= PREMIER POPS =

Intro/Listening to Mancini - A Glorious Career -
Personality and Private Life - Pieces Performed -

Supplementary Introduction to the Pieces Performed

Finally, a brief introduction to the pieces performed by the Royal Philharmonic Pops Orchestra for this album.

"The Thornbirds" of "Thornbirds Suite" refers to a 1988 TV mini-series of that name, starring Richard Chamberlain. The biggest hit since Roots, this was a dramatization of a best seller written by Colleen McCullough which describes three generations of women living on large ranch in Australia.

"Movie Song Medley" includes "Life Through a Looking Glass" (lyrics by Leslie Bricusce), main theme from That's Life, and "Crazy World" (lyrics by Leslie Bricusse), main theme from Victor/Victoria, a film that was awarded an Oscar for Best Original Song Score.

Another component of the medley is the main theme from 10. All these films were directed by Blake Edwards, but particularly interesting is That's Life (1986) - starring Jack Lemmon, Julie Andrews, Sally Kellerman and Robert Loggia - because it succeeds in portraying the bitterness of life in a comedy format.

Revenge of the Pink Panther was the last in which Peter Sellers played the hilarious Inspector Clouseau. Co-starring Dyan Cannon, it was released in 1978. Sellers said farewell to us all just two years later, on July 24. 1980.

The Glass Menagerie is a recent work, directed by Paul Newman in 1987. Needless to say, it's a film version of the famous Tennesee Williams' play. Newman himself does not act in it, but his wife, Joanne Woodward, appears alongside John Malkovich, Karen Allen and James Naughton.

"Three TV Themes" is comprised of the main themes of three programmes: Hotel, The Bob Newhart Show and Remington Steele. Each represents the typical Mancini style that has become so familiar to television viewers. Hotel was a TV mini-series based on Arthur Hailey's best seller. Newhart is a situation comedy, currently in its 6th year as a new series. The very first broadcast on NBC was on October 11, 1961; later, in 1972, it changed station, to CBS. The new series started in 1982, Remington Steele, starring Pierce Brosnan and Stephanie Zimbalist, is a sophisticated detective story; Brosnan has recently starred in a feature film.

"Sons of Italy" was especially written for the Philadelphia Orchestra.

Great Mouse Detective (1986) is a full-length Disney animation film. Especially memorable is the wicked Professor Ratigan, whose voice is that of Vincent Price. Set in London, the atmosphere is reminiscent of Sherlock Holmes. This film has won high praise as a masterpiece of the younger generation of Disney animators. "Ohio Riverboat" is a nostalgic work which evokes the mid-1930s in Pennsylvania, Mancini's home state. It was written in 1975 for a concert.

The album's finale is "Moon River" from Breakfast at Tiffany's. Composed as an expression of admiration for Manhattan as well as for his friend Blake Edwards, and dedicated to Audrey Hepburn, "Moon River" is thoroughly Mancini in its romantic gentleness and lingering charm.

- Moto Kono
(April, 1988)
Translated by Andrew J. L. Armour