Charles Gerhardt

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Charles Gerhardt (1927 to 1999) was an American conductor, producer and arranger. He grew up in Little Rock, Arkansas, and studied, among other things, piano and composition. He began at RCA Victor as a technician, where he transferred old 78 rpm records by Enrico Caruso to tape. Later he worked at Westminster Records. In 1960 he began producing records for RCA Victor and Reader's Digest. Together with the Decca sound engineer Kenneth Wilkinson he worked on thousands of recording sessions, often in London.

Music and breakthrough

In 1964, together with the violinist Sidney Sax, he put together an orchestra of the best London musicians. In 1970 it officially became the National Philharmonic Orchestra. With that orchestra Gerhardt recorded the Classic Film Scores series for RCA from 1972 to 1978, fourteen LPs. It began with music by Erich Wolfgang Korngold and went on to Max Steiner, Miklós Rózsa, Franz Waxman, Alfred Newman, Dimitri Tiomkin and Bernard Herrmann. Gerhardt prepared the scores with great care and recorded in Kingsway Hall. In 1978 came a recording of music by John Williams from Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

Influence

Gerhardt also made pop-oriented records. With the flautist James Galway he recorded, among other things, Annie's Song, an album that reached the top three in Britain. His importance lies chiefly in film music. He gave symphonic film scores from the Hollywood of the 1930s and 1940s a second life on record, at a time when that music was hardly being played any more.

Listening

Discography

Studio albums

• 1974Casablanca: Classic Film Scores for Humphrey Bogart
• 1976Man With the Golden Flute
• 1978James Galway Plays Songs for Annie
• 1978Music From John Williams' Classic Film Scores: Close Encounters of the Third Kind / Star Wars
• 1979Danny Boy and Other Irish Ballads
• 1983Music From the John Williams Score: Star Wars: Return of the Jedi
• 1985Charles Gerhardt Conducts the Film Music of Lee Holdridge
• 1985Violin Concerto no. 1, op. posth. & 2
• 1988The Empire Strikes Back: Symphonic Suite
• 1989Max Steiner’s Classic Film Score “Gone With The Wind” (soundtrack)
• 1990Classic Film Scores For Bette Davis (soundtrack)
• 1991Kings Row
• 1992The Magic Flute of James Galway
• 1994Great American Composers
• 1994Johannes Brahms – The Reader's Digest Favourites From The Classics - Brahms
• 1997Orchestral Music
• 2008Reader's Digest Music: Victory At Sea (Highlights)
• 2011Elizabeth And Essex (The Classic Film Scores Of Erich Wolfgang Korngold) (soundtrack)
• 2012Charles Gerhardt Conducts Great Opera Melodies, Vol. 2
• 2016The French Touch
• 2018Citizen Kane (The Classic Film Scores Of Bernard Herrmann)
• 2019East Of Eden - The Motion Picture And Television Music Of Lee Holdridge
• ?Flute Concerto in G K. 622G / Andante・Rondo・Allegro

In School of Rock

The chapters, maps and magazine stories of School of Rock are currently available in Dutch only.

• The Dream Factory: Film Reel 2^NL Reader