Cascading strings

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Cascading strings (in German about " strings - cascades ") describe a style of music in orchestral music . Here different groups of strings play the same music, but slightly offset in time. For the audience it seems like reverberation , which makes the music sound particularly full. The style is also known as Tumbling Strings (in German "falling strings"). It became the trademark of orchestra leader Annunzio Mantovani , hence the name Mantovani Sound .

history

occasion

In the early 1950s, American arrangers such as André Kostelanetz perfected the sound of upscale popular music . On the one hand, this concerned their sophisticated arrangements and, on the other hand, the top-class cast of the performing orchestras. The British record label Decca was enthusiastic about the "American" sound and wanted to produce something just as first class.

development

Decca commissioned Annunzio Mantovani , who had been under contract with his orchestra at Decca for a long time. Mantovani feared that you would not be able to keep up with the perfect American musicians, and that you would have to develop a different sound to stand out from them. By this time Mantovani had worked with the composer Ronald Binge for a long time , and both had the same feeling for sweeping melodies at a high orchestral level.

Montavani finally picked up on an idea of ​​binge. He noticed that at that time strings were rarely used in popular music in American orchestras. Binge therefore suggested that Mantovani could occupy his orchestra with only a few wind instruments, but many strings, in order to stand out from the “American” sound. Mantovani himself called this "a mass of strings":

"Really, a mass of strings because it's only a mass of strings that gives you a certain sound ..."

"Really a lot of strings, because only a lot of strings makes a certain sound ..."

- Annunzio Mantovani

Mantovani hired binge for the instrumentation . Binge remembered pieces by Claudio Monteverdi that were performed in churches and large cathedrals: the reverberation in these buildings created a special atmosphere. Binge realized that Monteverdi must have been aware of this effect and even composed specially for it. Binge took this as the basis for his own experiments:

  • In order to achieve the desired reverberation effect (which was also erroneously called the " echo " effect), part of the strings played the melody while another part played the same melody - but this was delayed by a fraction of a second. The violinist Sidney Sax, who u. a. played in Mantovani's orchestra summarized it as follows:

“You have a chord structure and chords move along together and what binge would do, he would take one note away from the chord and shift it into the next bar and it would create a different sound. It sounded as though you had left something behind - an echo. "

“You have a chord structure and the chords move together, and what Binge did was remove a note from the chord and move it to the next measure, and that made a new sound. It sounded like something had been left behind - an echo. "

- Sidney Sax
  • There was also the cascade effect at the beginning: Here the violins played arpeggios over the deeper-sounding string instruments or short runs . Later, when Binge left Mantovani, the "cascade effect" largely disappeared. Most listeners perceived the remaining reverberation effect as "cascading".

implementation

The "Cascading Strings" style was first clearly used in the song Charmaine , which Binge had rearranged for Mantovani's orchestra . Neither Mantovani nor his musicians were privy to it at the time: the innovations came as a complete surprise to all of them. Mantovani initially had doubts and wondered what Binge was up to. But when the musicians started playing, it sounded nice and the orchestra loved it. Still, Mantovani was worried:

“Well, when an orchestra is delighted, I start worrying. It's too good as a rule [...] ”

“Well, when an orchestra is excited, I worry. That is usually too good [...] "

- Annunzio Mantovani

Result

Mantovanis / Binges Charmaine finally became a world hit: over a million singles were sold. For Mantovani and his orchestra, the song became "something of a signature tune, which he re-recorded a few more times."

As a result, Mantovani landed many more hits in the style of "Cascading Strings". The style became the trademark of Mantovani and his orchestra.

Over time, the style was also used by many other orchestras. It became a hallmark of the " easy listening " genre.

Web links

Mantovani And His Orchestra - Charmaine (1958). 1958 stereo version of Mantovani's 1951 top 10 hit. In: Youtube. Retrieved June 16, 2020 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h Jon C. Hopwood: Mantovani - Biography. (en) In: imdb.com. Retrieved June 15, 2020 .
  2. ↑ a b c d Reuben Musicians, Naomi Musicians: Conductors and Composers of Popular Orchestral Music - A Biographical and Discographical Sourcebook . Routlege, Abingdon / New York 2013, ISBN 978-1-57958-013-1 , Mantovani, Annunzio Paolo , p. 175 (English, limited preview ).
  3. ^ A b c d Colin MacKenzie: Mantovani - A Lifetime in Music . 1st edition. Melrose Books, Camebridgeshire 2005, ISBN 1-905226-19-5 , pp. 128 (English, limited preview ).
  4. ↑ a b c d Reuben Musicians, Naomi Musicians: Conductors and Composers of Popular Orchestral Music - A Biographical and Discographical Sourcebook . Routlege, Abingdon / New York 2013, ISBN 978-1-57958-013-1 , Binge, Ronald , p. 24 (English, limited preview ).
  5. ↑ a b c d e f g Cascading Strings. In: ronaldbinge.com. Retrieved June 15, 2020 .
  6. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Colin MacKenzie: Mantovani - A Lifetime in Music . 1st edition. Melrose Books, Camebridgeshire 2005, ISBN 1-905226-19-5 , pp. 123 (English, limited preview ).
  7. ^ Colin MacKenzie: Mantovani - A Lifetime in Music . 1st edition. Melrose Books, Camebridgeshire 2005, ISBN 1-905226-19-5 , pp. 122 (English, limited preview ).
  8. ^ Colin MacKenzie: Mantovani - A Lifetime in Music . 1st edition. Melrose Books, Camebridgeshire 2005, ISBN 1-905226-19-5 , pp. 121 (English, limited preview ).
  9. ^ Colin MacKenzie: Mantovani - A Lifetime in Music . 1st edition. Melrose Books, Camebridgeshire 2005, ISBN 1-905226-19-5 , pp. 124 (English, limited preview ).
  10. ↑ a b c d e f Colin MacKenzie: Mantovani - A Lifetime in Music . 1st edition. Melrose Books, Camebridgeshire 2005, ISBN 1-905226-19-5 , pp. 126 (English, limited preview ).
  11. ^ Colin MacKenzie: Mantovani - A Lifetime in Music . 1st edition. Melrose Books, Camebridgeshire 2005, ISBN 1-905226-19-5 , pp. 125–126 (English, limited preview ).
  12. ^ A b Bernhard Vogel: Frank Sinatra - Charmaine. In: Sinatra - The Main Event. 2008, accessed June 16, 2020 .
  13. ^ Colin MacKenzie: Mantovani - A Lifetime in Music . 1st edition. Melrose Books, Camebridgeshire 2005, ISBN 1-905226-19-5 , pp. 127 (English, limited preview ).