Klaus Döring's Classical Music/Klaus Döring's Klassische Musik

Thursday, September 22, 2022

Ennio.Morricone.Concerto.Arena di Verona.Live.2002

Wednesday, September 21, 2022

The Shadow Of Your Smile

2,101,639 views Jan 28, 2015 Provided to YouTube by Universal Music Group

The Shadow Of Your Smile · Beegie Adair · Jack Jezzro

Jazz And The Movies

℗ 2009 Green Hill Productions

Released on: 2012-01-01

Producer: Jack Jezzro

Composer Lyricist: Johnny Mandel

Composer Lyricist: Paul Francis Webster

JAMES LAST Notturno di Chopin ( Lecce)

Famous Music Composers New York

by Hermione Lai, Interlude

Lincoln Center

In 1944, Leonard Bernstein wrote music for the musical On the Town. It tells the story of three sailors on shore leave for their 24 hours of adventures and romance in New York City. The song “New York, New York,” with lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green features the well-known line:

New York, New York, a helluva town
The Bronx is up but Battery’s down.

Celebrated composers born in New York or famously active in that city

New York City

For the 1949 MGM film the word “helluva” was changed to “wonderful” to protect delicate sensibilities. I’ve been to New York a couple of times, and it is still a helluva town. There is around the clock excitement including Broadway shows, museums, historical attractions, and some of the best restaurants on the planet. And for every lover of classical music, there is no better place to visit than Lincoln Center to catch the NY Philharmonic, the Metropolitan Opera, the New York City Ballet, the Juilliard School of Music; in all 11 resident arts organizations presenting music, theater, dance, film, opera and artists from across the globe. Did I already mention Carnegie hall? The city of New York was, and still is, home to countless famous music composers, so I decided to write a blog on celebrated composers either born in New York or famously active in that city.

Leonard Bernstein

Talking about Leonard Bernstein, although he was born in Massachusetts, he made NYC his permanent home. He lived in various apartments in Manhattan, and as the first American-born conductor of a major American symphony orchestra, he led the New York Philharmonic to world fame. It is no surprise that his most popular musical for Broadway, West Side Story, is set in the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City.

George Frederick Bristow

Leonard Bernstein is considered “one of the most prodigiously talented and successful musicians in American history,” but famous music composers of New York can be traced back to the middle of the 19th century. George Frederick Bristow was born in the New York borough of Brooklyn on 19 December 1825. Musically precocious, he started his professional career as a violinist at the age of 13 and played first violin with the New York Philharmonic SO from 1843 to 1879. Bristow was also active as a conductor, and he led the New York Harmonic Society (1851–63) and the Mendelssohn Society (1867–71) in performances of large choral and orchestral works. I read that Bristow attempted to establish a “native style in American art music.” As such, we frequently find American titles or textual content in his compositions, for example, “Rip Van Winkle” “The Great Republic” “Columbus” and “The Pioneer.” Nationalist titles aside, scholars write “his music was typically European in style, reminiscent of the music of Mendelssohn.” In all, Bristow appears to have written 135 compositions, and on the strength of this output alone, he should certainly be considered one of the famous music composers of New York.

George Gershwin

George Gershwin, 1935

The best-known and most famous music composer of New York is undoubtedly George Gershwin. Born in Brooklyn, he grew up on New York’s Lower East Side, and at the age of 15, he already worked for the Tin Pan Alley music-publishing firm of Jerome H. Remick & Company as a song plugger. Basically, that means he was engaged as a salesman to promote the firm’s songs by playing and singing them for performers. In 1918 he signed a contract with Thomas B. Harms Music Publishing Company, a firm that eventually published over 90 percent of all Broadway songs. Gershwin lived the American dream, and since he composed sometimes up to 6 songs a day, he made a financial killing. “For the longest time,” as he later wrote in life “I wanted to work at big compositions” and within a couple of years, he developed from a songwriter into a composer. Gershwin “primarily synthesized and utilized elements of many styles, including the music of New York’s Yiddish theatre, vaudeville, ragtime, operetta, jazz, Tin Pan Alley and Broadway songs, the music of the Gullah people and the impressionist and post-Romantic music of European composers.” Intimately connected with New York City, his Rhapsody in Blue and the Concerto in F “ brought jazz music into the concert hall.”

