Twelve Hats For Lena

“You'll be coming back time and time again to knit these sweet and simple projects.” Review of Knitted Animal Socks, Mitts, and Scarves, Knitting magazine

This is the third and final volume of a series surveying the orchestral music of the doyen of Swedish composers, Ingvar Lidholm who was born in 1921. The music on this disc was composed between 1944-1958 and it illustrates the growth of the young composer into a mature artist with an instantly recognizable voice. Lidholm's years as a student of music coincided with World War II when Sweden, though neutral, was effectively shut off from the rest of Europe. This sense of isolation led many pioneering young people to look to the Continent for inspiration as soon as the war ended and boundaries opened again. Lidholm immersed himself in Continental avant-garde music by assiduously listening to the radio and in 1949 he became the first Swede to visit the summer courses for new music at Darmstadt. Very early on he became personally acquainted with such pioneering composers as Lutoslawski, Ligeti, Berio and Olivier Messiaen. Lidholm's early works reveal a subjective, Scandinavian romanticism, but the influence of Hindemith and Bartók soon becomes apparent, though always employed in a highly personal manner. The previous discs in the series were warmly reviewed: 'Excellent performances' This disc gets a strong recommendation' was the view of the International Record Review while Fono Forum gave the first disc a special recommendation for both performance and recording.

Lena Horne was a multi-talented singer, dancer, actor and civil rights activist, who by the age of 16 was performing in the Cotton Club Revue in New York and soon became big band singer, and appeared in her first movies during the 1930s. Eventually enjoying a career which spanned seven decades, she became a highly-respected entertainer, famed for her sultry and sophisticated way with a song. This 48-track 2-CD set addresses the first fairly brief era of her recording career, when she established her reputation and had the first of her hits. It comprises most of her releases from these years on the Decca, Bluebird, Victor, Black & White and MGM labels, plus one V-Disc recording, and includes her hits with the Great American Songbook classics “Stormy Weather”, “One For My Baby (And One More For The Road)” and “Deed I Do”. It features performances with the orchestras of Noble Sissle, Charlie Barnet, The Dixieland Group of Basin Street, Artie Shaw, Teddy Wilson, Lou Bring, Phil Moore and Luther Henderson. She was one of the finest interpreters of popular song of her era, and this collection brings together her early versions of songs by the great writers of the day, providing a fine showcase for her highly distinctive talents.