Search - Arthur Fiedler :: Peace Love & Pops

A Trip Down Memory Lane

Timothy Kearney | Hull, MA United States | 01/13/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"When Arthur Fiedler was conducting the Boston Pops, the concerts were divided into three parts. The first part would include "light" classical music: opera overtures, shorter works by the great composers, and the like. The second third would have a more substantial symphonic piece or a guest artist, and the final third would be orchestral arrangements of then contemporary works, sing alongs, and hits from Broadway shows and films. The format has changed somewhat over the years, this programming structure of Fiedler's is still in place today, though concert goers hear fewer classical works in an attempt to attract younger audiences, or so the Boston Symphony Orchestra publicity people claim. In this collection we hear Fiedler's idea of what contemporary music at a Pops concert ought to be.



PEACE, LOVE, AND POPS is a collection of 1960's and 70's pop music arranged for orchestra. Many of the arrangements are by longtime arranger Richard Hayman and have the distinct "Pops" sound of the Fiedler years. The arrangers take great liberties with the songs, and it's quite possible the composers may not have been thrilled, but audiences loved them. The orchestra's sound is lush, and listening takes people back to another time and place. For me, I am taken back to a radio program called "Table at Pops" broadcast for many years on Boston's WCRB. It was an hour of Pops music under Fiedler's baton, and later John Williams and it would play in our house after dinner. These arrangements would always be played at the end of the show. I was just beginning to listen to classical music and eschewed such forays into popular music, but at the time I also thought there were only two conductors of any worth, one being Fiedler, the other being Seiji Ozawa. Now when I select this CD for a bit of variety, I can almost hear my mother asking if the dishes are done and if I have started my homework. My guess is for anyone who either attended Pops concerts at the times or grew up in homes with Fiedler's music on the stereo, nostalgic memories will resurface as well.



The cover has a clever picture of Fiedler driving a VW Beetle decorated with flower and peace signs and filled with groovy looking musicians much to the pleasure of the onlookers which may have been what captured my attention. It also has great liner notes by Arthur Fiedler's daughter Johanna which after reading will probably entice customers to buy her book ARTHUR FIEDLER: PAPA, THE POPS, AND ME.

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