April In Paris - Victor Young

 

April In Paris

April In Paris

Victor Young and His Singing Strings

"Ver Tois" courtesy Worth, Paris

Decca Records DL 8243

1956

From the back cover: Victor Young has triumphed in both fields of music – he is equally proficient as a composer and as a conductor. He has furnished notable scores for famous films and, as evidenced by this album, has directed concert arrangements as well as popular songs.

In his teens Victor Young went to Poland, where his grandfather enrolled him in the Imperial Conservatory. Shortly thereafter, he made his professional debut as concert violinist with the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Julius Vertheim. It was in appreciation of his talents and as a tangible evidence of his success that Joseph Goldfeder presented the youthful artist with a rare Guarnerius Violin – an instrument he cherishes to this very day.

In 1920, Young returned to the United States and at the age of 21 made his American debut as concert violinist in Orchestra Hall, Chicago. Immediately afterwards, he was offered $500 a week for a vaudeville tour; but when he discovered that he would not be permitted to play classical music on the tour he tore up the contract. This, despite the fact that he and his sister were penniless. But giving occasional concerts he managed to eke out a living.

Two years later, on a ticket sent him by his fiancée, Young went to Hollywood where Sid Grauman heard him play and engaged him for the Million Dollar Symphony Orchestra. His playing at Grauman's aroused national attention and, before the year was over, he and his newly acquired bride were back in Chicago. Ever since, he has consistently pioneered symphonic jazz – the blending of the jazz idiom with classical structures, interpolating jazz rhythms and harmonies into long-accepted forms.

Victor Young is actually the creator of what amounts to a comparatively new art form: that of writing original scores for motion pictures. The importance of film background may not be readily apparent. That is the intent. The music must set the mood of the film as a whole and each scene as an entity; it must suggest and describe the locale; it must point up the content of the story. Victor Young has made many important contributions to the cinematic field, including the memorable scores for "For Whom The Bell Tolls," "Love Lettere," "Golden Earrings," and the dramatically satisfying music for "Samson And Delilah."

In this group Victor Young appears in another of his many roles. With his aggregation of "Singing Strings" he makes the violin actually sing straight to the heart. The mood is indicated by the title "April In Paris," and, though the accent may be French, the appeal is universal. Here are romantic, rose-colored memories of Parisian streets, the mists rising from the river Seine, a fleeting glimpse of the Place Pigalle, the haunting melodies of "Parlez-Moi D'Amour," "Danse Avec Moi," "Comme Ci, Comme Ca," "La Mer," and other tantalizing tunes. Here, singing its way across two continents, is the language of love.

April In Paris

Dancing With You

Speak To Me Of Love

Pigalle

Beyond The Sea

Comme Ci, Comme Ca

The River Seine

La Vie En Rose

Autumn Leaves (Piano solo by Ray Turner)

If You Love Me (Really Love Me) (Hymne a L'Amour)

Under Paris Skies (Sous le Ciel de Paris)

(Ah, the Apple Trees) When The World Was Young