Leonid Hambro and Jascha Zayde perform Saint Saens, Debussy, Franck, and Poulenc

I seem to have developed a "thing" for four hand piano music over the last few years. I cannot really explain why this is so but the combination of two like minded individuals, pounding the ivories in great music is, well...so irresistible!

Here we have the contents of two LP's, issued on Columbia and Command Classics, that feature the talents of the all but forgotten piano duo of Leonid Hambro and Jascha Zayde. Hambro is best known for his long association with the legendary Victor Borge while Zayde, I must confess, was totally unknown to me. Turns out that Zayde was a fixture on New York radio for many years while Hambro, after pretty much retiring from concertizing, taught at the university level. Together, they prove to be excellent collaborators and they play with good taste and superb musicianship in this program of French music.

I want to call attention here to the exquisite performance of Carnival of the Animals with words by Ogden Nash recited by the great Noel Coward. This really is, in my opinion, a definitive take on this delightful work, Hambro and Zayde are magnificent and Andre Kostelanetz leads his New York musicians to the manner born. You will enjoy this immensely!

I have another Hambro and Zayde LP, Mozart and Schubert, and I will upload at sometime down the line.

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Andre Kostelanetz conducts Opera without Words

In his day, Andre Kostelanetz was American Columbia's answer to Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops. A talented conductor, arranger, and instrumentalist, Kostelanetz could do it all and the results of his talent were scores of light classics that sold in the millions, financing many projects for the more "serious" classics released by Ormandy, Szell, Mitropoulos, among others.

Time though, has not been kind to Kostelanetz. Whereas Fiedler is still a household name some 30+ years after his death, Kostelanetz has all but faded from the scene. I wonder if this could be due to the fact that most of the latter's works were recorded with "anonymous" orchestras while Fiedler always had the famed "Pops" on the label in equal billing. Well, just a thought.

Kostelanetz did view himself as somewhat of a musical educator and his arrangements of music from La Traviata and La Boheme were efforts to capsule highlights from these masterworks into a neat 40 minute package. From my perch, I believe he succeeded brilliantly and these two productions are executed on a high order. In fact, Erich Kunzel would revisit these Kostelanetz efforts much later, inspiring him to record more "opera without words" thus snagging a few grammys along the way.

I hope you enjoy this well filled offering as much as I do. Both date from the early 50's I would say.

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