Appreciation

 
Photo Gallery Appreciation Bibliography

"Next to Johann Strauss there was nobody who could do a certain kind of music better than Anderson. I think he was one of the most completely inventive composers who ever lived - a wonderful and unique talent."

- Nicolas Slonimsky, author, editor

 
   
"Leroy Anderson's orchestral miniatures, including The Syncopated Clock, Sleigh Ride, and Blue Tango are among the best known American concert music written after Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue and Copland's Appalachian Spring."

- Howard Pollack, musicologist, author, "Harvard Composers"

 
   

"The craftsmanship, the humor, the humanity!"

- Vladimir Spivakov, violinist, conductor

 
   
"Leroy Anderson is one of the great American masters of light orchestral music. Though we have performed his works countless times over the years at the Boston Pops, his music remains forever as young and fresh as the very first day on which it was composed."

- John Williams, composer; laureate conductor, Boston Pops

 
   
"Some have called Gershwin the Johann Strauss, Jr. of American music, but one might argue that the designation sits more comfortably on the shoulders of Leroy Anderson."

- Michael Steinberg, Program Notes, NY Philharmonic

 
   
"Leroy Anderson epitomizes for our era what such earlier masters as Stephen Foster, Victor Herbert and John Philip Sousa did for their eras - the highest standards of cratsmanship tied to widespread popularity."

- Robert Sherman, WQXR, New York City

 
   
"Leroy Anderson's music has thrilled millions of Americans and indeed the entire international music world for over sixty years."

- Erich Kunzel, conductor

 
   
"Leroy Anderson is one of the great bridges of American music, a musician who tore down the wall between the so-called "serious" music and so-called "popular" music. He introduced millions of people to the sounds a symphony orchestra can make painlessly, with consumate taste and an ear for whimsy."

- Richard S. Ginell, music critic

 
   
"Leroy Anderson had a rare and remarkable wisdom, unusual among composers in any style.  He knew the precise measure of his own talent.  He never failed to polish his creations to perfection, yet he was never pretentious.  The honesty and candor in his music is what earns it a lasting place in the repertoire, secure where thousands of imitators have disappeared."

- Andrew Massey, conductor and composer

 
   
"Sleigh Ride almost certainly holds the distinction of having been recorded by a broader aesthetic range of performers than any other piece in the history of Western music."

- Steve Metcalf, Hartford Courant

 
   

 ~ ~ ~ 


  

  Leroy Anderson's musical achievement is a particularly American triumph.

  Had he not possessed the courage of his convictions, he might have become a linguist--and a very good one, for he spoke numerous languages. Had he followed the advice of his Harvard music professors, he might never have written the works loved today by millions of people around the world. Instead, with a single-minded belief in his musical version of the American dream, he created a style so unique it goes by his name.

  In May 1952 a lovely instrumental piece with a sweeping melody called Blue Tango reached number one on the Hit Parade. Lyrical, with a driving tango rhythm, the piece captured the spirit of an era. People whistled Blue Tango on street corners and in taxi cabs. And of course they danced the night away. Blue Tango was such a huge hit that when the top songs for the entire year were compiled, it was second only to a song by Johnnie Ray.

  The composer of Blue Tango was Leroy Anderson, a Bostonian known for his arrangements for the Boston Pops Orchestra. He had composed the piece just before he was recalled to Army duty for the Korean War. In 1952, Anderson was able to capture in his music the optimistic spirit of his times. And not just with Blue Tango. With piece after piece written over a span of about 20 years, from the late '30s to the late '50s, he composed melodies and orchestrated a distinctive sound that people loved to listen to, dance to, and hum along with. Jazz Pizzicato, Syncopated Clock, Fiddle-Faddle, The Typewriter, Trumpeter's Lullaby, Bugler's Holiday, and Sleigh Ride all found a receptive and enthusiastic audience.

  Working alone in his Connecticut studio, Anderson composed music that touched the lives of people thousands of miles from his hilltop home. In direct, musical language he imbued his pieces with a spirit that audiences recognized as their own, a human spirit that sprang from a generous heart. There was beauty in this music. And sadness. And joy.

  The ability to convey such human emotions concisely and musically defines Anderson's art. Anderson was a player's composer, perhaps because he played so many instruments himself. Consummately crafted, Anderson's pieces are as much a delight to perform as they are to hear.

- Carl Vigeland

  
   


© 2001 - 2008 Woodbury Music Company LLC 06798