John Zorn

The metaphor of calling New York City a melting pot dates from the beginning of the 20th century. Then as now, it is home to a unique diversity of people, and over 800 languages are spoken throughout its 5 boroughs. That kind of diversity is expressed in glorious food, areas of different religions and cultures, and music. Currently, a Manhattan-based scene that is sometimes called “New Music” has emerged. As a contemporary musical stream, its composers are strongly influenced by minimalism and the various musical styles of the community. John Zorn, born in New York City, writes about his compositions. “All the various styles are organically connected to one another. I’m an additive person—the entire storehouse of my knowledge informs everything I do. People are so obsessed with the surface that they can’t see the connections, but they are there.” Reminiscent of Gershwin’s eclecticism, Zorn uses avant-garde and experimental approaches to composition and improvisation, “inclusive of jazz, rock, hardcore, classical, contemporary, surf, metal, soundtrack, ambient, and world music.” Zorn explains, “I write in moments, in disparate sound blocks, so I find it convenient to store these events on filing cards so they can be sorted and ordered with minimum effort. Pacing is essential. If you move too fast, people tend to stop hearing the individual moments as complete in themselves and more as elements of a sort of cloud effect… I worked 10 to 12 hours a day for a week, just orchestrating these file cards.” Critics have called Zorn “one of the most influential musicians of our time,” and he is certainly one of the famous contemporary music composers of New York.

Edward MacDowell

Although he spent the majority of his professional life in Boston, Edward MacDowell was born in New York City. Coming from a Quaker background, young Edward showed great talent for drawing and music at an early age, and he started piano and violin lessons at the age of 8. Destined for greatness, his mother took him to Paris to attend the Conservatoire, but he soon left for Germany to study composition with Joachim Raff. We also know that he played for Franz Liszt at conservatory concerts, and that the great virtuosos recommended some early MacDowell compositions for publication by Breitkopf & Härtel. Returning to the United States, MacDowell and his wife lived in Boston from 1888 to 1896, from then on in New York until his death in 1908. MacDowell described “music as a language, but a language of the intangible, a kind of soul language.” While the romantic tradition in music never lost its relevance and importance, MacDowell eventually began using elements of American folk music in his compositions, and “his two piano concertos are described as the “most important works in the genre by an American composer other than Gershwin. His first piano concerto premiered in New York in 1888, and he returned the following year to premiere his second.

William Schuman

When it comes to performing arts education, the Juilliard School in New York City is considered one of the best drama, music, and dance schools in the world. Founded by Frank Damrosch, the godson of Franz Liszt in 1905, the conservatory quickly convinced American musicians that they did not need to go abroad for advanced study. In 1945, composer William Schuman expanded the school’s curriculum by establishing a Dance Division under the direction of Martha Hill and he also established the Juilliard String Quartet “alongside a groundbreaking music theory curriculum.” Schuman was born in Manhattan and later enrolled at New York University to pursue a business degree. He already dabbled in composition when on 13 April 1930 he attended a Carnegie Hall concert of the New York Philharmonic, conducted by Arturo Toscanini. Schuman later said of that experience, “I was astounded at seeing the sea of stringed instruments, and everybody bowing together. The visual thing alone was astonishing. But the sound! I was overwhelmed. I had never heard anything like it. The very next day, I decided to become a composer.” While Schuman’s recollections of events might not have been entirely accurate, he did become one of the famous music composers of New York. Schuman won the inaugural Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1943 for his Cantata No. 2 “A Free Song,” and conductor Leonard Slatkin wrote, “Schuman is the man who may eventually emerge as the great American symphonist.

