Singers: Leslie Caron & Mel Ferrer; Composer: Walter Piston; Singer: Linda Ronstadt

Hi-Lili, Hi-Lo

Sung by Leslie Caron and Mel Ferrer; side B, Lili and the Puppets, performed by Hans Sommer conducting the MGM Studio Orchestra; MGM K30759; seven-inch vinyl 45; recorded 1953.

Leslie Caron

This ‘45’ features the lovely Hi-Lili, Hi-Lo from the 1953 film, Lili, itself available on Youtube for viewing . Side B has the music for a ballet sequence during the story.

Caron was most famous for An American in Paris and Gigi and, in 2007, received an Emmy for her appearance on Law and Order: SVU. Now 85, she still does a guest role once or twice a year.

Piston: The Incredible Flutist

Mel Ferrer

Copland: Appalachian Spring; Arthur Rother conducting the Symphony Orchestra of Berlin; Urania URLP 7092, 12-inch mono vinyl LP, released 1953.

A very fine conductor, Arthur Rother (1885-1972) was mainly steeped in 19th century German repertoire ranging from Beethoven to Richard Strauss, although he occasionally programmed works by Puccini, Britten, Tchaikovsky, etc. He was Director of the Berlin Deutsche Opera for at least a couple of decades and his name appears on many post-World War II radio broadcasts, transferred mainly to the Urania label and widely distributed here in the US. Finally and most importantly, despite working busily during the Hitler years, he also kept his hands clean.

Walter Piston

This pair of important orchestral works by Walter Piston, who was born in Rockland, and Aaron Copland are given very exciting performances here and the LP frequently surfaces on Internet sites.

No cd transfer as of yet !!

Don’t Cry Now

Linda Ronstadt, Asylum SD 5064, 12-inch vinyl LP, recorded 1973.

Now 70, Linda Ronstadt has ended her singing career due to suffering from Parkinson’s disease. But for over 40 years, her singing career was one ravishing success after another.

After her short tenure with the Stone Poneys beginning in 1967 and the launching of a solo career two years later with two or three LPs of merit, she hit the motherlode with Don’t Cry Now. The album was, is and will remain a classic, as will Heart Like A Wheel which was released shortly after.
I reheard both of these recently after a number of years and found them still very listenable, although my tastes are quite different from the ‘70s, when I played them much too often and got sick of them.

Even now, I could happily shelve them for another 10 years .

Linda Ronstadt

I recently read that Ronstadt is a huge fan of Maria Callas recordings.

During the last two weeks, I have been working my way through the three seasons of Black List episodes on Roku. As far as I am concerned, Reddington is the most fascinating “hero” since Dexter and Justified’s Raylan Givens.