Hit Parade Records, the audiophile-quality reissue label from Canada, is pleased to present two complete stereo albums performed by The Fantastic Strings of Felix Slatkin, one of Hollywood’s most brilliant conductors during the Golden Era of ’50s and ’60s film music. These two spectacular, stereo albums – The Magnificent XII and Many Splendored Themes – are combined on one CD, and are available in the digital realm for the first time ever to celebrate the 50th anniversary of their original release in 1961.

These two great albums are performed by a full symphony orchestra paired with a rock & roll rhythm section. Nope, this isn’t Mantovani! Slatkin’s soaring strings and emphatic brass are driven by a crisp backbeat, electric guitar and bass – and often even the insistent piano triplets that clearly identified this music to contemporary listeners as a whole new thing.

Moreover, these records were designed by Liberty Records to please the exacting requirements of not just the discriminating music lover but the growing audience of audiophiles – whose newfangled, stereophonic hi-fi systems craved a vigorous workout. To put their new dynamic speakers through their paces, Slatkin chose 24 of the greatest melodies of the era – almost all from films or television shows – that still stand today as icons of the instrumental genre.

Felix Slatkin’s conducting career included his founding of the Concert Arts Orchestra and appearances with the Hollywood Bowl Symphony Orchestra. He was Frank Sinatra’s concertmaster and conductor-of-choice during his early years with Capitol Records in the 1950s. He made over 25 recordings with these orchestras, including a recording of Offenbach’s Gaîté Parisienne, which won a Grammy Award in 1958. He also made over a dozen recordings for Liberty Records, establishing “The Fantastic Strings, Fantastic Fiddles, Fantastic Percussion, and Fantastic Brass of Felix Slatkin.”

If you enjoy this style of symphonic popular music, so rare today, you’ll find this CD an important addition to your collection. Needless to say, this music is not available as MP3 downloads since that would only impair its superior technical quality. Only 2000 copies are being pressed, and when they’re gone this CD will become an instant collector’s item. Complete liner notes by Greg Adams.

And, don’t miss Hit Parade’s profile of another orchestral icon, Cinema Rhapsodies: The Musical Genius Of Victor Young.

– ALL TRACKS TRUE STEREO –
– DIGITALLY REMASTERED FOR HIGHEST QUALITY SOUND –