It was sheer joy to find this page today. I had been listening to my 1958 RCA LP #LOP 1010 purchased at the Music Hall the year I was married. (I was born in 1936 on Long Island and lived there till my marriage in 1958 when we settled in Buffalo. Christmas in NY was my wedding gift to my wife.) For years the Music Hall had been the only place my parents allowed my sister and me to see movies. “If the Music Hall shows it, it must be OK.” They were OK, and impressive as well; unlike the modern mulptiplex theaters whose screens, relative to one’s distance from them are little more than big screen TV’s, the RCM screen defined “larger than life” no matter where you sat.
My love was the Grand Organ, with or without the orchestra. A low pedal rumbled the theater and our seats, and like a wizard from Oz, the magician of the keyboard appeared from behind the curtains at our left. Sometimes he introduced a film with a medley; sometimes it seemed as if he joined the soundtrack at beginning or end. I still remember the bouncing pedal of “Once in Love with Amy” as Ray Bolger came from the left of the screen along an English field dike. Too bad the film is lost to posterity. Nothing set moods for stage show or film like the Grand Organ.
The concert nature of the Grand Organ came through at the holidays, Christmas and Easter. It was superior to many church organs for religious music. And the pedal on Rubinstein’s “Kammennoi Ostrow” coupled with the orchestra as the altar of a large cathedral appeared in the Easter show was thrilling!
Numerous times we traveled from Buffalo with our 4 kids to visit Grandma and Grandpa and have Christmas in New York. Three times the kids got to experience Radio City’s Christmas Show. Though I would like my 14 grandkids to have the experience of the Music Hall Christmas show, it is far beyond the scope of my retirement income and no great-grandparents are alive to house us to soften the expense.
I listen to my LP recording and I imagine the show. I think I can hear the organ in the Nativity, but that may be wishful thinking. In the Grand Organ section, I know it is the voice of the RCM Wurlizer. I purchased a Radio City Music Hall Christmas CD several years ago only to be disappointed. It was recorded in Europe; it lacked the organ, a full orchestra, and the acoustics of the RCM. A keyboard is a poor substitute for a great organ.
Thirty or so years ago HBO did a presentation of the Radio City Christmas show. Joel Grey was narrator and told how, though he was Jewish, he grew up loving this spectacular; his enthusiasm appeared in his narration. If a DVD of the show were available,it would have a market and a purpose. It would allow all of those who will never be able to afford the show to see it and hear it, or at least a shadow of it. It might even encourage others to make an effort to find the dollars to see it.
Also needed a CD set of the Grand Organ with some of the stage show music from the Christmas and Easter shows as well as some of medley arrangements used in the past. While a few RCM organ LP’s were made and I have most, a new digital recording of the restored intstument would sell. I have no idea where to promote these ideas, but I hope someone out there has the connections to get both going.
It was sheer joy to find this page today. I had been listening to my 1958 RCA LP #LOP 1010 purchased at the Music Hall the year I was married. (I was born in 1936 on Long Island and lived there till my marriage in 1958 when we settled in Buffalo. Christmas in NY was my wedding gift to my wife.) For years the Music Hall had been the only place my parents allowed my sister and me to see movies. “If the Music Hall shows it, it must be OK.” They were OK, and impressive as well; unlike the modern mulptiplex theaters whose screens, relative to one’s distance from them are little more than big screen TV’s, the RCM screen defined “larger than life” no matter where you sat.
My love was the Grand Organ, with or without the orchestra. A low pedal rumbled the theater and our seats, and like a wizard from Oz, the magician of the keyboard appeared from behind the curtains at our left. Sometimes he introduced a film with a medley; sometimes it seemed as if he joined the soundtrack at beginning or end. I still remember the bouncing pedal of “Once in Love with Amy” as Ray Bolger came from the left of the screen along an English field dike. Too bad the film is lost to posterity. Nothing set moods for stage show or film like the Grand Organ.
The concert nature of the Grand Organ came through at the holidays, Christmas and Easter. It was superior to many church organs for religious music. And the pedal on Rubinstein’s “Kammennoi Ostrow” coupled with the orchestra as the altar of a large cathedral appeared in the Easter show was thrilling!
Numerous times we traveled from Buffalo with our 4 kids to visit Grandma and Grandpa and have Christmas in New York. Three times the kids got to experience Radio City’s Christmas Show. Though I would like my 14 grandkids to have the experience of the Music Hall Christmas show, it is far beyond the scope of my retirement income and no great-grandparents are alive to house us to soften the expense.
I listen to my LP recording and I imagine the show. I think I can hear the organ in the Nativity, but that may be wishful thinking. In the Grand Organ section, I know it is the voice of the RCM Wurlizer. I purchased a Radio City Music Hall Christmas CD several years ago only to be disappointed. It was recorded in Europe; it lacked the organ, a full orchestra, and the acoustics of the RCM. A keyboard is a poor substitute for a great organ.
Thirty or so years ago HBO did a presentation of the Radio City Christmas show. Joel Grey was narrator and told how, though he was Jewish, he grew up loving this spectacular; his enthusiasm appeared in his narration. If a DVD of the show were available,it would have a market and a purpose. It would allow all of those who will never be able to afford the show to see it and hear it, or at least a shadow of it. It might even encourage others to make an effort to find the dollars to see it.
Also needed a CD set of the Grand Organ with some of the stage show music from the Christmas and Easter shows as well as some of medley arrangements used in the past. While a few RCM organ LP’s were made and I have most, a new digital recording of the restored intstument would sell. I have no idea where to promote these ideas, but I hope someone out there has the connections to get both going.
ldtaylor