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PASC185 - Carmen Dragon conducts French and Italian Classics
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The Hollywood Bowl Symphony Orchestra
The Capitol Symphony Orchestra
arranged and conducted by Carmen Dragon Recorded in 1956 and 1957
Transfer from Capitol SP8427 and SP8351 by Edward Johnson
Restoration and XR remastering by Andrew Rose, August-September 2009
Cover artwork based on a photograph of Carmen Dragon
A Pristine Audio Natural Sound XR restoration
Scroll down for PDF covers and cue-sheet download
For FLAC playback and conversion support see our Help pages
N.B. This is an original stereo recording - thus there is no 'Ambient Stereo' option - all downloads and CDs are stereo.
Play Funiculi Funicula:
Superb early Capitol stereo recordings remastered
Master-arranger Carmen Dragon with members of the LA Phil (probably...)
From the LP "La Belle France" rec. 7-9 November 1957 The Capitol Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Carmen Dragon
La Marseillaise - Rouget de Lisle (4:24)
Première Arabesque - Debussy (4:18)
Polonaise from Mignon - Thomas (3:52)
Frère Jacques - Traditional (3:26)
Waltz from Coppelia - Delibes (3:09)
Can-Can from Orpheus in the Underworld - Offenbach (2:02)
Alouette - Traditional (2:25)
Paree! - Padilla (3:43)
Sur le Pont d'Avignon - Traditional (1:29)
Faust Waltz - Gounod (4:59)
My Heart At Thy Sweet Voice - Saint-Saëns (4:26)
From the LP "L'Italia" rec. 5-6 July 1956 The Hollywood Bowl Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Carmen Dragon
Funiculi Funicula - Denza (3:29)
Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana - Mascagni (3:55)
Moto Perpetuo - Paganini (5:05)
Dance of the Camorristi - Wolf-Ferrari (4:03)
Capriccio Italien - Tchaikovsky (5:20)
Tarantella - Bohn (2:29)
Come Back to Sorrento - De Curtis (6:16)
Notes on the recording:
Capitol Records were, in the 1950s, one of the pioneers of stereo recordings, both in the popular and classical field, and for some time made entirely separate recordings of albums in both mono and stereo formats. This can be heard clearly in recordings by the likes of Frank Sinatra, where, for example a close-up multi-miking technique was employed for the mono recording of 'Come Dance With Me', resulting in both greater impact and intimace, whilst the stereo recording was made with two or three overhead microphones, capturing an entirely different perspective of the same recording.
As such, some of these early Capitol stereo recordings are considered to have worked better in their mono format, whereas others fared better in stereo. The selections here, taken from two albums recorded in 1956 and 1957 and probably destined originally for reel-to-reel tape release prior to the commercial development of the stereo LP, almost certainly fall into the latter category. The sound is big and wide - an ideal way to show off one's new-fangled stereo 'hi-fi' equipment!
Edward Johnson's excellent LP transfers have been further enhanced by the use of XR remastering - as with many orchestral releases of this era there was a tendency to a certain shrill glassiness in the upper strings and a slight hole in the lower mid-range. With these relatively minor adjustments in place, together with a taming of a degree of bottom-end boom the recordings really came to life. We suspect that in both cases the orchestral players were probably an assortment of members from the LA Philharmonic and possibly some of the film studio orchestras. The fact that they're given two different names for the purposes of these two LPs doesn't rule out the strong possibility that they were largely the same outfit.
Either way, this is an excellent 'fun' release, with Dragon's superb arrangements excellently played and recorded. If, in the words of Edward Johnson, our sample track Funiculi Funicula doesn't get you "dancing around the kitchen table" then either you have no kitchen, or your kitchen has no table...
Carmen Dragon
biographical notes from Wikipedia
Carmen Dragon (July 28, 1914– March 28, 1984) was an American conductor, composer, and arranger who in addition to live performances and recording, worked in radio, film, and television.
Dragon was born in Antioch, California. He was very active in pops music conducting and composed scores for several films, including At Gunpoint (1955), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), Night into Tomorrow (1951), and Kiss Tomorrow Good-bye (1950).
With Morris Stoloff, he shared the 1944 Oscar for the popular Gene Kelly/Rita Hayworth musical Cover Girl, which featured songs by Jerome Kern and Ira Gershwin.
He made a popular orchestral arrangement of "America the Beautiful" and also re-arranged it for symphonic band.
According to his website, he was awarded an Emmy in 1964.
He conducted the Hollywood Bowl Symphony Orchestra, and they performed on The Standard School Broadcast, broadcast on NBC in the western U.S. for elementary schools from 1928 through the 1970s. The show was sponsored by Standard Oil Company of California (now Chevron Corporation), but other than the name there were no commercials. The program featured a high quality introduction to classical music for young people growing up in the 1940s and early 1950s.
Dragon made a series of popular light classical albums for Capitol Records during the 1950s with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. Some of these recordings have been reissued by EMI on CD.
Dragon appears as himself briefly at the end of the 1979 film The In-Laws.
Carmen Dragon is the father of a son Daryl Dragon of the 1970s pop music duo Captain & Tennille, and daughter Carmen E. Dragon - a classical harpist.
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