Via Veneto
Enoch Light and His Orchestra
Originated and Produced by Enoch Light
Arrangements by Lew Davies
Associate Producer: Julie Klages and Robert Byrne
Art Direction: Charles E. Murphy
Cover Art: Giusti
Cover Art: Giusti
Recording Chief: Fred Christe
Mastering: George Piros (stereo), John Johnson (monaural)
Command Records
RS 863 SD
1964
RS 863 SD
1964
From the inside (gatefold) cover: During the steady advance in high fidelity stereophonic recording in recent years, the name that has always been out front, leading the way at every step, has been Enoch Light.
It was Enoch Light who produced the then new concept in musical sound that was introduced on that fabulously successful record, Persuasive Percussion. This record was not only literally heard 'round the world – it actually established a new world of sound recording, the so-called "percussion" recordings, some of which attempted to follow in the musical path that Enoch Light had blazed while others simply borrowed the key word in the title and let it go at that.
The musical concept that was at the heart of Light's innovation was the use of orchestrations carefully and specifically designed to take advantage of the exciting new recording possibilities that were being made available by developments in high fidelity and stereophonic reproduction. Until then, the engi- neers had been ahead of the musicians. The engineers had developed recording facilities to a point at which they were capable of reproducing much more brilliance and more realistic musical excitement than the musicians were producing.
The orchestrations by Lew Davies, put the advances made by the recording engineers to their first real musical test. These arrangements bristled with dramatic musical effects in which, for instance, high, high piccolos were placed in quick, exciting contrast to deep tubas, trombones and baritone saxophones. These were arrangements that were not only musically valid and musically provocative but they re- vealed for the first time the fascinating results that could be obtained with the new recording and play- back systems that the engineers had created.
So quick and spontaneous was the public response to this revelation that Light and Davies plunged deeper into their experiments with musical innovations, creating greater and greater refinements of the melodic, instrumental excitement with such records as Tony Mottola's ROMAN GUITAR (RS 816) and Enoch Light's FAR AWAY PLACES (RS 822) until, eventually, their challenge became too great for even the best that the engineers could accomplish. That was when Enoch Light turned his full attention to what the engineers were doing. He wanted a cleaner, more minutely accurate and completely realistic method of recording than Command's engineers were then getting from what was conceded to be the finest system of tape recording in the world. Fine as it was, it was not good enough to accommodate and capture the glittering brilliance and all the fine intricacies of the music that Light was producing.
The result of this search for new methods was the development of stereo 35mm magnetic film recording introduced on STEREO 35/MM (RS 826) which Life magazine hailed as "the season's biggest ear- opener." Stereo 35mm recording was infinitely more demanding because the very fact that it actually did record and reproduce every note played by every instrument in a huge orchestra with such total clarity, accuracy and with distinct separation from all the other notes being played meant that even the slightest little error became glaringly apparent. Stereo 35mm magnetic film meant that, for the first time, it was possible to hear a large orchestra on records even more clearly and more accurately than it could be heard in the finest auditoriums in the world.
Command's engineers have continued to refine and improve the stereo 35mm process, producing such magnificent records as the new recorded production of CAROUSEL, starring Alfred Drake and Roberta Peters (RS 843) which is "extremely sensitive and beautifully made in every way" according to its composer, Richard Rodgers. These engineers bring to the use of stereo 35mm film an accumulation of knowledge gained through experience that no other group of sound engineers can match.
Now that the technical end of recording has been lifted to this apex of perfection, Enoch Light has once again sought out the music that will bring out all the glories of this perfection by challenging it to the ut- most. But he insists on making that challenge, as he always has, in the most exciting musical terms.
To do this properly, he required vast, soaring melodies that were big enough and bold enough and glorious enough to carry and sustain the exciting musical ideas that were to be built into the orchestrations. Light found a veritable treasure of just such melodies in the incredibly romantic music of Italy -- music whose amazing melodiousness has been sustained in a tradition that runs from O Sole Mio to Arrivederci Roma.
Here are some of the most memorable popular songs ever written, songs whose great inherent me- lodic charm make them favorites whose popularity never diminishes as the years and even decades go by. Lew Davies has dressed them in spectacular orchestrations that not only expose and expand their basic loveliness but, in the brilliance of Stereo 35mm magnetic film recording, give them a dramatic impact such as they have never had before.
To draw out all of the musical flavor that is in the songs and also in these new arrangements... to project the excruciating musical intensity and the vast dynamic range which have been built into the arrangements in order to get the utmost in recording perfection from the Stereo 35mm process, Enoch Light has assembled and drilled a huge and magnificent orchestra made up of musicians who record under his baton regularly. Because of their specialized experience as members of Light's orchestra, these musicians, more than any other musicians anywhere in the world, understand and have the capabilities of responding to the demands that Light makes for creating the most exciting, the most unusual and the most over- whelming musical experiences ever placed on a record.
This record is the final result of years of technical and musical advances.
There has never been anything quite like it before. You, as a listener, may never be quite the same once you have heard it... once you realize what is now actually possible in the reproduction of brilliant, breathtaking musical excitement.
From Billboard - February 29, 1964: Another strong album for the stereo-conscious good music fan. The album is filled with continental charm of Italian melodies played by an large orchestra that includes strings, concertina and guitars. Close your eyes and your listening in Italy to tunes like "Solo Mio," "Anna," "Non Dimenticar" and "Arrivederrci Roma."
