Liberace and Paul Weston - "Concertos for You" (1953) - Columbia Records
Hello Friends,
We just finished watching Stephen Soderbergh's Liberace biopic, Behind the Candelabra on HBO. Starring Michael Douglas as the legendary (and troubled) pianist and Matt Damon as the much younger object of his affection; its like a cross between Boogie Nights and Mommie Dearest and it gets two thumbs up from up here on the tiki bar!
SPOILER ALERT: Hate to ruin it for you folks, but Liberace was gay! Really, really gay! Coulda fooled me!
In keeping up with the Liberace mood, we pull out this early Columbia LP. Liberace was best known for his over-the-top showmanship and his large, Las Vegas-style stage shows. However, he was a first-class piano virtuoso with roots planted firmly in the classics. This album is from the pre-schmaltz era of Liberace's illustrious career.
There's some fine ivory tickling going on here. Even if you don't play piano or know much about the instrument, you can tell that Liberace was good! You can also tell on songs like "Chopin's Fantasia", "Laura" and "Spellbound Concerto" that the pianist had a flair for the dramatic.
Born Vladziu Valentino Liberace, his father was Italian and his mother was Polish. He pays tribute to his mother (played by Debbie Reynolds in the movie btw) on the lush and melodramatic, "Warsaw Concerto", written by Richard Addinsell for the 1942 English film, Suicide Squadron, a film about a Polish airman and concert pianist who flies a suicide mission during the Nazi invasion of Poland. In the record's liner notes, Liberace dedicates this piece to his mother and "to all the Polish people the composition that expresses the wonderful faith, hope and great courage of these peace-loving people during the merciless bombings of their capital city during World War II."
As I always say, whats better than roses on your piano? Tulips on your organ!
RATING: 4 muddy candelabras out of 5*
* - eww!
BTC, in retrospect, after viewing twice both going and coming from New York is absolutely hilarious. From the opening to the closing, there are tidbits of items that will soon make Mommie Dearest turn green with envy. Rob Lowes eyes (perpetually squinting) was perhaps the funniest scenes in the movie, aside from Liberace's opened eyes after the surgery. I'll have to make a grocery list here of all the good stuff. Remember Liberace's manager wanting to ask Matt Damon a quick question where by he tells him to "stop fucking around with my business" and Matt Damon makes a banana mouth and hands the phone back to Liberace. Funny, funny, funny!!!!
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