André Kostelanetz - Biography
By J Poet
André Kostelanetz may not have invented easy listening music, but he perfected it with a middle of the road aesthetic marked by his musicality and knowledge of music from classical to pop. After coming to America and signing with Columbia Records, he turned out a steady stream of easy listening albums – sometimes four a year – for over 25 years. He was a fanatic about pristine sound and constantly experimented with recording technology and arranging techniques that would give listeners a pure musical experience. While some criticized his smooth, placid arrangements, his albums introduced several generations of Americans to classical music and opera. He made many appearances with symphony orchestras a guest conductor, arranged pop music and commissioned works from American composers including Aaron Copland’s “A Lincoln Portrait,” William Schuman’s “New England Triptych,” Ferde Grofe’s “Hudson River Suite” and Alan Hovanhess’ “And God Created Great Whales.” He was 79 years old when he died in Haiti while on vacation in 1980.
Kostelanetz was born in Czarist Russia in 1901, to wealthy parents in St. Petersburg. He was a child prodigy and was playing piano by the time he was five. He studied at the St. Petersburg Conservatory of Music and by 19 was assistant conductor at the Imperial Grand Opera in Petrograd. In 1922, the Communists started rounding up dissidents and intellectuals and the Kostelanetz family moved to New York City.
Kostelanetz was soon hired by the Metropolitan Opera as an assistant conductor, and in 1928 when the CBS Radio Network (then known as the Atlantic Broadcasting System) started its in-house studio orchestra, Kostelanetz became their conductor in charge of classical and light music programs. As CBS conductor and arranger, Kostelanetz presented classical music and opera on a show called André Kostelanetz Presents. The program lasted from the early ‘30s to the late ‘50s. In 1938, Kostelanetz married operatic soprano Lily Pons; their joint concerts were extremely popular and they entertained US troops abroad during World War II. He also organized and conducted military bands in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa during the War. In 1952, Kostelanetz began working with the New York Philharmonic, conducting programs of classical, opera and light classical pieces every year until 1979.
Kostelanetz signed with Columbia Records as an artist in the late 40s and pioneered recording techniques that gave his albums, and those of other Columbia artists, a high fidelity sheen. His innovations in studio microphone placement made him irreplaceable according to Columbia Records’ chief Goddard Lieberson. He invented the first electric tuning device that gave musicians the ability to stay on perfect pitch even when no piano was available. Kostelanetz also wrote arrangements and conducted orchestras on many pop hits in the 40s and 50s, most notably Perry Como’s #1 hit “Prisoner Of Love.”
Throughout his career, Kostelanetz collaborated with many arrangers and conductors including Jimmy Carroll, Leo Addeo, LaMont Johnson, Bobby Scott, Dick Hyman, Eddie Sauter, and Bill Finegan, but they were never credited on the album notes, even though they became expert at capturing the Kostelanetz sound. Albums from the 50s include Music Of Irving Berlin (1950 Columbia Masterworks), Music Of Cole Porter (1951 Columbia Masterworks), Black Magic (1955 Columbia), Verdi: Aida (1956, Columbia) one of his opera without words discs that introduced opera to middle class audiences, You And The Night And The Music (1956 Columbia), Music Of Jerome Kern (1956 Columbia), Broadway Spectacular (1957 Columbia), The Romantic Music Of Rachmaninoff (1957 Columbia), and Blues Opera (1958 Columbia) a suite of songs composed by Harold Arlen for an abortive attempt to duplicate the success of the Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess. The record also includes lush orchestrations of Arlen's “Stormy Weather” and “That Old Black Magic.”
In the 60s, Kostelanetz started arranging and orchestrating albums of current pop hits, film scores and Broadway show tunes, as well interpreting classic pop songs, opera and light classic music. His albums include Music From Flower Drum Song (1960 Columbia), Nutcracker Suite (1961 Columbia Masterworks), Broadway's Greatest Hits (1962 Columbia), Wonderland Of Golden Hits (1963 Columbia), The Romantic Strings Of Andre Kostelanetz (1964 Columbia Masterworks), Today's Golden Hits (1966 Columbia, 2008 Collectables), The Kostelanetz Sound Of Today (1967 Columbia), Scarborough Fair (1968 Columbia, 2008 Collectables), and Traces (1969 Columbia, 2008 Collectables.)
Kostelanetz was a noted art collector and patron of the arts. He commissioned works from American composers including Aaron Copland’s “A Lincoln Portrait,” William Schuman’s “New England Triptych,” Ferde Grofe’s “Hudson River Suite” and Alan Hovanhess’ “And God Created Great Whales.” He continued making records until the year before his death in 1980. Some of his best are Greatest Hits Of The '60s (1970 Columbia), Love Story (1971 Columbia), André Kostelanetz Plays Cole Porter (1972 Columbia, 2001 Collectables), Last Tango In Paris (1973 Columbia), Moon River (1973 Columbia, 1995 Columbia), The Way We Were (1974 Columbia), André Kostelanetz Plays Michel Legrand's Greatest Hits (1974 Columbia), André Kostelanetz Plays Murder On The Orient Express (1975 Columbia, 2005 Collectables), I'm Easy (1976 Columbia), André Kostelanetz Plays Broadway's Greatest Hits (1977 Columbia), You Light Up My Life (1978 Columbia), André Kostelanetz Plays the Theme from Superman the Movie and Other Pop Hits of Today! (1979 Columbia.) Over the course of his career, Kostelanetz sold over 52 million records. He died of a massive heart attack while on vacation in Haiti in 1980. An overview of his work is found on the triple disc, 60-song collection André Kostelanetz The Ultimate Collection (2001 Sony International.)
In 2008, the Kostelanetz Estate donated his personal papers to the Library of Congress. The material includes love letters in French between Kostelanetz and his wife Lilly Pons, correspondence with U.S. presidents and musical figures like Beverly Sills, Irving Berlin, Leopold Stokowski, Cole Porter, George M. Cohan, Jerome Kern, Richard Rogers and Harold Arlen, personal letters from Marc Chagall, Henri Matisse and Claude Monet, documentation of Kostelanetz’s role in Leonard Bernstein’s 1943 debut as conductor of the New York Philharmonic and 73 boxes of scrapbooks, photos, clippings, posters, business papers, sound recordings, and materials related to his USO tours with his Lily Pons. During his long career, Kostelanetz regularly donated hundreds of his written orchestral arrangements and ‘off-air’ recordings to the Library.