O Sole Mio
Via Veneto
Arrivederci, Roma
Per Tutta La Vita (I Want To Be Wanted)
Tango Delle Rose
'Na Voce, 'Na Chitarra, E 'O Poco 'E Luna
Scalinatella (Stairway To The Sea)
Parlami D'Amore, Mariu' (Tell Me That You Love Me)
Anna
Ciumachella (From "Rugantino")
Non Dimenticar (Don't Forget)
Nina
It was Enoch Light who produced the then new concept in musical sound that was introduced on that fabulously successful record, Persuasive Percussion. This record was not only literally heard 'round the world – it actually established a new world of sound recording, the so-called "percussion" recordings, some of which attempted to follow in the musical path that Enoch Light had blazed while others simply borrowed the key word in the title and let it go at that.
The musical concept that was at the heart of Light's innovation was the use of orchestrations carefully and specifically designed to take advantage of the exciting new recording possibilities that were being made available by developments in high fidelity and stereophonic reproduction. Until then, the engi- neers had been ahead of the musicians. The engineers had developed recording facilities to a point at which they were capable of reproducing much more brilliance and more realistic musical excitement than the musicians were producing.
The orchestrations by Lew Davies, put the advances made by the recording engineers to their first real musical test. These arrangements bristled with dramatic musical effects in which, for instance, high, high piccolos were placed in quick, exciting contrast to deep tubas, trombones and baritone saxophones. These were arrangements that were not only musically valid and musically provocative but they re- vealed for the first time the fascinating results that could be obtained with the new recording and play- back systems that the engineers had created.
So quick and spontaneous was the public response to this revelation that Light and Davies plunged deeper into their experiments with musical innovations, creating greater and greater refinements of the melodic, instrumental excitement with such records as Tony Mottola's ROMAN GUITAR (RS 816) and Enoch Light's FAR AWAY PLACES (RS 822) until, eventually, their challenge became too great for even the best that the engineers could accomplish. That was when Enoch Light turned his full attention to what the engineers were doing. He wanted a cleaner, more minutely accurate and completely realistic method of recording than Command's engineers were then getting from what was conceded to be the finest system of tape recording in the world. Fine as it was, it was not good enough to accommodate and capture the glittering brilliance and all the fine intricacies of the music that Light was producing.
The result of this search for new methods was the development of stereo 35mm magnetic film recording introduced on STEREO 35/MM (RS 826) which Life magazine hailed as "the season's biggest ear- opener." Stereo 35mm recording was infinitely more demanding because the very fact that it actually did record and reproduce every note played by every instrument in a huge orchestra with such total clarity, accuracy and with distinct separation from all the other notes being played meant that even the slightest little error became glaringly apparent. Stereo 35mm magnetic film meant that, for the first time, it was possible to hear a large orchestra on records even more clearly and more accurately than it could be heard in the finest auditoriums in the world.
Command's engineers have continued to refine and improve the stereo 35mm process, producing such magnificent records as the new recorded production of CAROUSEL, starring Alfred Drake and Roberta Peters (RS 843) which is "extremely sensitive and beautifully made in every way" according to its composer, Richard Rodgers. These engineers bring to the use of stereo 35mm film an accumulation of knowledge gained through experience that no other group of sound engineers can match.
Now that the technical end of recording has been lifted to this apex of perfection, Enoch Light has once again sought out the music that will bring out all the glories of this perfection by challenging it to the ut- most. But he insists on making that challenge, as he always has, in the most exciting musical terms.
To do this properly, he required vast, soaring melodies that were big enough and bold enough and glorious enough to carry and sustain the exciting musical ideas that were to be built into the orchestrations. Light found a veritable treasure of just such melodies in the incredibly romantic music of Italy -- music whose amazing melodiousness has been sustained in a tradition that runs from O Sole Mio to Arrivederci Roma.
Here are some of the most memorable popular songs ever written, songs whose great inherent me- lodic charm make them favorites whose popularity never diminishes as the years and even decades go by. Lew Davies has dressed them in spectacular orchestrations that not only expose and expand their basic loveliness but, in the brilliance of Stereo 35mm magnetic film recording, give them a dramatic impact such as they have never had before.
To draw out all of the musical flavor that is in the songs and also in these new arrangements... to project the excruciating musical intensity and the vast dynamic range which have been built into the arrangements in order to get the utmost in recording perfection from the Stereo 35mm process, Enoch Light has assembled and drilled a huge and magnificent orchestra made up of musicians who record under his baton regularly. Because of their specialized experience as members of Light's orchestra, these musicians, more than any other musicians anywhere in the world, understand and have the capabilities of responding to the demands that Light makes for creating the most exciting, the most unusual and the most over- whelming musical experiences ever placed on a record.
This record is the final result of years of technical and musical advances.
There has never been anything quite like it before. You, as a listener, may never be quite the same once you have heard it... once you realize what is now actually possible in the reproduction of brilliant, breathtaking musical excitement.
From Billboard - February 29, 1964: Another strong album for the stereo-conscious good music fan. The album is filled with continental charm of Italian melodies played by an large orchestra that includes strings, concertina and guitars. Close your eyes and your listening in Italy to tunes like "Solo Mio," "Anna," "Non Dimenticar" and "Arrivederrci Roma."
O Sole Mio
Via Veneto
Arrivederci, Roma
Per Tutta La Vita (I Want To Be Wanted)
Tango Delle Rose
'Na Voce, 'Na Chitarra, E 'O Poco 'E Luna
Scalinatella (Stairway To The Sea)
Parlami D'Amore, Mariu' (Tell Me That You Love Me)
Anna
Ciumachella (From "Rugantino")
Non Dimenticar (Don't Forget)
Nina
There's no one like him, is there? I just adore him. Just this morning I scored 'Beatles Classics by Enoch Light' Has to be a great one!
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