Guild has already done some string-oriented releases in its The Golden Age of Light Music reissue series, such as Strings and Things Go Stereo! and whatnot. However, this volume, Picking Strings, is a standout. Drawing from selections recorded between 1947 and 1958, this collects a generous number of high-spirited, high-energy orchestral tracks with a few lush, romantic tracks thrown in for the sake of variety. For fans of "bug music," this is pretty buggy, containing such left of center fare as
Percy Faith's The Fiddling Bullfighter, Otto Cesana's Marionette,
George Melachrino's Busybodies, and Don Gillis' "Perpetual Emotion" (from his Symphony No. 5 1/2). Less buggy tracks have that curtain-raising quality, that time-to-visit-the-drive-in-movie-snack-bar quality, that downhill slalom quality, that skipping-down-the-lane quality, that "time for dinner" sound; many of the key experiential points that these expert moodsmiths could hit, seemingly with pinpoint accuracy most times, are represented here. The outlook in terms of orchestras and composers is international this time, with Britain -- usually heavily represented on these volumes, though no worse for it -- having to share the spotlight with American artists such as
André Kostelanetz, the Spencer-Hagen Orchestra, and George Cates, not to mention the French, Dutch, and German artists included. As usual, the quality of sound and 78 (or in some cases, LP and 45) transfers is top drawer and the music is catchy and, in some cases, almost narcotically addicting. For students and enthusiasts of film and television scoring, Guild Light Music's Picking Strings should prove invaluable, but for ordinary listeners who like a little lift in their music and appreciate popular orchestral music this should also be good. Although it's definitely light, too much of the material on Guild Light Music's Picking Strings is strong and substantive enough to qualify it as a "guilty pleasure."