Icy strings swoop and sway in an ocean wave of sound on
Percy Faith's
Bouquet, one of this talented conductor/arranger's most popular albums. Piano chords swell and xylophones delicately plink in the distance, but
Faith's arrangements are really all about the massed strings: the melodies, the counter-melodies, the gorgeous undulation of violins (32 of them!). If you have a good stereo system, find a CD or clean vinyl copy of
Bouquet and turn up the volume -- immerse yourself in the glorious flux and reflux of pure sound. This is one of the most beautiful and distinctive mood music albums ever made, and if hearing it does not give you a new appreciation for the genre, then there is no hope for you. Highly recommended.