More
than ten years after Henry Mancini’s death his music has
acquired classic status. Many of his best compositions
were evergreens even during his lifetime. Listening to
some of the best known pieces in one or two sittings, as
I did prior to this review, it isn’t easy to pinpoint:
what is typical Mancini? He moved freely between genres,
from sentimental ballads to big band jazz. He adjusted
so well to the different requirements that the abiding
impression is of a chameleon. Where is the real Mancini? Or
rather: are there several Mancinis? With Gershwin there
is often something distinctive, something that makes him
stand out among other contemporaries. With Mancini I recognise
tunes I already knew but those new to me could actually
be by any of many composers from his generation. This is
not to say that it isn’t good but the music lacks the stamp
of a personality. The arrangements may in part be to blame;
the experienced Richard Hayman is another chameleon. He
had many years as arranger in residence for the Boston
Pops and other orchestras. Mancini’s own arrangements have
that stamp of distinction – I didn’t have more than one
or two in my collection.
I
am sorry for starting on a somewhat negative note but this
is not really an assessment, it’s just a meditation. It
shouldn’t detract from the enjoyment of the music. It didn’t
for me, and I will certainly play this disc on suitable
occasions as background music or to demonstrate what a
skilled arranger can accomplish. Recorded more than fifteen
years ago in Bratislava the sound is still excellent and
even if the musicians may not be as attuned to the idiom
as Americans would have been, they are professionals and
do a good job with some groovy instrumental solos showing
delight in the music. Most of the plums in Mancini’s pudding
are here and Richard Hayman mostly gets the most out of
each number. Perhaps I would have liked Moon River to
be more intimate with less marked beat and less pompousness,
but Baby Elephant Walk with its pumping boogie-woogie
rhythm is a real swinger. The Great Race March is
a fresh and stunning piece in the Sousa vein, even incorporating
some quotations. The Pink Panther is good big band
jazz and Two for the Road has a harmonica playing
the lead in a jazzy arrangement. Pie in the Face Polka
is great fun, lively circus music. The Life Force Theme
from a vampire saga is a Bolero-like piece, hammering the
melody into the listener’s head. Generally speaking I derived
more pleasure from the rhythmic numbers; the ballad-style
pieces were more run-of-the-mill, pretty, professional
but anonymous.
Beaver
Valley, completed around 1970, is a more ambitious work, a concert suite
in three movements, employing earlier themes. The bleak
second movement, Black Snow, is an atmospheric
piece and in the third, The Sons of Italy, Mancini
evokes sunny memories of the land of his ancestors. He
also pays a tribute to his father, who was an amateur
piccolo-player in the “Sons of Italy Band” in Philadelphia.
All
in all this is good entertainment. Anyone wanting a well-played
cross-section of Mancini’s hits mixed with some lesser-known
pieces need look no further.
Göran Forsling
Richard
Hayman and his Orchestra 
