CD REVIEW - HENRY MANCINI
CENTENNIAL
Ibs CLASSICAL IBS82024 [68:58]

Maravilloso, this is not a reissue but an exciting brand-new release of light music, and from an unusual source at that. The Orquesta Filarmónica de Málaga of over 60 players was founded in the Andalusian city in 1991, and is clearly a quality ensemble conducted here by José Maria Moreno Valiente, who holds the title of Superior Professor of Orchestral Conducting (Conservatory of Valencia).

The album features a 19-track selection of tuneful pieces from the pen of the genial pipe-smoking Hank – one of the film music greats – seven in distinctive arrangements by composer and jazz pianist, José Carra (b 1983), a member of the orchestra.

Some of "the usual suspects" are included, like Charade, Days of Wine and Roses, Dear Heart, Baby Elephant Walk, Moon River and The Pink Panther. Of added interest to me, there are also titles that are not found on a number of the over 90 Mancini albums I already have: Lightly Latin, Lujon (Slow Hot Wind), March with Mancini, Nothing to Lose (The Party), Ohio Riverboat, Overture to a Pops Concert, Strings on Fire, and The Great Waldo Pepper March.

Knowledgeable booklet notes are provided by Pablo Bujalance, the award-winning Spanish writer and journalist.

Mancini (1924-1994), whose centennial fell on April 16th, won album of the year at the inaugural Grammy Awards in 1959 for The Music from Peter Gunn, and was the first composer to win back-to-back Oscars for best original song (Moon and Days, both written with lyricist Johnny Mercer) in 1961/2. Readers may recall that in total he won four Academy Awards, a Golden Globe and 20 Grammy Awards, plus a posthumous Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1995.

All involved in the enterprise of making this album should be commended for giving us much to enjoy in these increasingly turbulent times around the globe.

© Peter Burt, November 2024