Fennell Conducts Leroy Anderson.(Sound recording review)

Fennell Conducts Leroy Anderson. Frederick Fennell, Eastman-Rochester "Pops" Orchestra. Mercury SACD 475 6942.

No, wait! I know that. I recognize that tune. And, really, I had no idea he did that, too?

American composer Leroy Anderson (1908-1975) wrote in the great style of other miniaturists of his day and before, people like Percy Grainger, Eric Coates, and Albert Ketelbey, who created tiny, descriptive tone poems that perfectly encapsulated a place, a moment, or an event. As you listen to the twenty-three pieces of this disc, none of them lasting more than three or four minutes, you marvel at the man's ingenuity, his creativity, and his sheer sense of fun.

Some of the pieces are more serious than others, of course, something like "Song of Jupiter," a reworking of Handel by way of Elgar or "The First Day of Spring" or the very Hollywoodesque "Phantom Regiment." Some flirt with familiar jazz idioms, like "Jazz Legato" or "Jazz Pizzicato," while others find the tango to their liking, "Blue Tango" or "The Girl in Satin." But mostly his works are little showpieces, and you'll instantly know them when you hear the first two notes. "Sleigh Ride" is so famous, you'd think it had been around since the days of Dickens; as are things like "The Typewriter," "The ...