*** This title is a reissue of a Japanese release with liner notes in Japanese. ***

Guitarist/composer William Kentner Anderson, "the alert guitarist" (Paul Griffiths, NY Times), has been a champion of new American music for 35 years. He founded the Cygnus Ensemble, and is Artistic Director of Marsyas Productions and the Roger Shapiro Fund for New Music. Anderson's music is not like anything else, often engaging with simple musical materials-pop songs, folksongs and folk lyrics. He breaks barriers-asking his guitarists to sing backup vocals, incorporating Tibetan overtone singing in his setting of Djuna Barnes' "Paradise", integrating an uillean piper into the Cygnus Ensemble. Anderson began performing chamber music at Tanglewood at age 19, gigged with the NY Philharmonic, the Metropolitan Opera Chamber Players, under James Levine, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and the Theater Chamber Players in Washington, DC.

Goldilocks strikes gold. Undeservedly neglected light music.

What a pleasure to hear such jolly upbeat music. Leroy Anderson’s Goldilocks music lifts the spirits right from the start. This, the fifth album in the Naxos Anderson series, concentrates almost entirely on his music for the 1958 Broadway musical. Alas it was not a success; it expired after only 161 performances. The book took most of the blame. The show’s title Goldilocks probably didn’t help it much either and at that time there was a lot of competition on Broadway including: West Side Story, The Music Man and My Fair Lady. But Leroy Anderson’s music was mostly praised.

The Goldilocks Overture sparkles; all the excerpt numbers are little gems. ‘One Good Kiss Deserves Another’ has a winning melody. William Dazely singing nicely in the ballad style of the period and is joined by a nicely coy Kim Criswell. ‘Shall I Take My Heart and Go’ is another lovely, dreamily-romantic ballad. This number is also reprised separately as an instrumental item. These two songs alone, one feels, should have ensured the success of Goldilocks especially as presented here. But this 70+ reviewer is an unashamed romantic and a lover of the musicals of this period.

Additionally there is: ‘The Pussy Foot’, a terrific swing number that will set your feet a-tapping. The ‘Pirate Dance’ bounces cheekily along, tongue-in-cheek redolent of all those Tyrone Power and Errol Flynn swashbucklers of that period. The droll ‘Who’s Been Sitting in My Chair’ is quite unlike Eric Coates’s Three Bears, rather it begins in Old-English rustic style before developing into a burlesque-like number - apparently in the show Maggie actually dances to it with a guy in a bear suit. The memorable ‘The Lady-in-Waiting Ballet’ is a quintessential Leroy Anderson with its sweeping, swinging waltz tune. ‘The Lady in Waiting Waltz’ (played later, separately) glistens and it has witty allusions to Richard Strauss’s Till Eulenspiegel and Der Rosenkavalier. ‘The Town Maxixe’ is an easy-going number that swings along interrupted by material reminiscent of old-style madrigal tunes. ‘I Never Knew When’ is another appealing romantic ballad, but without vocals, beginning almost Arabian Nights-like before developing into smoochiness. The ‘Pyramid Dance’ is all exuberance, bouncing and rushing along, a sort of mix of Khachaturian and Rimsky-Korsakov.

Followers of the reviews of the preceding four volumes in this series will no doubt remember that Leroy Anderson arranged a number of suites of carols for different combinations of instruments - the others were for strings and brass. This collection,

for wind instruments, comprises: ‘Angels in our Fields’, ‘O Sanctissima’; ‘O come, O come Emmanuel, O come’ (an inspired little pastorale); ‘Little Children’; ‘Coventry Carol’; and ‘Patapan’.

As before Leonard Slatkin and the BBC Concert Orchestra offer polished, genial readings full of joie de vivre.

Goldilocks strikes gold. Undeservedly neglected light music.

-- Ian Lace, MusicWeb International

Australian composer Andrew Anderson defies expectations with a new recording of his magnificent Piano Quartets, interpreted by the Australia Piano Quartet with breathtaking new zest and verve. Australia Piano Quartet (APQ) brings together Australia’s most respected and dynamic instrumentalists. The players’ passion for the piano quartet stems from their love of the extraordinary repertoire and the unique qualities of the ensemble itself: a synthesis of the finely blended sonority of a string trio, the soloistic qualities of each string voice and the orchestral power and virtuosic brilliance of the piano. APQ presents reinvigorated interpretations of canonic masterpieces, neglected piano quartet works of past and present, and new works by Australian composers. Commissions to date have engaged leading composers including William Barton, Ross Edwards, Paul Dean, Elliot Gyger, Elena Kats-Chernin, Lachlan Skipworth, Jack Symonds and Felicity Wilcox.

Leonard Slatkin recorded a marvelous Leroy Anderson collection for RCA with the St. Louis Symphony, and of course Anderson's own recordings for Decca/MCA remain special, but this new series promises to offer several recording premieres, and Jeffrey Biegel's rendition of the terrific Piano Concerto is the best yet. So all in all, it's hard to deny this release the strongest possible recommendation. The music may be light, but the craftsmanship and standard of quality are second to none.

