Frank Sinatra Conducts the Music of Alec Wilder

AMG Review of Frank Sinatra Conducts the Music of Alec Wilder

Richard S. Ginell
All Music Guide

Having heard some Alec Wilder instrumental compositions backstage at New York's Paramount Theatre on a portable record player, Frank Sinatra decided that he wanted to conduct and record them himself. When Sinatra got a passion for something, nothing would stand in his way -- not even the inconvenient facts that he had never conducted before and couldn't read music. Yet apparently he was a natural; indeed, musicians have testified that his baton technique was no worse than those of most of the great arrangers he employed. Either that or this New York pickup group did a Herculean job of carrying the young singer, for the ensemble is alert, cohesive, and phrases with terrific musicality. In any case, these are lovely, wistful pieces that fall in between the cracks of classical music, what was once called semi-classical (Kostelanetz, Mantovani, etc.) and pop, often with a featured spot for a wind soloist. That's Sinatra's future bęte noire at Columbia, Mitch Miller, expertly sounding forth on "Air For Oboe" and "Air For English Horn," and the future New York Philharmonic principal flutist Julius Baker takes a gorgeous turn on "Air For Flute." You can hear some overtones of Delius now and then, even touches of '40s swing on "Slow Dance" and "Theme and Variations," but Wilder was defiantly his own man, conjuring playful, relaxed, piquant, mixed idioms at will. The six Sinatra-conducted pieces were first issued on 12-inch 78s in 1946, yet the CD transfer belies their age; the sound is big, clear, and dry, yet detailed. To fill out the disc, there are seven more recordings of Wilder pieces by the Alec Wilder Octet (including harpsichord) from 1939-1940, composed in a similar, more pop-slanted yet still unclassifiable vein but this time with offbeat titles like "It's Silk, Feel It!" or "Her Old Man Was Suspicious." Thanks to Sinatra's advocacy, this music stands a good, deserved chance at survival, and is well worth seeking out.