Marion Bauer

Marion Eugénie Bauer was born in Washington, but showing an early aptitude for music, she moved to New York City to focus on a career in composition. She met the pianist Raoul Pugno, and he invited Bauer to study with him in Paris in 1906. In turn, Bauer became the first American to study with Nadia Boulanger. For the next decade Bauer moved between New York City and Europe, but in September 1926 she was hired as instructor, and later professor, at the New York University music department, becoming the first female music faculty. She taught classes in composition, form and analysis, aesthetics and criticism, and music history and appreciation. As a composer, Bauer wrote for piano, chamber ensemble, symphonic orchestra, solo voice, and vocal ensembles. Always an advocate of contemporary music, her own compositional voice is considered relatively conservative, featuring plenty of impressionistic and romantic influences in her works. Following a concert exclusively devoted to her music in New York Town Hall in 1951, a critic writes, “The music is prevailingly contrapuntal, and dissonance is not absent. Yet the fundamental concept is melodic, the thinking clear and logical, the sentiment sincere and direct.”

John Corigliano

John Corigliano was born in New York City in 1938, son of John Corigliano Sr., the concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic for 23 years. He studied at Columbia University, worked as a music programmer and music director for New York City radio stations, and worked as an assistant to the producer on the Leonard Bernstein “Young People’s Concert.” Corigliano achieved international recognition by winning the chamber-music competition of the Spoleto Festival in Italy with a Sonata for Violin and Piano. He soon collaborated with mainstream musicians and institutions, and “his oft-stated commitment to intelligibility and his mostly tonal early works have sometimes obscured the extent of his technical range and his often daunting progressivism.” To be sure, Corigliano is an eclectic composer who is not afraid to use many styles in his writing. “He is also a colorist,” according to a conductor, “as he is able to use whatever instruments and vocal forces he has at hand to create new sound worlds.” He has won a Pulitzer, an Oscar and five Grammys, and he explains “When I was writing my early pieces, I did it in a hyper way because for me, composing was such a nerve-racking thing to do. Now, the whole note is my friend; an adagio is what I look for.”

Elliott Carter

Elliott Carter, born in New York City, is one of the most famous music composers of the second half of the 20th century. His compositions are performed throughout the world, as his musical language combines elements of European modernism and “American ultra-modernism in a distinctive style of surging rhythmic vitality, intense dramatic contrast, and innovative facture.” He studied at Harvard and subsequently with Nadia Boulanger, and upon his return to the United States, he settled in New York. In his Cello Sonata, Carter was looking to “re-examine all aspects of music in order to achieve an emancipated musical discourse, in which a new rhythmic texture brought with it a harmonic language, establishing a new emotional intensity and breadth, and giving his music an epic quality.” Carter held teaching positions at the Peabody Conservatory (1946–8), Columbia University (1948–50), Queens College, CUNY (1955–6), Yale University (1960–62), MIT, and Cornell University (from 1967). His one long-term teaching position was at the Juilliard School (1964–84). His numerous honors include two Pulitzer Prizes (1960, 1973), the Sibelius Medal (1961), the Gold Medal of the National Institute for Arts and Letters (1971), the Ernst von Siemens Prize (1985), the National Medal of the Arts (1985), the Gold Medal of the Royal Philharmonic Society (1996), the Prince Rainier Foundation Music Award (1998), and induction into the Classical Music Hall of Fame (1998).

Aaron Copland

Aaron Copland, 1933

In this little blog, it is of course impossible to describe in detail the countless famous music composers of New York, but I might at least mention William Fry, Charles Griffes, Leo Ornstein, Rubin Goldmark, Rogger Sessions, Gunther Schuller, Leon Kirchner, Bernard Herrmann, Meredith Monk, Laurie Anderson and a whole crop of young and exciting composers either born or calling New York home. It might be fitting to close with the “Dean of American Composers” Aaron Copland, born in the borough of Brooklyn on 14 November 1900. One of America’s greatest contemporary composers, he was able to capture the American experience with works that have an immediate appeal. As he wrote, “I no longer feel the need of seeking out conscious Americanism. Because we live here and work here, we can be certain that when our music is mature it will also be American in quality.” Copland had long felt an increasing dissatisfaction with the relations between the music-loving public and the living composer. He wrote, “It seemed to me that we composers were in danger of working in a vacuum.” He quickly realized that the radio, phonographs, and film scores were actually creating contemporary music. “It made no sense to ignore them and to continue writing as if they did not exist. It was worth the effort to see if I couldn’t say what I had to say in the simplest possible terms.” To me, Aaron Copland is simply a legend, and certainly one of the most famous music composers of New York.