It's a special mystery that Anderson was dissatisfied with the concerto, his only large-scale orchestral work, withholding its publication during his lifetime. We could use a top-notch "Gershwin alternative", and this piece is just the ticket. From the "Rachmaninov without the gloom" opening, to the Latin interludes in the Andante, to the finale's hoe-down reel of a main melody, this piece is a winner. Both Slatkin and Biegel give the piece the royal treatment, playing with both passion and humor. You'll love it.

Among the smaller pieces you'll find familiar favorites (Belle of the Ball, Bugler's Holiday, Fiddle-Faddle, Clarinet Candy, Blue Tango, China Doll), but also some lesser-known but no less delicious surprises. There's The First Day of Spring, a gorgeous meditation reminiscent of the Romanza from Dvorák's Czech Suite, and The Classical Jukebox, in which favorites by Wagner and Liszt serve as a platform on which to graft, P.D.Q. Bach-style, the famous pop tune "Put Another Nickel In [the Nickelodeon]". The playing by the BBC Concert Orchestra is relaxed and charming. Under Slatkin's baton the melodies flow effortlessly, and clearly a good time was had by all. You will too.

-- David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

Leroy Anderson's music once was so ubiquitous that anyone with even cursory contact with broadcast media could not help hearing it. So don't be surprised--especially if you're over 30--if you find your ears perking up quite often in recognition as you play this delightful disc. Those of us who played in high school bands and orchestras no doubt will have vivid memories of Bugler's Holiday or Trumpter's Lullaby, but for most listeners this collection will serve to attach names to tunes heard for years in supermarkets and shopping malls--tunes such as The Syncopated Clock, The Girl in Satin, and Blue Tango. Anderson applied his classical training to his love of jazz, which, combined with his uncanny instinct for good tunes helped him create a long series of "pops" hits. He was equally adept in both worlds, whether the European-style waltzing of Belle of the Ball (with its "blue note" trio), or the straight-from-the-dance-hall Jazz Pizzicato.


The disc opens with the Serenata (a cheeky knockoff of Gershwin's Cuban Overture) and closes with the ever-popular Sleigh Ride, here freed from those goofy lyrics and sounding more like its true self: a fine composition that can be enjoyed whatever the time of year. Anderson had a particular flair for musical depictions of everyday objects, such as the aforementioned clock, or the typewriter, or even sandpaper (in the Sandpaper Ballet). Whether object, animal (The Waltzing Cat), or body part (March of Two Left Feet), Anderson never abandoned his operative principle: make music fun! Richard Hayman's long experience in this specialized genre shows in his high-spirited, rhythmically smart, tonally tangy realizations with his orchestra. If you've been finding yourself bereft of smiles lately, purchase this Naxos disc and you'll get a whole hour's worth.
--Victor Carr Jr., ClassicsToday.com

It's usual to say, somewhat condescendingly, that Leroy Anderson was a great "light music" composer, but the fact is that he was a great composer. Period. The ability to write a memorable tune is priceless, as Brahms (no slouch in the tune department) recognized in speaking of Dvorák, and it more than compensates for any amount of failings in other departments. Anderson had remarkably few of those: his orchestrations are masterly, his craftsmanship always top-notch. The three suites included here (Scottish, Irish, and Alma Mater) are beautifully put together and incredibly catchy.

The vocal items (see work list above) are fetchingly sung by Kim Criswell and William Dazeley, and here receive their world premiere recordings. The program ends with one of Anderson's larger works, the dazzling Christmas Festival. Leonard Slatkin, an old hand in this music, conducts with unassuming mastery, and the BBC Concert Orchestra sounds entirely at home in the idiom. Very good engineering completes this delectable package. Like the rest of this series, this is definitely worth collecting.

– David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

If you enjoyed Vol. 1 in this ongoing series of Leroy Anderson's warm and beautifully crafted orchestral works, then you'll surely want this release as well (and probably the next one too). The performances are just as fine, and once again we get several important premieres, most notably A Harvard Festival (a sort of Academic Festival Overture, complete with organ to add extra weight to the climaxes) and Lullaby of the Drums. Only a few of Anderson's better-known works are here, most particularly The Waltzing Cat and Jazz Pizzicato, and once again there is one (relatively) large piece, the Suite of Carols, though this doesn't compare in importance to the marvelous Piano Concerto featured in Volume 1. Still, Anderson's brand of melodious charm is timeless, and you'll doubtless find many very enjoyable discoveries on this well played, well engineered disc. Kudos also go to Slatkin for lavishing such care and enthusiasm on "pops" repertoire. Easily recommendable.

-- David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

Also available - Leroy Anderson: Orchestral Music Vol 1
Jeffrey Biegel's rendition of the terrific Piano Concerto is the best yet. Among the smaller pieces you'll find familiar favorites, but also some lesser-known but no less delicious surprises. Under Slatkin's baton the melodies flow effortlessly. -- ClassicsToday.com

Also available - Leroy Anderson: Orchestral Music Vol 3
Naxos continues its celebration of Leroy Anderson's 100th anniversary year with this third volume of his works, including popular favorites "The Typewriter," "Sandpaper Ballet," and "The Syncopated Clock."