Piano in Hollywood: The Classic Movie Concertos

Piano in Hollywood: The Classic Movie Concertos
Customer Review: not just Hollywood
PIANO IN HOLLYWOOD is a very entertaining album. Santiago Rodriguez, a world-class pianist particularly renowned for his Rachmaninov (Second Prize in the Van Cliburn Piano Competition back in 1981 doing the Rachmaninov Third), takes on most of the better-known "concerti" composed for films. At least three of these works are British and then there's the "Swedish Rhapsody" by Willy Mattes (Charles Wildman), so it's not really accurate to describe the music simply as "Hollywood", but the title makes the point intended. The Fairfax (VA) Symphony Orchestra accompanies and they are right there all along together with the soloist. Of course the mock-Rach Warsaw Concerto is here, the Spellbound Concerto and the Hubert Bath Cornish Rhapsody (some Gershwin, too), but it's particularly good to hear the other pieces by Edward Ward and Leith Stevens. Actually, before I got this, I'd only known Stevens' later work for Rod Serling's TWILIGHT ZONE! Another well-known film concerto, Bernard Herrmann's "Concerto Macabre", written for HANGOVER SQUARE (1945), is not here, but then, that work was purposefully distressing and it doesn't appear that the point of this program is to distress. I do remember the Pennario LP which another reviewer mentions and it was a good recording. I've not seen it on Amazon and don't know whether it's ever been available on disc. Of recordings which definitely are, there is a NAXOS disc called WARSAW CONCERTO which is very similar to this one; it has the Herrmann but not some of these other works. I've not heard it. "Concerto Macabre" was also included on the RCA Charles Gerhardt-led Herrmann recording entitled CITIZEN KANE, but the thrust of that release was completely different from this. Rodriguez's PIANO IN HOLLYWOOD is beautiful - and the "encore", the original piano version of Stanley Myers' "Cavatina" from THE DEER HUNTER (usually heard in its film score variant as a guitar duet) is a surprising and perfect finish.
Customer Review: A Neary Worthy Competitor to the Granddaddy of Movie Concertos Recordings
A minority of people who enjoy this kind of music (myself included) might fondly recall the first recorded collection of Great Movie Concertos compiled in an LP released in the early 60's called "Concerto Under the Stars" showing on the front of the jacket a painting of a pianst playing with an orchestra in the old Hollywood Bowl Shell. The pianist was Leonard Pennario and Carmen Dragon conducted the Hollywood Bowl Symphony Orchestra. It also included the Cornish Rhapsody, the Swedish Rhapsody, the Warsaw Concerto and a few solo piano pieces arranged for piano and orchestra by Mr. Dragon. What is not well known is that the best-selling LP's master tape was lost in a fire that gutted the Capitol Records Main Offices on Vine and Gower in Hollywood in the mid-sixties and Capitol Executives hastily contacted Pennario and Dragon and begged them to make another master. The original was well-rehearsed and therefore came off sounding splendid--pianist and orchestra synchronized perfectly. The second was not as good, probably owing to budget and lack of rehearsal time. Consequently there are several parts where soloist and orchestra are out of sync, especially the brass in the final moments of the Swedish Rhapsody (my personal favorite) where they are really called upon to shine in order to give the piece a rousing close. I am fortunate to have one of the last remaining copies of the original recording. Unfortunately, as a youth I did not take care of my LP collection and the disc is full of scratches and hisses. Rodriguez's playing is fine, however the orchestra he plays with is muddy-sounding in many parts. Notwithstanding, it is an acceptable substitute for those who remember Pennario's and a good recording for those who are being introduced to this kind of music. However, I really miss the crystal precision and sound clarity that Dragon brought to the original recording and really messed up big time in the reissue.