WER IM ORCHESTER DEN TON ANGIBT

Warum hauen nur Männer auf die Pauke?

Auch im Konzertsaal herrscht noch keine Geschlechtergerechtigkeit.

Von: VOLKER WEINL, Bild

In deutschen Orchestern geben meistens Männer den Ton an. Das ergab eine Befragung des Deutschen Musikinformationszentrums unter 129 Berufsorchestern in Deutschland.

Insgesamt wirken 60 Prozent Männer und 40 Prozent Frauen zwar halbwegs ausgeglichen. Weniger harmonisch wirkt das Geschlechterverhältnis, wenn man sich die in der Rangordnung am höchsten stehenden und am besten bezahlten Positionen anschaut: Bei den sogenannten Stimmführern und Solisten (Zuschlag bis zu 876,70 Euro) beträgt der Männeranteil 74 Prozent. Auch eindrucksvoll: Frauen spielen zwar 61 Prozent aller Violinen. Der Konzertmeister aber – die wichtigste Geige im Orchester – ist in 70 Prozent der Fälle männlich. Nur den Konzertmeister begrüßt der Dirigent per Handschlag.

Frauen sind auf dem Vormarsch, heißt es. So passt es ins Bild, wenn das Statistische Bundesamt aktuell mitteilt

Und der Dirigent? Ist praktisch immer ein Mann! „Aktuell gibt es in 129 Orchestern nur drei Chefdirigentinnen“, sagt Anke Steinbeck (42) vom Deutschen Musikrat. „Im Orchesterbetrieb gilt leider noch immer: Wo Macht, Renommee und Geld zusammenkommen, dominieren die Männer.“

Orchester-Musikerinnen waren früher die Ausnahme

Auch am Klischee von typisch männlich und typisch weiblichen Instrumenten ist was dran. Pauke: 95 Prozent Männer. Harfe: 94 Prozent Frauen. Warum? Die Gründe sind vor allem historisch. „Anfang der 1960er-Jahre waren Frauen in professionellen Orchestern noch die absolute Ausnahme“, sagt Gerald Mertens (63) von der Deutschen Orchestervereinigung. „Waren überhaupt Frauen dabei, spielten sie vorrangig Harfe.“ Bei den Berliner Philharmonikern gab es noch bis 1982 ausschließlich Männer.

Die wichtigsten Orchester-Instrumente – und wer sie spielt:

98 Prozent beträgt der Männer-Anteil bei der TUBA

97 Prozent der Musiker mit POSAUNE sind Männer

95 Prozent der Orchester-PAUKISTEN sind Männer

94 Prozent beträgt der Frauen-Anteil bei der HARFE

85 Prozent ist die Männerquote beim KONTRABASS

66 Prozent der VIOLINISTEN sind Frauen.

An den körperlichen Voraussetzungen liegt es nicht, dass Frauen selten „Männerinstrumente“ wie Tuba, Posaune oder Kontrabass spielen. Mertens: „Es kann einfach Jahrzehnte dauern, bis sich Rollenmodelle ändern. Unterrichtet aber an einer Musikschule endlich eine Kontrabassistin, wirkt diese dann auch als Vorbild für junge Mädchen.“

Doch Mertens glaubt an eine weiblichere Orchester-Zukunft: „Junge Mädchen und Frauen legen im Vergleich zu jungen Männern offenbar eine höhere Übe-Disziplin an den Tag. Daher vermuten wir, dass sie in nicht allzu ferner Zeit auch verstärkt Solopositionen besetzen werden.“

Tuesday, September 20, 2022

JAMES LAST - New World Symphony --- His music and his life

The James Last story commences on April 17th, 1929. He was born in Bremen, the third son for Louis and Martha Last, and christened Hans. His father, a post-office worker, was a keen amateur musician, competent on both drums and bandoneon.

The brothers Last, Robert, Werner and young Hans, enjoyed their game of street football and so father Louis was pleased when all three expressed more than just an passing interest in music.

By the age of nine, young Hans could play "Hanschen Klein", a German folk song in the piano, but his first music teacher, a lady, claimed at the age of ten he was totally unmusical. A year or so later with tutor number two, a gentleman, things started to happen. At the age of fourteen Hans was off to military school in Frankfurt where he studied brass, piano and tuba.

