Sunday morning music

Here's a blast from my family's musical past.

Conductor, arranger and orchestra leader Annunzio Mantovani was born in Italy in 1905, but spent most of his life in Britain.  During World War II his light orchestra was a favorite in that country, and both of my parents (who were born and raised there) enjoyed his music.  (His Italian origin doesn't seem to have affected his popularity, even though his adopted country was then at war with the land of his birth.)  He didn't rest on his laurels, but released many post-war albums, in the USA as well as England (in 1959 he had six albums simultaneously in the US Top 30).  He died in 1980.

Here's his popular album "Italia Mia", released in 1961.  It was a favorite in our household, and I learned it almost by heart while growing up.  I recently learned that it had been re-released in digital format, and I was able to buy a copy.  It continues to give me great listening pleasure.  Note his famous "cascading strings" effect, a hallmark of post-war Mantovani recordings.  (For a track listing, see the album on Amazon.com or its YouTube page.)

That brings back many happy memories.

Peter