Customer Reviews

The Typewriter: Leroy Anderson Favorites

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I've always loved the music of Leroy Anderson. It has a magical quality that tends to pull a person right into the piece. For example, who, when listening to "Sleigh Ride," does not imagine going on a ride through the snow in Vermont on a winter's day? Titles such as the" Waltzing Cat," "The Syncopated Clock" and "Belle of the Ball" all sound as their titles imply. While the music could be termed `light classical," musicians playing the pieces have to be versatile as the solo parts for works such as "Bugler's Holiday" and "Clarinet Candy" easily demonstrate.

I will have to admit, when it comes to Anderson's music, usually no one beats the Boston Pops, especially under the direction of Arthur Fiedler. For many years Anderson was a collaborator of Fielder's and many of the Pops best known arrangements are those of Anderson. Perhaps this is why the Boston Pops performances of Anderson's music have an authentic feel to them. Yet if there is a close second to The Boston Pops' performances, it would be this collection by Leonard Slatkin and the St. Louis Symphony. Slatkin has a love and appreciation for the music and lead the orchestra in a competent and enjoyable manner.

This collection includes many of Anderson's favorites such as "Blue Tango," "Phantom Regiment," "Trumpeter's Lullaby," and "Fiddle Faddle" as well as many of Anderson's lesser known works. Which make the collection a real treat.

This is a fine Leroy Anderson disc. No one happening upon this disc will likely be seriously disappointed. But wait! Try the recording conducted by the composer himself or the one by Arthur Fieldler before you have any last word. They both have so much verve and vitality that the music literally leaps out of the speakers. The difference hits home immediately after such numbers as Fiddle Faddle or Bugler's Holiday begin. Coming back to Slatkin, you will probably feel that his interepretaton is a bit on a sedate side. However, Slatkin brings wonderful warmth to slower numbers and has the advantage of modern digital recording. The choice is yours.

Really enjoyed this CD. Has all the best Anderson songs and some I didn't even know about that are now favorites... for example Sandpaper ballet and the Waltzing Cat. It has a good articles on the inside flap with bios of the conductor and composer. Very interesting to read. All the songs are taken at the perfect tempo and the St. Louis Symphony does a great job. Worth the buy.

Leroy Anderson is certainly one of the memorable and popular of American light music composer and this CD of his music really shines with the strains of the St Louis Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Leonard Slatkin. Simply magical. Mr Slatkin plays the music as close as Leroy Anderson intended to and not distorted any arrangements of the music. The album opens with the opulent 'Belle Of The Ball' and it waltzes ever so beautifully in digital stereo and sweeps you to an imaginary ballroom and completely swoons you. The ever popular seasonal piece 'Sleigh Ride' is stil a delight with the young at heart. The other titles in this superb CD are the immortal 'Blue Tango', the serene 'Serenata', the dreamy 'Forgotten Dreams' and the title track of the CD, the playful 'The Typewriter'. Though this album can't compare to the original Leroy Anderson albums and the evergreen Boston Pops with Arthur Fieldler, it is a fitting tribute to a gem in music that is Leroy Anderson.

The collaboration between conductor Arthur Fiedler and composer Leroy Anderson gave birth to the unique sound of the Boston Pops Orchestra. Anderson was without peer in writing works for "light" orchestra: short, often whimsical, always pleasant pieces for symphonic ensembles. One of Anderson's trademarks was coming up with creative ways for the orchestra to portray common sounds from the outside world. Anderson's two best-known pieces employ this technique: a trumpet simulates a horse's whinny at the end of "Sleigh Ride," while woodblocks indicate the rhythmic imbalance of "The Syncopated Clock." Although Anderson never became a household name, many Americans are probably familiar with several of his other works, including "The Typewriter" and "Blue Tango."

This CD features Leonard Slatkin and the St. Louis Symphony, but there is another great CD of Anderson's works by Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops. While both recordings are great, I give the edge to this CD. While Fiedler naturally has a better feel for Anderson's music (most notably on the "Sandpaper Ballet" and "Jazz Pizzicato"), Slatkin has recorded nine pieces not found on the Fiedler CD, including the delightful "Phantom Regiment," "First Day of Spring," "Forgotten Dreams," "Horse and Buggy," and my personal favorite, "Saraband."

This recording is a pleasure from beginning to end. I often find myself playing this CD two or three times in a row (and sometimes pressing "shuffle" after that) because Anderson's relentlessly happy music makes me feel that everything is right with the world.

Leroy Anderson's music is best equated with the visual works of Norman Rockwell. Anderson, like Rockwell, paints mini-portraits, slices of life, into his musical creations, and with great success.

With this CD, is a compendium of 25 of Leroy Anderson's vast output and each of them, suprisingly, is a gem in and of itself. Anderson is a master of melody, creating the whimsical and the heartfelt. I was amazed to find that a short horn melody in "Horse and Buggy" could move me emotionally and so easily. One concern at purchasing this CD, was that his music might become trite and tired, especially with repeated listening; but Anderson is inventive in melody and he always mixes his songs up with unexpected syncopations and jazzy interpolations, not to mention the unusual battery of percussion needed to visualize the various animals, horse rides, and other crazy situations Anderson puts his orchestra in.

Leonard Slatkin and the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra perform all of this music with the right gusto needed to portray Anderson's version of Americana. The only thing missing, perhaps, is the unbridled energy these works create in a live environment. While "Bugler's Holiday" and "Clarinet Candy" are played with great alacrity, the spark of the moment is lost on a recording format. Notwithstanding, this CD is an excellent choice if you can't get the live experience, excelling in musical quality, and quite frankly, is a lot of fun. Compare and contrast this CD with other Leroy Anderson collections under Arthur Fiedler, Leroy Anderson himself, as well as a Naxos release, and you will find this CD can hold its own rather easily.

