{"id":39498,"date":"2018-03-18T00:01:18","date_gmt":"2018-03-18T07:01:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/?p=39498"},"modified":"2018-03-14T19:33:29","modified_gmt":"2018-03-15T02:33:29","slug":"its-different-with-the-classics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/index.php\/its-different-with-the-classics\/","title":{"rendered":"It’s Different with the Classics"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Fantasia<\/em> posed a problem for the Music Department at the Walt Disney studio.<\/p>\n

The use of classical music–all safely in the Public Domain–meant that the Music Department would not be able to contribute a dime to Disney’s coffers.<\/p>\n

There would be no opportunity for Larry Morey or Ned Washington to write a catchy lyric. You’re gonna set a lyric to “Night On Bald Mountain”??<\/p>\n

As for the various record companies–those that had large catalogues of classical music–they could try to promote these catalogues along with the film–if the snobbish clientele for symphonic and concert music did not object too strongly.<\/p>\n

Here, both Disney and Victor Records had a not-so-secret ace in the hole: Leopold Stokowski.<\/p>\n

“Stoky” was, to put it bluntly, the best-known of all symphony conductors. He had worked with the Philadelphia Orchestra as far back as 1912, and had built the Philadelphia Orchestra into one of the finest symphony groups in the world.<\/p>\n

What’s more, he had been recording for Victor with the Philadellphia Orchestra since 1917, and some of these records were steady sellers, accumulating sales over the years as new customers wanted to build a repertoire of classical records–which they then wouldn’t play!<\/p>\n

So, when it was time to sit down and brainstorm about what classical pieces to include in “Fantasia”, it’s no wonder that Stokowski went in for some favorites–as well as a couple of pieces that he had not recorded before.<\/p>\n

Bach’s “Toccata and Fugue in D-Minor was one of “Stoky”‘s favorites. He had recorded it for Victor–most famously in 1934.<\/p>\n