There were few people in the world of music more qualified to make an album of Academy Award-winning songs than Henry Mancini. In his long and prestigious career, Mancini scored over 200 films, many Academy Award winners themselves.
Henry Mancini began playing music at the age of eight when his music-loving father insisted he learn to play an instrument. Reluctantly, he chose the flute. While in high school, Mr. Mancini became interested in music for himself, learning to play several other instruments while especially excelling on the piano.
Upon his high school graduation Mancini studied music at the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh for a year before transferring to the prestigious Juilliard School of Music in New York City. He never completed his studies for he was drafted to fight in World War II, where he served overseas in both the Army Air Forces and in the infantry.
While in the army, he got friendly with Tex Beneke, a musician who played in Glenn Miller's Army Air Corps Band. After the war, he joined the Miller band, then led by Beneke, as a pianist-arranger. It was there he met Ginny O'Connor, who was the band's singer. The couple married in 1947.
But, in his own words, Henry Mancini "wanted to write picture music ever since I was a kid...I wanted to be up there with all those names like Max Steiner. It was like a kid wanting to play baseball, wanting to be Mickey Mantle and finally pitching in a World Series." In 1952, he fulfilled his dream, joining the music department of Universal-International Studios. During the next six years he contributed to the scores of over 100 films, including "The Glenn Miller Story" (for which he received his first Oscar nomination for scoring), "The Benny Goodman Story", and Orson Welles' "Touch of Evil". He said of his time at Universal: "It was like taking a masters or a doctorate in film writing because I did everything that came along in six years". It was there Henry Mancini truly learned his craft. It was there Mancini's composing style developed, one which veered away from symphonic treatments toward smaller, more intimate jazz-based musical groups.
Upon leaving Universal, Mancini began a collaboration that was to last throughout his life. Producer/director Blake Edwards engaged him to write the score for the TV series, "Peter Gunn". With that ground-breaking score, Mancini introduced the jazz idiom to television.
Many other successes soon followed, for he worked quickly and his output was considerable. At his death in 1994 from pancreatic cancer, Henry Mancini had written the score for almost 300 motion pictures, was nominated for many Oscars, and received four. Who could be more qualified than Henry Mancini to choose, arrange, and conduct this great Academy Award Collection?
The selections in this collection start at the beginning, 1934, and the first song ever to win an Academy Award, "The Continental" from "Gay Divorcee", with music written by Con Conra and lyrics by Herb Magidson. Mancini's salute to the Oscar winners of the thirties continues with "The Way You Look Tonight" from 1936's "Swing Time", with the music by Jerome Kern and lyrics of Dorothy Fields, and the immortal "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" from 1939's "The Wizard of Oz", with music by Harold Arlen and lyrics by E.Y. Harburg.
Mancini chose great Oscar-winning music from the forties, starting with 1944's "Swingin' on A Star" from "Going My Way", with music by Jimmy Van Heusen, the most-honored Oscar winner-nominee composer with fourteen citations, and words by Johnny Burke, a lyrist winner-nominee of five Oscars. The song is a timeless classic. So is 1945's "It Might As Well Be Spring" from the film of Rodgers and Hammerstein's classic, "State Fair". 1946's "The Harvey Girls", provides the always entertaining "On The Atchinson, Topeka and The Santa Fe" with music by Harry Warren and lyrics by eighteen-time Oscar winner/nominee Johnny Mercer.
Many great songs from the fifties are represented here as well. It starts with 1952's theme from "High Noon (Do Not Forsake Me)", with music composed by eight-time Oscar winner/nominee Dimitri Tiomkin and words written by the talented Ned Washington. Next comes "Secret Love" from 1953's "Calamity Jane", with music by Sammy Fain (who won or was nominated for ten Oscars during his career) and lyrics by Paul Francis Webster (who won or was nominated for sixteen statuettes). 1954's winner was "Three Coins in the Fountain", the lush, romantic ballad composed by ten-time winner/nominee Jule Styne and lyrics by the leading nominee/award-winner, Sammy Cahn, who received a phenomenal twenty-six recognitions. The classic "Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Sera, Sera)", from 1956's "The Man Who Knew Too Much", had its music and lyrics composed by the team of Jay Livingston (recipient of six Oscar award/nominations) and Ray Evans (recipient of seven Oscar award/nominations).
The team of Sammy Cahn and James Van Heusen are again represented with 1957's Oscar winner "All the Way" from "The Joker Is Wild", while 1958 belonged to "Gigi", its words by Alan Jay Lerner and music by by Frederick Loewe. The Oscar again returned to the team of Sammy Cahn and James Van Heusen in 1959 with their "High Hopes" from "A Hole in the Head".
This collection ends with hits from the 1960's. First is the rousing Greek music of 1960's "Never on Sunday", with music and Greek lyrics composed by Manos Hadjidakis, English lyrics by Billy Towne. Then, Henry Mancini himself is represented with two classic examples of why he was nominated for eleven Academy Awards and received four: the classic theme from 1961's "Breakfast at Tiffany's", "Moon River", with lyrics by Johnny Mercer, and his winner for the following year, 1962, "The Days of Wine and Roses", again with lyrics by Johnny Mercer.
Henry Mancini's career in films spanned more than forty years, during which time he created some of the medium's most memorable and original music. When he passed away, the world lost a great composer, talent, and friend to all who knew him.
(Elin Guskind, from the original notes)