What a pleasure listening to this disc. I'm not as knowledgable in music, nor as articulate as many of these fine reviewers - but I dearly wish I were. Heck, I can't even whistle; can't "carry a tune in a basket" either. Doesn't matter, Leroy Anderson CAN - like 25 of them on this disc. Many of us enjoy going to local "car-shows" and seeing the cars of the 50's and 60's. When they have that new-car shine and are showroom-clean, well, that familiar, warm, pleasant feeling just sort of washes over us as the eyes open a little wider, the smile comes through, and maybe the head tilts a little in wonder as we can't help feeling and saying, "Gosh, its good seeing you again." That's just about the way I felt after hearing this disc; it was like seeing an old friend again. The disc is a sort of "Happy Days" of light music for us. But these are NOT Looney Tunes; rather, they ARE Merrie Mellody's. I won't comment on every one of them since many are familiar to us. Most of the selections are joyful, like "Sleigh Ride", "Plink, Plank, Plunk", "Bugler's Holiday", "Fiddle Faddle: and many others. The rest evoke images or memories while we whistle (yeah, right) or hum (That's better)along. The first selection is "Belle of the Ball" and we can easily "see" her with an outstretched arm, her hand daintilly holding her long, flowing gown, whirling and gliding over the ballroom floor. It was also a theme for a local TV Afternoon Movie many years ago - or as my daughter would say, in the "olden days." Also in the olden days, "Jazz Legato" and "The Waltzing Cat" were played as background during silent comedy skits on Jackie Gleason and other comedy shows; before the "Honeymooners" existed. I can't speak well enough of this disc; it's so enjoyable, and a downright mood changer. If you;re looking for something to pop in the car CD player to shorten the trip, make traffic bearable, or to be in a better mood when passing the loud, obnoxious mall rats, this is the disc to get. Many happy memmories await you. I'm listening to it now, with my headphones on, as I write. The digital recording puts you right in the middle of the orchestra - "Oops, sorry guy, didn't mean to bump your music stand." The disc is sheer joy, and as Mr. David Hurwitz said, "A delight". P.S. Just as an aside, and this has nothing to do with the CD, but its too precious not to pass along. To all the orchestra musicians out there: Oscar Levant made several appearances on the Jack Parr program in the "olden days". Jack asked him to relate one of his "stories". Oscar told how a particular conductor had once repeatedly irritated him all through rehearsal. Finally, Oscar had had enough and told the conductor - "Look, if you keep it up, I'm going to actually follow your direction."

What a pleasure listening to this disc. I'm not as knowledgable in music, nor as articulate as many of these fine reviewers - but I dearly wish I were. Heck, I can't even whistle; can't "carry a tune in a basket" either. Doesn't matter, Leroy Anderson CAN - like 25 of them on this disc. Many of us enjoy going to local "car-shows" and seeing the cars of the 50's and 60's. When they have that new-car shine and are showroom-clean, well, that familiar, warm, pleasant feeling just sort of washes over us as the eyes open a little wider, the smile comes through, and maybe the head tilts a little in wonder as we can't help feeling and saying, "Gosh, its good seeing you again." That's just about the way I felt after hearing this disc; it was like seeing an old friend again. The disc is a sort of "Happy Days" of light music for us. But these are NOT Looney Tunes; rather, they ARE Merrie Mellody's. I won't comment on every one of them since many are familiar to us. Most of the selections are joyful, like "Sleigh Ride", "Plink, Plank, Plunk", "Bugler's Holiday", "Fiddle Faddle: and many others. The rest evoke images or memories while we whistle (yeah, right) or hum (That's better)along. The first selection is "Belle of the Ball" and we can easily "see" her with an outstretched arm, her hand daintilly holding her long, flowing gown, whirling and gliding over the ballroom floor. It was also a theme for a local TV Afternoon Movie many years ago - or as my daughter would say, in the "olden days." Also in the olden days, "Jazz Legato" and "The Waltzing Cat" were played as background during silent comedy skits on Jackie Gleason and other comedy shows; before the "Honeymooners" existed. I can't speak well enough of this disc; it's so enjoyable, and a downright mood changer. If you;re looking for something to pop in the car CD player to shorten the trip, make traffic bearable, or to be in a better mood when passing the loud, obnoxious mall rats, this is the disc to get. Many happy memmories await you. I'm listening to it now, with my headphones on, as I write. The digital recording puts you right in the middle of the orchestra - "Oops, sorry guy, didn't mean to bump your music stand." The disc is sheer joy, and as Mr. David Hurwitz said, "A delight". P.S. Just as an aside, and this has nothing to do with the CD, but its too precious not to pass along. To all the orchestra musicians out there: Oscar Levant made several appearances on the Jack Parr program in the "olden days". Jack asked him to relate one of his "stories". Oscar told how a particular conductor had once repeatedly irritated him all through rehearsal. Finally, Oscar had had enough and told the conductor - "Look, if you keep it up, I'm going to actually follow your direction."

A cute collection of Leroy Anderson tunes. Well played and delightful. I agree with the reviewer that the jiggling typewriter cover is a big plus. If you like Leroy Anderson, this is the CD for you. If you don't know who Leroy Anderson is, you will probably enjoy this if you like Lawrence Welk or if you collect hand-painted porcelain figurines.