Mountain region in an unnamed western state. At his boss’s insistence, he takes a long overdue vacation to visit his girlfriend, Kay, with a marriage proposal. However, because Don has been away for months, Kay has married Steve, a very successful businessman and exceptionally considerate husband to Kay.

Don returns early to his job, discouraged; meanwhile Kay finds out hubby Steve is a murderous racketeer and escapes to the mountain to hide, with Don’s help. Steve tracks her and the suspense accelerates. A high speed chase in a car loaded with explosives leads to Steve’s fiery death and a happily ever after for the predictably reunited lovers.

Although the story was ho-hum, I enjoyed certain aspects of this B film – the black and white footage of a forest fire at the beginning, with its quite convincing authenticity; and the classy acting and presence of Robert Lowery (1913-1971) as Ranger Don and the skillful sustaining of charm and menace from longtime character actor, Regis Toomey (1898-1991), fresh from his work in the classic Bogie film, The Big Sleep.

Lowery was later a fixture of ‘50s TV. In fact, I have a still vivid childhood memory of him as a friend of Clark Kent in a 1956 episode of Superman, ‘The Deadly Rock’, in which he too has a dangerous vulnerability to Kryptonite.

Beethoven

Symphony No. 3, the Eroica; Zdenek Kosler conducting the Slovak Philharmonic; DM-2-1009.

Ludwig van B’s 3rd Symphony was such an assertive, heroic, rhythmically-aggressive 45 minutes of glorious, at times noble and sublime music, needing a larger orchestra than the Symphonies 1 and 2 and it has received a fine performance from the late Maestro Kosler and his musicians, one of a very large number of quality recordings, of which I own and cherish dozens of them. It often stimulates the best efforts of players because of its monumental grandeur. And this performance is very cheap when available.

A little quibble. There is no information on the music and, while Kosler’s name is listed in two of the three spots ID’ing the conductor, another gifted maestro, Libor Pesek, has his in the third space. Personally, I believe Kosler is the right name due to its frequency of listing and the driving intensity of the performance while Pesek has a more lyrical poetic approach when he conducts. But I will not be dogmatic here!

REVIEW POTPOURRI

by Peter Cates

How I Started Collecting Records, Part 7

As I slowly edged into liking classical music, via cartoons and storybook records, I remember Beethoven being the first composer to grab my attention, through two symphonies – the 5th and 6th, better known as the Pastoral. The great conductor, Bruno Walter (1876-1962), would be the first to give me the intensive exposure to both pieces. Mom owned a 78 set of Walter’s 1941 5th, a very satisfying performance full of conviction and spirit.

My Uncle Paul Cates owned an LP of the sublime Bruno Walter/Philadelphia 1946 Pastoral that he left at the family homestead along with a pile of other interesting disks while he lived in West Berlin for much of the ‘50s and ‘60s. I played that record many times while visiting Grammie Cates. My introductions to the beauties of the composer’s Emperor and Violin Concertos followed within the year.

Spike Jones

Thank You, Music Lovers
RCA Victor, LPM-2224, recorded 1960.

A dozen of Jones’s wacky, weird 78s, featuring spoofs and putdowns of musical classics, such as Der Fuehrer’s Face, William Tell Overture , You Always Hurt the One You Love, My Old Flame, etc.; have been re-recorded in better sound and provide fun similar to Frank Zappa’s shenanigans from the ‘60s and ‘70s.

Telemann

Concertos for Oboe, 2 Flutes and Orchestra; Suite for Recorder and Orchestra
Kurt List and Zlatko Topolski conducting the Austrian Tonkuen­stler Orchestra; various soloists; Musical Heritage Society, MHS 743, recorded 1967.

George Philip Telemann (1681-1767) was quite the prolific composer, much of his music, whether sacred or secular, very pleasurable. This assortment of works are the most beguiling listening experiences I have encountered in a very long time, and receive top notch performances. During his lifetime, he achieved far greater popularity than his friend, Bach.

Maurice Ravel

Bolero, Rhapsodie Espagnole, La Valse and Scheherazade Overture
Jean Martinon conducting the Orchestre de Paris; Angel, S-37147, recorded 1975.

Most every recording of Jean Martinon (1911-1976) that has come my way has given enduring pleasure, whether Beethoven or the Rus­sian, Sergei Prokofiev. His career as the conductor of the Chicago Symphony after succeeding the phenomenally brilliant Fritz Reiner was cut short mainly by hostile music critics.

However, he returned to Paris and recorded a series of LPs devoted to the complete works of Debussy and Ravel that were superbly balanced, tasteful and yet musically alive examples of really great conducting. And the above record was every bit as fine as the others I have heard.

REVIEW POTPOURRI

by Peter Cates

How I Started Collecting Records, Part 5.

I began receiving Golden Records as early as my fourth year, more often than not in the six-inch yellow record format. Many of the selections were from the Great American Kiddie Songbook – such captivators as Pony Boy, Pony Boy; Skip to My Lou; Get On Board Little Children; I‘m Getting Nothin’ for Christmas. There were tie-ins from TV shows – Maverick, Wyatt Earp, Leave It to Beaver. Finally Bing Crosby told stories and occasionally sang, always illustrated with hat, pipe in mouth and Golden book in hand.

