(Leroy Anderson)
Originally written for string orchestra under a deadline for an album, this work was composed by Leroy Anderson in Woodbury, Connecticut, in 1951. Written as an example of the use of Pizzicato by stringed instruments, it dispayed the plucking of the strings rather than being played with a bow.
Leroy Anderson premiered the song when he recorded in for Decca in June 1951 and it was followed in a concert performance by the Kansas City Philharmonic Orchestra of November of that year. He re-recorded it later, in 1959, for stereo sound. For 24 years it was the theme tune for the TV game show I’ve Got a Secret.
Leroy Anderson & His Orchestra recordings
MCA Classics MCAD2 9815 (CD: The Leroy Anderson Collection)
Conductor – Leroy Anderson
Eastman-Rochester Pops Orchestra recordings
Mercury 432 013-2 (CD: The Music of Leroy Anderson)
Conductor – Frederick Fennell
Richard Hayman and his Symphony Orchestra recordings
Naxos 8.559125 (CD: Anderson: Orchestral Favourites)
Conductor – Richard Hayman
Naxos 8.990011 (CD: The Waltzing Cat)
Conductor – Richard Hayman
Philharmonia Orchestra recordings
Denon CO-73534 (CD: Sir Charles’ Precious Music Box-I)
Conductor – Sir Charles Groves
St. Louis Symphony Orchestra recordings
RCA 9026 68048-2 (CD: The Typewriter)
Conductor – Leonard Slatkin
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