Hans' parents were pleased with the appointment. It was hoped that he would emerge from the school as classically trained conductor. After passing his first exam, the school was bombed and the students were evacuated to Buckenburg, just outside Hanover, to continue their training.

Later, Buckenburg was also lost in the war. Hans claims that if he had stayed at Buckenburg, he would have been a conductor of serious music by the time he was twenty three.

After the war, Hans-Gunter Oesterreich, who organised entertainment for the American clubs, signed Hans Last for his first professional engagements. Later, Oesterreich secured a major post with Radio Bremen, and soon, the Last brothers were all working together.

In 1948, they joined forces with Karl-Heinz Becker, and became known as the Last-Becker Ensemble.

Hans was sold on jazz, Woody Herman and Stephan Grapelli being among his favorites. In 1959 Hans Last was voted Germany's Top Jazz Bassist, a title held until 1953. In 1955 the Last-Becker Ensemble was on the verge of breaking up. At this stage Hansi considered forming his own band, but lack of funds halted this project. Instead they joined the North German Radio Dance Orchestra in Hamburg.

Soon Hans was arranging music for the NDR, he stayed with the NDR until 1964 when he signed a contract for Polydor. He became a much sought after arranger and was soon scoring hits for Caterina Valente, Freddy Quinn, Helmut Zacharias in Hamburg, he even flew to Nashville to record Brenda Lee singing in German.

It was in 1955 that Hans married the attractive Waltraud Wiese from Bremen and by 1958, the Last household had become four, with the birth of a son Ronald and a daughter Caterina.

So to 1964 and a contract with Polydor. Soon a couple of albums hit the market. Hans Last and his Orchestra had arrived, but suddenly the next release on the Polydor label featured James Last and his Orchestra. Somebody somewhere within the record company felt that James had more international appeal than Hans.

Now James Last wanted to unleash upon the Germans his new party sound. His idea was to record the top hits of the day, and them hold a party in the studio to build up the atmosphere. In 1965 the Non Stop Dancing sound of James Last was launched.

In 1967, with seven or eight of his early albums making the German charts, and the launch of the Non Stop Dancing series, Polydor produced a budget price sampler album "This is James Last" and suddenly the Last sound was launched worldwide.

In the United Kingdom, this sampler sold for twelve shillings and sixpence. "This is James Last" entered the British album charts on April 15th, 1967, it stayed for forty-eight weeks and reached the number six position. In the U.K. sales topped 400,000. James Last had arrived.

James Last albums were selling by the thousands in Germany, Holland, Belgium, and here in the United Kingdom. Album after album reached the national charts. Whilst on a crest of the wave in Europe, it is reported that in Canada in 1967, five percent of the total record sales were by James Last.

By 1969, the success in the record sales was phenomenal, but the Last band was a studio band, and yet to appear live. During 1969 Hans Last was persuaded to take the James Last Orchestra on tour. A four week tour of Germany had been lined up.

Many artists throughout the music business are great on disc, and terrible on stage, and vice-versa. Hansi wanted to recreate on stage the stereo sound which had been so succesful in the studio.

First the services of Peter Klemt were secured, he had succesfully mastered and mixed the early recordings. Peter immediately went out and purchased two mixers, one for the Hanover strings, whom Hansi had hired for the tour, and one for the brass section. The rhythm quartet was in front flanked by the English choir.

By the end of the tour, Last was well and truly established. Soon plans were in hand to take the Orchestra to Canada for Expo 69 in Montreal.

1969 was a big year for the James Last Orchestra. In Cannes they received the International Midem Prize, the music industry's Oscar. In Germany they were voted the number one Orchestra. The Germans gave Hansi the title of "Arranger of the Year".

In 1970 the Last Orchestra were on the road in Germany again, a tour which had to be lengthened because of the demand for tickets. They toured Denmark and the gold discs were arriving thick and fast.

Now Hansi wanted to conquer the British. The entourage finally arrived in October, 1971. The New Victoria Theatre in London, housed the first concert.

Whilst records came at the rate of around six a year, 1972, must have been the most productive year on the road. Another tour of Germany was followed by visits to Russia, South America, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan. 10,000 fans attended a James Last Voodoo Party in the Hamburg woods.

