Look at the look on that girl’s face. She’s watching the conductor for cues and he’s smiling at her, giving her the cue to remember that her solo’s coming up in a few measures, and she’s smiling back in assent. The conductor is my beloved John, who gives love to his orchestras like I’ve never seen done before, not with conductors I’ve worked with and I’m guessing not even Bernstein, and I’ve seen Bernstein conduct youth orchestras.
My God, do you wonder why I’m so much in love with this man?
Regarding John’s two Carousel Waltzes:
- Carousel Waltz Robert Russell Bennett plus Trude Rittmann, Don Walker orchestration / from Rodgers & Hammerstein at the Movies (Warners, 2012) With The John Wilson Orchestra. Directly from the 1956 20th Century Fox movie, this splashy gew-gawed orchestration was my favorite version until…
- Carousel Waltz Robert Russell Bennett chief credited orchestrator / from Carousel Complete Original Score (Chandos, 2024) With the Sinfonia of London. I hear what my bonny hears, what Mamoulian heard when Dick Rodgers first played this for him, what I heard when I plunked this out on the famous “Richard Rodgers” piano in Mamoulian’s living room. Orgasm number five, maestro darling.
And just today, 09 November 2024, five years after the fire, the bells of Notre Dame de Paris rang again, with a very special message for Marianists like me.
"I'll Be Dead Before You Break My Heart" 