Top Hat: Music from the Films of Astaire and Rogers
Master film composer meets quintessential tux-and-tails entertainer inTop Hat. Henry Mancini arranged and conducts seven orchestral medleys, each based on a film Fred Astaire made with Ginger Rogers. That means we're treated to some of the most delicious songs in the history of American music, by such stalwarts as George and Ira Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, and Jerome Kern. A bonus medley collects a few other songs associated with Fred, including one composed by the dancer himself. Yes, this is schmaltz, but it's schmaltz of the highest class.--David Horiuchi