Concert Spectacular American Scene by Mantovani (Audio CD - 2004)

Concert Spectacular American Scene

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Concert Spectacular American Scene

Features


1. Stars and Stripes Forever
2. Estrellita
3. Theme from "A Summer Place"
4. Granada
5. Forgotten Dreams
6. Thunder and Lightning Polka
7. Zapateado
8. Londonderry Air
9. By the Sleepy Lagoon
10. Trumpeter's Lullaby
11. Green Leaves of Summer [From the Alamo]
12. Parade of the Wooden Soldiers
13. My Old Kentucky Home
14. Camptown Races
15. I Dream of Jeannie with the Light Brown Hair
16. Old Folks at Home
17. Ringo de Banjo
18. Beautiful Dreamer
19. Home on the Range
20. Grandfather's Clock
See all 24 tracks on this disc

Reader Reviews
This is one of Vocalion's latest re-issues of two original recordings made by Mantovani and his Orchestra in 1960. It pairs the folk songs of the "American Scene" composed by Stephen Foster and others, along with concert gems, all brilliantly arranged by Mantovani and his collaborator Cecil Milner. Stephen Foster's time-honored music appears to be having a comeback these days and so will the utterly appealing orchestral interpretations given to these chestnuts by the masterful brilliance of the Mantovani sound and the artistry and discipline of his musicians. Some 45 years ago, Mantovani's American Scene LP remained 30 weeks on Billboard's Top 40 List and rose to a high position of number 11. Listeners now, as then, will enjoy the melifluous string-laden arrangements of Beautiful Dreamer, I Dream of Jeannie, My Old Kentucky Home, Grandfather's Clock, and Goodnight Irene, and they will tap to the lively, full orchestra arrangements of Camptown Races, Ring de Banjo, and Turkey in the Straw. Decca's "Concert Spectacular" CD, never issued and rarely heard in the United States, teases the listener with a distinctive waltz time arrangement of the popular Sousa march, Stars and Stripes Forever. Many will shed a tear when they hear the cathedral sound of languorous strings and woodwinds in Danny Boy. This Concert Spectacular offers the listener a plethora of musical imagery. With extraordinary and unique orchestrations, one will feel the fiery excitement of "Granada", sense the clash of thunder and lightning in Strauss's Polka, and march step and "fall" with the Parade of the Wooden Soldiers. These two CD's together are truly spectacular, because their tracks are filled with the emotion and energy of the creative and distinctive Mantovani sound. This is "ultimate Mantovani", soothingly wistful moods and evocative melodies that make you want to listen to them with all the attentiveness of a concert goer, a paradigm for all today making light orchestral music of which Mantovani was truly the master.

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