Two misplaced classics
(1) Nice warm weather. The ice cream truck has been working hard, and I can tell by the frequent stops in the music that he's getting plenty of business. Most of the time this truck plays La Cucaracha, which is appropriate in a state with legal pot. Today, unless I'm hearing it wrong, his music system is playing the 'good part' of Schubert's Trout Quintet! Way above the usual level of ice cream music, and an unlikely food association.

(2) I've added another syndicated radio serial to my bedtime playlist. Air Mail Mystery is low-quality crap even by the standards of serials. Disjointed plot, inappropriate emotions, sudden shifts of dialect, characters popping up and seeming important then disappearing with no explanation. The music redeems it. Like most serials, AMM has a long stretch of quiet music at the start to allow local announcers to slip in spots or program teasers. The quiet music includes several disjointed themes, one of which is purely heavenly. It sounds a bit like the incidental music in Gluck's Orfeo, but it's not familiar. I think it was written for the show.

Later: It's remarkably close to parts of Brahms's 3rd. Not exactly the same melodies, but the orchestration is the same.

Much later: A stronger influence is Borodin's Steppes of Central Asia, somewhat customized. All the bits are there, in a slightly different order.

Cancel the above stupid guesses. It's the Zampa Overture with no modifications at all. I don't know why it took me so long to figure this out. The Zampa used to be one of my favorites in the '70s when I had a record collection. Getting old!

Maybe it was hard to spot because the theme doesn't start at the start. Instead, the show begins with the roar of an airplane motor, then the motor becomes the bass part of this section of the overture, with alternating bass rumbles and horn blasts. Clever.

Labels: Asked and finally answered, coot-proofing

  ¶ 3:27 PM