Andre Kostelanetz

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Andre Kostelanetz (December 22, 1901 - January 13, 1980) was a popular orchestral music conductor and arranger, one of the pioneers of easy listening music.

Born in St. Petersburg, Russia, Kostelanetz escaped from the Bolshevik-Communist state after the Russian Revolution to freedom in the United States in 1922. Beginning in the 1920s he conducted concerts for radio, and in the 1930s he was given his own weekly show on CBS, Andre Kostelanetz Presents.

Kostelanetz was known for arranging and recording light classical music pieces for mass audiences, as well as orchestral versions of popular songs and Broadway show tunes. He made numerous recordings over the course of his career, which had sales of over 50 million and became staples of Beautiful Music radio.

Kostelanetz is best known to modern audiences for a series of easy listening instrumental albums (only one, from 1971, included vocals) on the Columbia label from the 1940s to 1980. Kostelanetz actually started making this music before there was a genre called easy listening, and he continued until after some of his contemporaries, including Mantovani, had stopped recording. Toward the end of his recording career, his name was more of a brand than a true representation of who actually made the music, because nearly all of his output in the 1970s was arranged by others. Some of the arrangers credited on 1970s Kostelanetz albums include Teo Macero, Torrie Zito, Hank Levy, Luther Henderson, Jack Cortner, Eddie Sauter, Claus Ogerman, Jack Pleis, Tommy Newsom, Harold Wheeler, Bobby Scott, Homer Dennison, James Tyler, Jr., Byron Olson, Dale Oehler, Ben Lanzarone, LaMont Johnson, Wade Marcus, Patrick Williams, Sammy Nestico, Warren Vincent, Dick Hyman, Jorge Calandrelli, James J. Wisner, Al Capps, and Don Sebesky.

Kostelanetz's last concert was "A Night in Old Vienna" concert with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra in the War Memorial Opera House on December 31, 1979.

[edit] Bibliography

Kostelanetz, Andre, with Gloria Hammond, Echoes: Memoirs of Andre Kostelanetz. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1981. 247 pp. ISBN 0151273928.


[edit] Discography

  • Music Of Irving Berlin, 1950, Columbia Masterworks 4314
  • Music Of Cole Porter, 1951, Columbia Masterworks 2014
  • Music Of George Gershwin, 1951, Columbia Masterworks 2026
  • Black Magic, 1955, Columbia 712
  • Music Of Vincent Youmans, 1955, Columbia 734
  • You And The Night And The Music, 1956, Columbia 772
  • Music Of Jerome Kern, 1956, Columbia 776
  • Stardust, 1956, Columbia 781
  • Broadway Spectacular, 1957, Columbia 865
  • Tender Is The Night, 1957, Columbia 886
  • The Romantic Music Of Rachmaninoff, 1957, Columbia 1001
  • The Columbia Album Of Richard Rodgers, 1958, Columbia 1140
  • Joy To The World, 1960, Harmony 11232
  • Nutcracker Suite, 1961, Columbia Masterworks 6264
  • The New Wonderland Of Sound, 1961, Columbia 8457
  • Star Spangled Marches, 1962, Columbia 1718
  • Broadway's Greatest Hits, 1962, Columbia 1827
  • Music From "Mr. President," 1962, Columbia 1921
  • Wonderland Of Golden Hits, 1963, Columbia 8839
  • I Wish You Love, 1964, Columbia 2185
  • The Romantic Strings Of Andre Kostelanetz, Columbia Masterworks 6711
  • Romantic Waltzes By Tchaikovsky, Columbia Masterworks 6824
  • Today's Golden Hits, 1966, Columbia 9334
  • The Shadow Of Your Smile, 1966, Columbia 13285
  • The Kostelanetz Sound Of Today, 1967, Columbia 9409
  • Scarborough Fair, 1968, Columbia 9623
  • For The Young At Heart, 1968, Columbia 9691
  • Traces, 1969, Columbia 13282
  • Greatest Hits Of The 60's, 1970, Columbia 9973
  • I'll Never Fall In Love Again, 1970, Columbia 9998
  • Wonderland Of Christmas, Columbia 10086
  • Everything Is Beautiful, 1970, Columbia 30037
  • Sunset, 1970, Columbia Masterworks 30075
  • Love Story, 1971, Columbia 30501
  • For All We Know, 1971, Columbia 30672
  • Plays Chicago, 1971, Columbia 31002
  • Plays Cole Porter, 1972, Columbia 31491
  • Love Theme From "The Godfather," 1972, Harmony 31500
  • Last Tango In Paris, 1973, Columbia 32187
  • Moon River, 1973, Columbia 32243
  • Plays Great Hits Of Today, 1973, Columbia 32415
  • The Way We Were, 1974, Columbia 32578
  • Plays Michel Legrand's Greatest Hits, 1974, Columbia 32580
  • Musical Reflections Of Broadway And Hollywood, 1974, Columbia 33061
  • Plays "Murder On The Orient Express," 1975, Columbia 33437
  • Never Can Say Goodbye, 1975, Col 33550
  • I'm Easy, 1976, Columbia 34157
  • Dance With Me, 1976, Columbia 34352
  • Plays Broadway's Greatest Hits, 1977, Columbia 34864
  • You Light Up My Life, 1978, Columbia 35328
  • Theme From "Superman," 1979, Columbia 35781
  • (no title), 1980, Columbia 36382
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