Synopsis

On today’s date in 1950, Decca recording engineers committed to disc seven short works by the American composer Leroy Anderson, with Anderson himself conducting top-notch New York freelance musicians.

Since 1938, Anderson had been associated with the Boston Pops, for whom he had composed a string of very successful pieces, beginning with “Jazz Pizzicato” and “Jazz Legato,” complimentary works designed for the two sides of a 78-rpm disc. Anderson recorded both those pieces at his 1950 Decca session and also the first performance of a brand-new work, entitled “The Waltzing Cat.” In fact, after 1950 most of Anderson’s premieres took place at Decca recording sessions. One of them, “Blue Tango,” sold over a million copies.

By 1953, one national survey found that Leroy Anderson was the most-performed American composer of his day. That was the year that Anderson wrote his only extended orchestral work, a Piano Concerto. With the exception of a short-lived Broadway musical from 1958 entitled “Goldilocks,” the bulk of Anderson’s works are short, witty orchestral pieces, superbly crafted works intended to make audiences smile.

“I just did what I wanted to do,” Anderson once said, “and it turned out that people liked it.”

Music Played in Today's Program

Leroy Anderson (1908–1975) –Jazz Pizzicato and The Waltzing Cat (Decca studio orchestra; Leroy Anderson, cond.) MCA 9815