My first encounter with Mitch Miller’s name occurred via these little discs. I would be caught up, at the age of 8, in the rousing Sing Along LPs when my Aunt Margaret played her copy of the Folk Songs album – I fell in love with the sounds of his male chorus and guitar/banjo rhythm section lifting my spirits with Listen to the Mockingbird, Aunt Rhody and Goodnight Irene, and, within three years, would own all of the Sing Alongs. Part 6 next week.

Atlantic Rhythm and Blues 1947-1974

Atlantic, A1 81620,
14 LPs, released 1985.

Before I encountered this admittedly very bulky set, I don’t believe I had ever seen a better one in all of my years of listening and collecting. It has assembled almost 70 singers and instrumentalists- Wilson Pickett, the Coasters, Aretha, Clyde McPhatter and the Drifters, Ben E. King, Otis Redding, La Vern Baker, Roberta Flack, Tiny Grimes, Brook Benton as well as lesser knowns, Eddie Floyd, Joe Morris, Don Covay, Tommy Ridgley, Chris Kenner, Doris Troy- oh well, the list goes on and on. And each is represented by one or more tracks, every one of them at the very least ranging from quite good to beyond superb.

The annotations, photos, art work and biographical details are wonderfully spread out on seven sets of 2 lps each and stored in a slipcase covered with the red and black Atlantic label trademark. I found my vinyl copy reasonably priced at a local outlet. But it could prove elusive and pricey, whether in used outlets or on the Internet. But interested listeners will find this true treasury of so much great music well worth the search!

Dvorak

Symphony No. 2
Ernst Schrader conducting the Berlin Philharmonic; Avon, AVS 13015, 12-inch LP, originated from late ‘40s German radio broadcast tape and Urania LP.

There is nothing else to be known about conductor Ernst Schrader other than he is, or more likely, considering the time frame of this recording, was a real person – a legit label has stamped his name on one or two releases nobody has stepped forward to stamp him as a pseudonym. And the Berlin Philharmonic is most definitely for real.

Although the mono radio sound of this record is adequate, the performance is spontaneous, and expressive, reserving all out drama until the last of the four movements.

Dvorak actually composed nine Symphonies but his first four were unnumbered until the 1960’s, when they became 1 through 4, the old 3 became 5, 1 then 6, 2 7, 4 8 and the New World 5 then 9. The re-numbered 7th was greeted enthusiastically at its London world premiere on April 22, 1885, with the composer conducting while his publisher paid him $1500, a huge sum in those days.

I own a batch of very good recordings and, elsewhere, have not heard a single dud. The ones on my shelves- Anguelov, Mata, Valek, Bernstein, two Giulinis, Kubelik, Leitner, Colin Davis, Sejna, Talich, Ancerl, Kertesz, Dorati, Monteux, Neumann, possibly a few others, in addition to the above Schrader.

REVIEW POTPOURRI

by Peter Cates

How I Started Collecting Records — Continued!

Along with the Burl Ives records, there were others given to me. Numerous titles from such labels as Golden Records, Peter Pan and Children’s Record Guild abounded. I remember a Johnny Ray Columbia 45 hit — Just Walkin’ in the Rain – that I heard a lot on the radio. One day Mom bought me a copy of it — my first example of owning a record I had already grown to like from listening to the radio but far from being the last one.

Although I didn’t add any more of Ray’s records until more than 40 years later, I continue to regard him as an intriguing singer with a very individualistic style of delivery. I would also recommend watching the Jack Benny skit on YouTube, in which the comedian visits the singer’s home, as one of the funniest ever produced! (To continue next week…)

Brahms

Piano Quintet
Leon Fleisher, piano, with the Juilliard String Quartet; Odyssey Y 35211, 12- inch stereo vinyl LP, recorded early ‘60s.

This composition was originally scored and performed as a Quintet for five string players and a Sonata for two pianos but Brahms and his two closest friends, violinist Joseph Joachim and Clara Schumann, widow of the great composer, Robert Schumann, felt something was missing. It was then rescored for piano and four string players and became a success that continues to be performed to the present day, with a large number of fine recordings.

It has a kind of special beauty, rhythmic power and sense of tragedy that combine into a unique musical experience. The pianist Leon Fleisher and his Juilliard colleagues gave their all, making this recording one that will reward numerous hearings.

Hitch

starring Will Smith, Eva Mendes, Kevin James, Allegra Cole, etc.; directed by Andy Tennant; Columbia Pictures; 118 minutes; 2005.

This film deals with the activities of a matchmaker, Hitch (Will Smith); his would-be girlfriend, Sara (Mendes), who is also a gossip columnist; a paunchy, klutzy stockbroker, Albert (James) ; and Albert’s girlfriend of a lifetime, Allegra (Valletta), who is beautiful, filthy rich, and very down to earth, an unusual combination. The stars do magnificent work in a very funny film, my favorite being Eva Mendes, who, as Sara, does a wonderful scene of emotional vulnerability in opening up to Hitch about her childhood when she felt really hurt – the kind of honesty in acting that is so rarely seen at anytime in a film of today without the hysterics.

In other words, one superb film!