Customer Reviews

Arthur Fiedler & The Boston Pops Play the Beatles

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a minor materpiece. Check out the Strauss (Richard) inspired Eleanor Rigby. Close your eyes and think 2001. Plenty of other references such as Tchaikovsky in Penny Lane. The sound is glorious. I am not a Pops fan but this disc is well worth buying for some great tunes and even better scoring and playing.

I cannot help but smile when I listen to the beautiful arrangements on this album. It blends the Beatles' genius for melody with the great percussive sound and incredible energy of Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops. I've heard other orchestral versions of Beatles songs, but none has compared to this one (if anyone has found a better CD, please post a note here). Any Beatles or Pops fan should definitely own this CD. I can't stop listening!

As conductor of the Boston Pops for almost half a century, Arthur Fiedler brought popular classical music and pop music with a classical twist to the people. Leonard Bernstein was providing an intellectual and more glamorous musical education for Americans, but Fielder was coming into our living rooms on a weekly basis with his Boston Pops concerts. Fielder and the Boston Pops produced a lot of records, mostly with RCA in the 1950s through the 1970s, most of which offered everything from classical overtures and ballet pieces to movies themes and the hits of the Beatles.

It was inevitable that with over a hundred albums the Boston Pops would do the Fab Four. They were the first orchestra to perform the songs of the Beatles in 1964 when Fiedler returned from a trip to Liverpool ("I Want to Hold Your Hand" was the first one they ever did). These are not just these songs played by a classical orchestra but rather arrangements done for this purpose. You will notice that one of the standard ways of arranging these songs is to use the chorus as the introduction for the song (e.g., "Eleanor Rigby," "Hey Jude"). If you can guess from the drumming at the beginning of "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" or "Yellow Submarine" what those songs are then you are way ahead of me, but that is the sense of fun that Fiedler brought to these songs by giving them the John Phillip Sousa treatment.

Sometimes it is such the simple elegance of doing the guitar parts with strings, as with "And I Love Her," or even the staccato strings of "Penny Lane," that makes the songs enjoyable. Then there are the mood chances invoked by turning "A Little Help From My Friends" into a work of minor chords. My assumption is that if you pick up this album you will know the songs, but not these arrangements, so you should just forget about looking at the play list and just listen to the music.

There are a quartet of bonus tracks on the album, featuring live versions of "I Want to Hold Your Hand," "And I Love Her," and "A Hard Day's Night." These are not different versions of these songs, which is too bad because I thought it would be interesting to see if the Pops arrangers could come up with different classical ways of doing the same songs. The final track is actually Fiedler talking about how the Pops came to play the Beatles music, as a "novelty." I have not listened to this sort of music for a while, but it makes for nice background music and there are more albums out there. Remember "Saturday Night Fiedler"?

I was not a Beatles fan until I heard this wonderful orchestration of Beatles songs played by the Boston Pops

THis CD has all the makings of what you would think would be a disaster. After all, imagine the Beatles performed by a full symphony orchestra. Believe it or not, this is great! I listened to it for the first time today, and have already listened to it 2 more times! The arrangements are all very imaginative, and don't outstay their welcome. I found myself singing along over and over again. This is a really different way of hearing the Beatles' music - you won't be dissappointed. I only wish that someone else would rerecord these arrangements - Keith Lockhart or Erich Kunzel perhaps?

Arthur Fiedler put his stamp of approval on the music of the Beatles by featuring their tunes in many of his Pops concerts. It was no secret he truly admired and appreciated their talents. This album shows his enthusiasm with crisp, interesting arrangements. His adaptations sound like a music professor dying to add his own, gleeful touches on his students' works. Honestly, it is a joyful disc that can bring out the sun on a cloudy day, or work wonders in a car stereo on a long trek. It's delicious! What a mutual admiration...Fiedler and the Beatles. Grab one new...or used! You'll love it!..Madge Bruner Hazen

Before I got this album, I was not a Beatles fan. However, this album has turned me into a Beatles fan. Even if you don't really listen to the Beatles, you know the tunes and by listening to this album, you will want to learn the lyrics so you can sing along.

Boston Pops under Arthur Fielder preforming Beatle Music is pure fantastic listening enjoyment.

CD sounds great on my stereo system...I hope this makes the 20 words required.

Love it, Love it, just one of the reason Arthur Fiedler became so famous. He could take popular music and improve on it. I don't think John Williams or Keith Lockhart, ever was able to take the Pops back to where Fiedler left them. Just simply put magical CD.

I purhased this CD because I like The Beatles. Big mistake! You can recognize the songs if you pay attention but paying attention to this CD is painful. It is just noise.