This Is My Beloved - Alfred Ryder

 

This Is My Beloved

This Is My Beloved

Narration by Alfred Ryder

From The Book by Walter Benton

Published by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.

Original Musical Score by Vernon Duke

Orchestra & Chorus Conducted by Lehman Engel

Recording Engineer: Tom Dowd

Cover: Bill Hughes

Supervision: Herbert Abramson

Atlantic 1252

1956

From the back cover: The Narrator

Alfred Ryder mad his debut as a child actor in Eva Le Gallienne's production of Peter Pan. He has since been performing in one theatrical medium or another. He has also taught acting, and has directed several plays. Six years ago he toured the country as Hamlet with the Margaret Webster Shakespeare Company. His Broadway credits include "Orestes" to Judith Anderson's "Clytemnestra" in Tower Beyond Tragedy; "Mark Antony" against the "Cassius" of Basil Rathbone in Julius Caesar' "Oswald" to the aforementioned Miss Le Gallienne's "Mrs. Alving" in Ben's Ghost, and leading roles in such plays as Hello Jack, Away And Sing, All The Living, etc. Alfred Ryder also appeared in the Fourth Street Theatre's production of Uncle Vanya in which he related Franchot Tone in the leading role. He has been seen extensively on the major television shows in parts ranging all the way from Shakespeare to such modern authors as F. Scott Fitzgerald and Arthur Schnitzler.

The Composer 

Distinguished both as popular song writer (Vernon Duke) and classical composer (Vladimir Dukelsky), Vernon Duke was born in Russia in 1903. When he arrived here in 1929, he was already renowned in Europe as a composer. His music for the Diaghilev ballet Zephyr and Flora, with decor by the great French painter Georges Braque, was a major success on the Continent in the 20's. Among Mr. Dukelsky's accomplishments are three symphonies, four ballets, and concertos for piano, for violin, and for cello. Under the name Vernon Duke – suggested to him by his friend George Gershwin – he has written copiously for the stage. His musical comedy success include the Ziegfeld Follies (1934 and 1935 editions), Cabin In The Sky, Banjo Eyes, Sadie Thompson, Two's Company, etc. He has composed the background music for numerous films, and a flock of song hits are to his credit, including such perennial favorites as April In Paris and I Can't Get Started. All the music for This Is My Belonged was orchestrated by the composer. Mr. Duke has published a fascinating autobiographical account of his musical experience (Passport To Paris; Little, Brown & Co.).

The Conductor

Lehman Engel is well known to music lovers for his work as composer and musical director on records, for the theatre, for radio and for television. Mr. Engel conducts the forth-six choral and instrument musicians, assembled from leading symphonic and choral groups, thought he intricacies of Mr. Duke's score with a profound feeling for the mood and color of the music.

The Author

Walter Benton is Austrian by birth and has lived most of his life in America. He is a graduate of Ohio University, and he served in the U.S. Army during World War II with the rank of Captain. His work has appeared in Poetry Magazine, Esquire and the Yale Review. His second volume of poems, Never A Greater Need, was published by Knopf in 1948.