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L I G H T C L A S S I C S
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THE MUSIC OF HENRY MANCINI
Moon River • The Pink Panther • Charade
The Days of Wine and Roses • Beaver Valley ’37 and many others
Richard Hayman and His Orchestra
Henry Mancini (1924-1994)
Among light music fans and film-buffs the now familiar latter category his mastery of ‘suspense atmosphere’ handful of popular tunes and ‘standards’ left by produced backgrounds for such titles as The Creature composer, song-writer, arranger pianist and conductor From The Black Lagoon (1954), Tarantula and Francis Henry Mancini are tinged with the halo of nostalgia. In The Haunted House (both 1956) and Man Afraid The recipient of twenty Grammies, four Oscars, (1957) and by the time he contributed to the Citizen eighteen Oscar nominations and various other ‘lifetime’ Kane-inspired The Great Man (starring José Ferrer, awards, Enrico (‘Henry’) Nicola Mancini was born in 1956) and the classic Orson Welles ‘late film noir’ Cleveland, Ohio on 16th April 1924, and grew up in masterpiece Touch Of Evil (Mancini’s first complete West Aquilippa, Philadelphia. A proficient multi- scoring, in 1958) he had evolved, in the words of instrumentalist, from an early age he was an adept Nicolas Slonimsky, into “one of the most adroit pianist and also took up the flute (the latter courtesy of composers of melodramatic music”.
- his steelworker father, a music-lover who was himself
- As a composer in his own right Mancini first
an amateur piccolo-player in the Aqilippa, Philadelphia- reached a wider audience in 1959 when, recently based Sons of Italy Band). During his early training at released from contract by Universal (their association the Carnegie Institute Music School in Pittsburgh, continued freelance), he was commissioned to write a Henry was also steadily drawn towards jazz and big Hollywood-style ‘cool jazz’ score for the American hit band and developed a keen interest in arranging. In television series Peter Gunn. Another, equally 1942 he entered the New York Juilliard Graduate successful series, Mr. Lucky, followed a year later, and School but by 1943 was drafted into the US Air Force, Mancini would thereafter maintain a close professional where he remained until 1946, primarily in the capacity link, working on both television and more than twenty
- of military band musician.
- big-screen engagements, with the creator of the series,
After demobilisation Mancini became pianist- director, producer and screenwriter Blake Edwards arranger with Tex Beneke’s recently re-vamped Glenn (born 1922). His subsequent television series and film Miller Orchestra and from 1947, in Los Angeles, scores included NBC Mystery Movie (1971), Remington worked variously as a nightclub freelancer and radio Steele (1982), The Thorn Birds (1983), Fear (1990) and staff arranger, undertaking advanced training in Never Forget (1991). In total Mancini would receive composition in his spare time with, among others, five television awards.
- Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895-1968) and Ernst
- Mancini’s other film-scores include, as part-
Krenek (1900-1991). In 1951 he joined the staff of composer or arranger, Lost In Alaska (an Abbott and Universal Pictures, working under music director Costello comedy, Mancini’s entrée to Universal, in Joseph Gershenson (1904-1988) in the dual capacity of 1952), It Came From Outer Space (1953), The Far arranger and composer. His unique talents were thus Country (1954) and Flood Tide (1958). As principal brought to bear on various genres of film, ranging from composer his credits include High Time (20th Century musicals including the major Hollywood biopics The Fox, 1960; Mancini scored, but the Oscar nomination Glenn Miller Story, which earned him his first Academy went to Van Heusen and Sammy Cahn for the song ‘The Award nomination, in 1954, and The Benny Goodman Second Time Around’, sung by Bing Crosby),
Story (1955) to B-westerns (Four Guns To The Border, Breakfast At Tiffany’s (Paramount, 1961; two Oscars –
1954), slapstick (Abbott And Costello Meet The for best score and best song ‘Moon River’, lyrics by Keystone Cops, 1955), gangster comedies (Mister Cory, Johnny Mercer. Mancini’s own film album was a starring Tony Curtis, 1957) and monster movies. In the twelve-week No.1.), The Great Imposter (United
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Artists, 1961), Days Of Wine And Roses (Warner, 1962;
In parallel with his work in films and television,
Oscar for title-song, lyrics again by Mercer), Hatari Mancini enjoyed a prolific and successful career as a (Paramount, 1962; this included the famous boogie- commercial recording artist, primarily for RCA-Victor, woogie-inflected ‘Baby Elephant Walk’), The Pink maintaining until the mid-1960s something of a pop Panther (United Artists, 1963; Oscar nomination for celebrity status. After about 1965 he continued, Mancini for the theme – a contemporary Top Forty hit however, to write dramatic background music for films, single for saxophonist Plas Johnson, and later a ranging from box-office ‘top-grossers’ to abject favourite accompaniment to cartoons), Charade failures. As a conductor or guest pianist (and conductor) (Universal, 1963), A Shot In The Dark (United Artists, his impact was more unequivocal; on tour he averaged 1964), The Great Race (Warner, 1965 – included the fifty concert appearances a year and charted, between song ‘The Sweetheart Tree’), Two For The Road (20th 1959 and 1977 with 38 LP albums, eighteen of which Century Fox, 1967), The White Dawn (Paramount, were bestsellers that made the Top Forty. Among his 1973), The Return Of The Pink Panther (United Artists, biggest recording successes were the hit-single of his 1975), ‘10’ (Warner, 1979; Oscar nomination for the own arrangement of the love-theme from Nino Rota’s song ‘It’s Easy To Say’), Victor/Victoria (MGM, 1982; film-score to Zeffirelli’s Romeo And Juliet (a two-week Academy Award for score – lyrics by Leslie Bricusse; No.1 for Mancini in 1969) and his album of the score of adapted for Broadway; produced posthumously, in Alec North’s The Long Hot Summer (for MCA, 1958). 1995), The Man Who Loved Women (Columbia, 1983), While innovative, the concert suite for orchestra, Life Force (a 1985 vampire saga; for Cannon, GB), Beaver Valley ’37, completed about 1970, harked back That’s Life (Columbia, 1986; Oscar nomination for to earlier Mancini themes.