Last returned to Britain in 1973. The tour included three sell out concerts at London's Royal Albert Hall. By the time the 1973, UK tour was under way, twenty seven Last albums have entered the British album charts. After Britain, another tour of Canada and in December 1973, Hansi received his 100th Gold Record.

During 1973, we saw the composition of a leissure centre Hansi built for the band at Fintel on Lumberg Heath. Here the band coudl relax and take a few days break, the complex had half a dozen or so bedrooms, kitchen, lounge, sports equipment. All the members in the band were given a key, and the centre was frequently used by many Last musicians to get away and relax after weeks on the road and in the recording studio.

By the mid-seventies Hansi and the James Last Orchestra were established as a top recording artist and sell out concerts attraction around the world.

Hansi, was also scoring as a composer. Most Last albums have included a Last composition. In March 1969 Andy Williams entered the U.S. charts with Hansi's composition "Happy Heart", it stayed for 22 weeks and reached number seven. Here in May, it reached number nineteen, appearing in the charts for nine weeks.

Elvis Presley recorded Hansi's composition called "No Words", words were added and "No Words" became "Fool". "Fool" reached number 23 in the U.K. charts in August 1973 and stayed for seven weeks.

Without any chart success, probably the most famous Last composition is "Games That Lovers Play". Over 100 recordings available worldwide including versions by Freddy Quinn, Connie Francis and Eddie Fisher.

Although Andy Williams scored with "Happy Heart" the number has been recorded by Petula Clark, Roger Williams, The Gunter Kaftan Choir, The Anita Kerr Singers, Norrie Paramor and his Orchestra and Peggy March.

Television has played a major part in the James Last success story. In 1968 ZDF Television launched a new music spectacular entitled Star Parade. The James Last Orchestra were residents for the 50 shows produced. The biggest names in music all guested on the show; Abba, Barry Manilow, Cliff Richard, Boney M, Roger Whitaker.

Many television specials had been produced here in the United Kingdom. In 1971 on their first British tour the BBC took Hansi and the Orchestra along to the Dorchester Hotel, to record a fifty minute special before an invited audience. Dance Night at the Royal Albert Hall was captured by the Beeb, and in 1976 was recorded a the Shepherd Bush studios.

By 1978, the James Last Orchestra, had achieved virtually what they set out to do. Hansi had noticed that at concerts in Great Britain, the audience would get up and dance when he played his non stop dancing titles. The German audiences loved him too, and so later that year Hansi persuaded ZDF Television to come to London, to record a concert at the Royal Albert Hall. The show was put together over two nights, each of those two nights some 5000 fans attended and had a ball.

The British fans were on their feet long before the interval, dancing and prancing around the Royal Albert Hall arena to their favourite James Last polkas. The second half was a riot, the fans had invaded the stage, they danced, they sang, and when Hansi asked them to sit on the floor, they sat on the floor and listened to "Don't Cry For Me Argentina".

Whilst seated, they sang "Cockless and Mussels", "Daisy, Daisy", and "Abide With Me". Back on their feet James Last struck up the band and introduced his version of "Dancing Party", and what a Dancing Party it was, all taking place at a James Last concert and being captured on film.

The show entitled "Live in London" became available on a single album in Germany, a double album in Great Britain. In Germany on television, ZDF presented a ninety minute special, whilst here the BBC gave us two thirty minute shows. On top of that a year or so later, Polydor released the official video, which they sold by the case load. In fact, sales were so good that several dealers listed this video in their top sellers chart.

On April 23rd, 1978 Hansi received the highest award that can be won in Germany. He was awarded the "Bundesverdienstkreuz" by the President of West Germany, for his services to his country.

April 1979, Hansi celebrated his fiftieth birthday in London and the fans presented him with a special birthday cake. In fact, seven cakes shaped into letters and numbers spelling out H-A-N-S-I-5-0.

Two days earlier, Hansi's most successful recording released in Great Britain's "Last The Whole Night Long" entered the British charts. It reached number two and stayed in the charts for forty five weeks.

The demand for live concerts was as high as ever. Late October 1979, the entourage left Hamburg for a month long tour of Japan. For this special occcasion, Hansi recorded a new album specially for the Japanese market entitled "Paintings".

