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Sigmund Groven Performs Classical Movie Scores<\/p>\n
Harmonica Album is one of Sigmund Groven’s most popular releases ever. It is Groven himself who has selected the tunes to this collection, focusing on well-known film music. The result is a collection of some of our best and most well-known songs, beautifully performed by one of the world’s best harmonica players. Some of the featured tunes are originally performed on harmonica, while others have been given new arrangements adapted to the instrument. The selected music is taken from both older and more recent movies. In addition we have two of Groven’s own compositions. Particularly important on this album is Donald Phillips’ song "Firefly": The melody was Groven’s first meeting with harmonica virtuoso Tommy Reilly \u2013 who would later become Groven’s mentor and close friend.<\/p>\n
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Groven gives new life to movie score classics<\/p>\n
When choosing the material for this album I have turned to some of the famous harmonica themes from both well-known and more obscure movie scores, adding some of my personal favourites which were not played on harmonica in films, but which I think suit the instrument very well. There are also two of my own original pieces, one brand-new, the other one was written 20 years ago and is still often my opening number when I play concerts. Last but not least I have included a tribute to one of the great personalities of 20th century music, George Gershwin, whose centenary we are celebrating this year, and to my source of inspiration as a musician, Tommy Reilly. The opening and closing songs of this album were not written for the harmonica – but I think they could have been! The theme for one of the most moving films I have seen for a long time, \u201cIl Postino\u201d, was played in the film on the bandoneon, also a \u201cfree-reed\u201d instrument and thus a close relation of the harmonica. The album ends with the main theme from the greatest success in film history, \u201cTitanic\u201d. The first few bars were originally played on the Uillean pipes – I use my alto harmonica. \u201cMotlys\u201d (\u201cAgainst the Light\u201d) is a homage to the serene beauty of my native country, Norway. \u201cReodor’s Ballad\u201d also has the haunting quality of a Norwegian folk-song, although it was written by a Danish composer, Bent Fabricius-Bjerre, whose huge sixties hit \u201cAlley Cat\u201d made him a millionaire. This piece was part of the score for the charming Norwegian puppet film \u201cFl\u00e5klypa Grand Prix\u201d and was played in the film by Tommy Reilly. \u201cCalling You\u201d was sung in the slightly off-beat film \u201cBagdad Caf\u00e9\u201d by Jevetta Steele, with some tasteful harmonica-playing by the young talented American William Galison, and has been a favourite of mine ever since I saw the film in the mid-eighties. \u201cTida g\u00e5r\u201d (\u201cEasy Walkin’\u201d) was written especially for this album, in fact it is one of those simple little tunes that you just can\u2019t get out of your head when you go for a lazy walk \u2013 at least this is what happened to me \u2013 so I had to record to it to get rid of of it! We had a lot of fun recording it, and I can reveal that the walking feet belong to our drummer, Svein Christiansen.<\/p>\n
\u201cFirefly\u201d is the piece of music that changed my life. I was nine years old, and my friend and I were listening to the radio a dark, cold Saturday evening in January deep in the countryside of Norway. We were waiting to hear our favourite programme \u201cChildren’s Hour\u201d, when I suddenly was stunned by the most fantastic sounds I had ever heard: a record of Tommy Reilly playing \u201cFirefly\u201d. From then on I was a harmonica fan \u2013 and particularly a Tommy Reilly fan. He had recorded this Latin-American style \u201cnovelty\u201d number by his friend, English composer Donald Phillips, on a visit to Stockholm in 1953, and this is our version of that very same samba \u2013 a tribute to Tommy. A giant from the classic Hollywood film composer tradition, Russian-born Dimitri Tiomkin (of \u201cHigh Noon\u201d fame) had a liking for the colours of the harmonica when played well and came to London in the early sixties to record two of his film scores there with Tommy Reilly (\u201cThe Sundowners\u201d and \u201c55 Days at Peking\u201d). Tommy returned the compliment by recording Tiomkin’s theme song for the John Wayne film \u201cThe Alamo\u201d, the nostalgic \u201cThe Green Leaves of Summer\u201d, gorgeously scored for harmonica and strings by master arranger Wally Stott, and this is the very arrangement we are using on this recording \u2013 Tommy kindly unearthed it from his vaults for me.<\/p>\n
More and more often themes from the great classical composers are used to create the appropriate atmosphere of a film. The beautiful melody used in the French films \u201cJean de Florette\u201d and \u201cManon des Sources\u201d was actually taken from \u201cForza del Destino\u201d, one of the operas of the great Giuseppe Verdi. Played on the harmonica in the film by the wonderful Belgian jazz player Toots Thielemans it is here given a new treatment by distinguished Norwegian arranger Sigurd Jansen. I have always felt that George Gershwin\u2019s music suits the harmonica, and I am happy to include my versions of two of his famous songs from \u201cPorgy and Bess\u201d, \u201cSummertime\u201d and \u201cIt ain’t necessarily so\u201d. Back to Hollywood and one of the finest composers from the fifties, sixties and seventies: Henry Mancini. \u201cMoon River\u201d was written for the 1961 Audrey Hepburn film \u201cBreakfast at Tiffany’s\u201d and the harmonica in the film was played by George Fields. The noted French composer Jean Wiener used the harmonica very effectively for the score of the Jean Gabin thriller \u201cTouchez-pas au Grisbi\u201d. French harmonica player Jean Wetzel played in the film, and later famous harmonica veteran Larry Adler made a hit record of the main theme. \u201cLe Grisbi\u201d has been a favourite solo for harmonica players everywhere – it was a successful piece also for Tommy Reilly who made a great impression with his interpretation in Germany. John Barry is one of the few British composers to have established a high profile status as a film composer in Hollywood. There is a funny story about his harmonica theme for the Jon Voight\/Dustin Hoffman 1969 film \u201cMidnight Cowboy\u201d. One day Tommy Reilly had a call from Polydor Hamburg. They played him a record of a new film score and asked him if he could play the harmonica exactly the same as the uncredited player on the American record. The first take was perfect. The producer said: \u201cYou are a genius\u201d, and Tommy started to laugh. The producer said: \u201cWhat are you laughing for?\u201d and Tommy admitted: \u201cThat\u2019s me playing on the original record\u201d! In fact Tommy Reilly was touring Australia when John Barry recorded the actual music for the film, so Toots Thielemans did the sound-track, and Tommy did the LP of the the original \u201cmotion picture score\u201d. His single, made in Hamburg, climbed the charts in many countries, and this is the vintage arrangement used on that particular single. And finally, \u201cTitanic\u201d in an inspired setting by young Norwegian keyboard player and arranger Bj\u00f8rn Ole Rasch. All I can say is: I hope yu\u2019ll enjoy listening to my harmonica album as much as we have enjoyed recording it!<\/p>\n
Sigmund Groven<\/p>\n
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