- song ‘Life In A Looking Glass’), The Glass Menagerie
- Henry Mancini died in Beverley Hills, Los
(Cineplex, 1987), Blind Date (Tri-Star, 1987), Switch Angeles, California, on 14th June 1994.
(Columbia, 1991), Tom And Jerry: The Movie (a
cartoon, for First Independent, 1992) and Son Of The Pink Panther (United Artists, 1993).
Peter Dempsey
All arrangements by Richard Hayman
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Richard Hayman
One of America’s favourite “Pops” conductors, Richard Hayman was Principal “Pops” conductor of the Saint Louis, Hartford and Grand Rapids symphony orchestras, of Orchestra London Canada and the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, and also held the post with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra for many years. His original compositions are standards in the repertoire of these ensembles as well as frequently performed selections by many orchestras and bands throughout the world. For over thirty years, Richard Hayman served as the chief arranger for the Boston Pops Orchestra during Arthur Fiedler’s tenure, providing special arrangements for dozens of their hit albums and famous singles. Under John Williams’ direction, the orchestra continues to programme his awardwinning arrangements and orchestrations. Though more involved with the symphony orchestra circuit, Richard Hayman served as musical director and/or master of ceremonies for the tour shows of many popular entertainers: Kenny Rogers, Johnny Cash, Olivia Newton-John, Tom Jones, Englebert Humperdinck, The Carpenters, The Osmonds, Al Hirt, Andy Williams and many others.
Richard Hayman and His Orchestra recorded 23 albums and 27 hit singles for Mercury Records, for which he served as musical director for twelve years. Dozens of his original compositions have been recorded by various artists all over the world. He has also arranged and conducted recordings for more than 50 stars of the motion picture, stage, radio and television worlds, and has also scored Broadway shows and numerous motion pictures. In 1960, Richard Hayman was honoured with his own star in Hollywood’s Walk of Fame. Other awards have included a Certificate of Recognition from Cosmopolitan Magazine for Achievement in Bettering Popular Music, the Edison Award for Creative Achievement in Recorded Arts from the Academy Of Musical Recorded Arts and Sciences and the National TV Festival and Forum Award.
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Now best remembered among easy-listening fans for the Pink Panther theme, Henry Mancini also wrote innovative background music for such Oscar-winners as Breakfast At
Tiffany’s, Days Of Wine And Roses and Victor/Victoria, while in the sphere of TV he
effectively introduced the ‘modern jazz’ score (Peter Gunn). This album offers orchestral cameos from several of his most admired works in both genres.
DDD
8.557825
Playing Time
74:55
Henry
MANCINI
(1924-1994)
- 1 Peter Gunn
- 1:58 @ Ballerina’s Dream
3:21 # The Life Force Theme 4:01 $ The Glass Menagerie 2:30 % Charade
3:13 3:27 5:30 3:25
13:40
4:47
2 Moon River 3 Baby Elephant Walk 4 String on Fire
- 5 Dear Heart
- 3:06
- Beaver Valley ’37
6 Dream of a Lifetime 7 The Great Race March
3:31 ^ i The River
- 2:29 & ii Black Snow
- 4:18
8 Days of Wine and Roses 3:42 * iii The Sons of Italy
4:35
9 The Pink Panther 0 Two for the Road ! Pie in the Face Polka
3:52 ( Drummer’s Delight 3:28 ) The Thorn Birds 2:37 ¡ March with Mancini
4:10 2:56 3:58
Richard Hayman and His Orchestra
Recorded at the Concert Hall of the Slovak Radio, Bratislava, 7th-9th November 1990
Producers: Hubert Geschwandtner & Karol Kopernicky
Associate Producer: Igor Shvartsman
All arrangements by Richard Hayman • Booklet Notes: Peter Dempsey
Cover Image: Anisetta Meletti Advertisement in Illustrazione Italiana, 1940
[Mary Evans Picture Library]