Last was succesful now almost throughout the whole world. Although Hansi has a home in Florida, success in the U.S. has been limited to one album making eighty in the Billboard Top 100.

In April 1980, "The Seduction" hit the Billboard singles charts. It received air play across the United States, achieved position twenty eight and stayed for six weeks. A month later it made the British charts for four weeks reaching position number forty-eight.

In June 1980, the ZDF Television series "Star Parade" came to a close after 50 minute shows. In September 1980, ZDF launched the "Show Express", another ninety minute production featuring James Last, but his came to a halt after ten shows.

James Last worldwide album sales cannot be counted - only estimated. However, in Germany, the trade paper Musicmart claimed Last has sold 1,800,000 in Germany in 1979, and an American publication called "They Have Sold A Million" claim estimated worldwide sales in excess of 40 billion.

Throughout the sixties and seventies, the Last sound was dominant, hearing a track on the radio, the fans would reply "that is James Last".

In the eighties, Hansi experimented with some new sounds. His album "Biscaya" strongly featured bandoneon and synthesizer, "Bluebird" featured pan flute and synthesizer, "Deutsche Vita" was mainly electronic. Many fans welcomed the new sounds, sound were disappointed that the Old James Last sound was missing. However, tracks from these albums, became firm favourites and concert show pieces.

Last still continues to record around six albums per year. He does not spend so much time on the road these days, but in recent years has consistently toured the United Kingdom, Belgium and Holland.

In 1987, Last took the Orchestra to East Berlin for four sell out concerts, the East Berliners had a ball. From those four sell out concerts, Polydor released an album "Live in Berlin", followed by a video. In 1990, James Last joined forces with Richard Clayderman to produce a new album, "Golden Hearts".

His triumphant career has remained so over the years, also after he moved home from Hamburg to the sunny beaches of Florida. His son Ronny has followed his father and helps him as producer. Golf is

James's compensating exercise, almost his second profession. A hobby that the members of his band join him in.

Most James Last fans these days are renewing their collections with compact discs. James Last, the most prolific recording artist Europe has ever seen, has currently over 100 different titles available on compact disc. The avid record collector of the sixties is now the compact disc collector of the nineties. Many James Last fans are disappointed that only one hundred CD's are currently available. They want more. They want the entire James Last reportoire issued on compact disc. I dare say, as time goes by they will achieve their goal.

Tchaikovsky：Waltz of the Flowers－Daniel Barenboim

Medley of Philippine Folk Songs - arranged by Bernard Greene

217,152 views Jun 1, 2009 May 17, 2009: Filipino-American Symphony Orchestra Gala Concert at Saban Theater in Beverly Hills, conducted by Robert Shroder.

Monday, September 19, 2022

Sarah McLachlan - In the arms of an angel

Forever Tango - A Evaristo Carriego - Carlos Gavito & Marcela Duran

1,465,539 views Jun 2, 2012 Carlos Gavito & Marcela Durán - The Boston Pops and the Forever Tango Orchestra

Live Performance at the Boston Symphony Hall (1998)

Music

Libertango in Berlin Philharmonic (amazing!!!)

11,185,952 views Apr 12, 2014 Aydar Gaynullin - accordion / баян

Artyom Dervoed - guitar / гитара

Sergey Shamov - cajon / кахон

David Robert Coleman - conductor

Chamber orchestra and chorus of the Staatskapelle Berlin

"Aydar Gaynullin & Friends"

Berlin Philharmonic hall - 12.01.2014

Once Upon a Time in the West - The Danish National Symphony Orchestra & ...

Once Upon a Time in the West - The Danish National Symphony Orchestra & Tuva Semmingsen (Live)

15,231,638 views Jan 26, 2018 #DNSO #DRKOncerthusetLive

Man with a Harmonica & Cheyenne & Main Titles

Composed by Ennio Morricone

Harmonica: Hans Ulrik

Vocals: Tuva Semmingsen

Conducted by Sarah Hicks

Set design: Nikolaj Trap

Light design: Mikael Sylvest

Director of photography: Karsten Andersen

Performed and recorded in DR Koncerthuset