[Lucky Psychic Hut, 2011; #027]
Arthur Ferrante (1921-2009): piano
Louis Teicher (1924-2008): piano
tracklist:
01. Caravan (Juan Tizol)
02. Flight of the Bumble Bee (Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov)
03. Tabu (Margarita Lecuona)
04. That Old Black Magic (Harold Arlen)
05. Sleigh Ride (Leroy Anderson)
06. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (Johnny Marks)
07. The First Nowell (trad.)
08. Mississippi Boogie (Ferrante, Teicher)
09. Man from Mars (Ferrante, Teicher)
10. Baja (Ary Barroso)
11. Dark Eyes (Florian Herrmann)
12. Brazil (Ary Barroso)
13. Poinciana (Nat Simon)
14. Mama Yo Quero (Al Stillman)
15. Tico-Tico (Abreu, Drake, Oliviera)
16. Mexican Hat Dance (Jesús González Rubio)
17. The Moon Was Yellow (Fred E. Ahlert)
18. Over the Rainbow (Harold Arlen)
19. Out of this World (Harold Arlen)
20. Serenade to a Star (Ferrante, Teicher)
21. Beyond the Blue Horizon (Richard A. Whiting, W. Franke Harling)
22. Yesterdays (Jerome Kern)
23. Chopstick Cha Cha (Ferrante, Teicher)
24. In the Rain (Ferrante, Teicher)
25. Bye Bye Blues (David Bennett, Fred Hamm)
26. Hurdy Gurdy (Ferrante, Teicher)
27. Blue Skies (Irving Berlin)
28. They Can't Take That Away From Me (George Gershwin)
29. Echo Canyon (Ferrante, Teicher)
30. Liza (George Gershwin)
total time: 77'32
Prepaired by Lucky, 2011.
Dedicated to Christian Marclay.
Sources:
1-4 from 'Hi-Fireworks' (Columbia 1953);
5-7 from 'Adventure in Carols' (Westminster 1955);
8-11 from 'Soundproof' (mono) (Westminster 1956);
12-16 from 'Soundproof' (stereo) (Westminster 1956) - the stereo version of 'Soundblast' (mono) (Westminster 1956);
17-20 from 'Heavenly Sound in Hi-Fi' (ABC 1957);
21-22 from 'Ferrante & Teicher with Percussion' (ABC 1958);
23-26 from 'Blast Off'! (ABC 1959);
27-30 from 'Dynamic Twin Pianos' (United Artists 1960).
Cover photo from the Official Ferrante and Teicher homepage.
"Ferrante & Teicher's work falls into two categories: prepared piano works and easy listening. After meeting as students, and then working as teachers, at Juilliard, they began to perform as a duo, primarily with classical groups, in 1946. They became a popular act on the "pops" symphony circuit. At the same time, they began experimenting with modifications to pianos, inserting objects into the stringbed, playing on the stringbed, striking keys or strings with blocks, and generally striving to figure out how to get the strangest possible sounds. Working before the first synthesizer, they succeeded in producing outworldly, almost electronic sounds. The pair described this musical transition:
... it was while teaching that we began experimenting and creating new material for two pianos. For novelty numbers we stuffed wads of paper, sticks, rubber stops, masonite strings, cardboard wedges, and sandpaper into the pianos conjuring up weird effects (a la [John] Cage) resembling gongs, castanets, drums, xylophone, and harpsichord. Though we have gradually dropped many of these gimmicks, we fell that we have developed a musical style, and undoubtedly play in a manner that makes some former colleagues at Juilliard wince a bit.
People who associate F&T with their easy listening music are often startled to hear their prepared piano works. There is nothing quite like them in the annals of recorded sounds. [...]
Aside from a few very early albums of classical pieces, most of their albums up to about 1961, however, are entirely comprised of prepared piano pieces. However innovative and exciting this work was, however, it was tough to translate into commercial success. Their concerts were as likely to be held in gymnasiums, churches, cafeterias, and ballparks, as in concert halls. Much of what they earned went into new motors for their delivery truck. "If our wives hadn't worked," Teicher once said, "we never could have survived."
After joining United Artists in 1960, they added an orchestral accompaniment (usually arranged by Don Costa and conducted by Nick Perito) and quickly abandoned fiddling with their pianos. [...]
You can safely skip virtually everything recorded from the early United Artists LP, "Pianos in Paradise" on, though, unless you need a Muzak fix. The one prominent exception to this advice, however, is their best-selling album, Midnight Cowboy, which gained a lot of attention for its prominent use of Vinnie Bell's "watery" guitar effects. For most Space Age Pop fans, the prepared piano albums are the ones to seek out. [...]"
(from The Space Age Pop Music Page)
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