Ferrante & Teicher Albums (23)
What The Critics Say
The reissue of Ferrante and Teicher's pricey 1958 album Blast Off! with four additional tracks is a welcome one. The piano duo was not originally budgeted for a full orchestra for the recording of its third album for ABC-Paramount. Undaunted, the pair experimented and created the necessary sounds through modifications to their concert grands. Strategically placed pieces of rubber, wood, metal, and wads of paper achieved the desired instrumental effects. Unlike John Cage, who was performing similar modifications for art's sake, Ferrante and Teicher were doing it for the masses. Though much of the repertoire on Blast Off! are standards other lounge artists were covering at the time ("S'Wonderful," "Ain't Misbehavin'," "I Got Rhythm"), Ferrante and Teicher's approach is novel enough to sustain interest. Even today, it's amazing the sounds they were able to coax out of concert grand pianos -- at times they sound as otherworldly as synthesizers, or as down to earth as harps, zithers, and celestes. The best quality about the album is that it doesn't sound like a novelty or a gimmick, just two guys using their imagination to surmount the obstacle of not having the necessary instrumentation to create the sounds they desired. ~ Jim Powers, All Music Guide
'Christmas Garland'
Release Date 11/1/1995
Tracks 9
Label Cema Special Markets
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
As far as holiday collections with an easy-listening angle are concerned, they don't come much better than Ferrante and Teicher's Christmas Garland, highlighted by the duo's lush interpretations of perennials including "Jingle Bells," "Winter Wonderland" and "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town." ~ Marvin Jolly, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Ferrante & Teicher became popular in the '60s with albums containing lush, orchestrated versions of movie themes. Their breakthrough album, Theme From the Apartment, contained songs from the Billy Wilder comedy starring Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine. Ferrante & Teicher's albums over the next two decades would feature their take on music from many other United Artist films and pop hits of the era. In 1978, they released Supermen, which includes "Can You Read My Mind" from that movie, the theme from the film The Promise, "The Music's Too Sweet Not to Dnace" from Oliver's Story, and the theme from Heaven Can Wait. Other tracks on Superman are "Feels So Good," "You Don't Bring Me Flowers" (popularized by Neil Diamond and Barbra Streisand), and "Ski Fever." Overall, the song selection is solid for their sentimental, refined easy listening style. An album like Superman, though, makes one wish Ferrante & Teicher would have tackled more than one song per film. John Williams' Superman, for example, has a number of songs that would have matched their instrumental style perfectly. ~ JT Griffith, All Music Guide
