Uploaded April 2014 | Updated September 2026, 1 hour ago
Music Fast Facts : To win a gold disc, an album needs to sell 100,000 copies in Britain, and 500,000 in the United States. ▼▼▼
THE 101 STRINGS
101 Strings Orchestra was a brand for a highly successful easy listening symphonic music organization, with a discography exceeding a hundred albums and a creative lifetime of roughly thirty years. Their LPs were individualized by the slogan "The Sound of Magnificence", a cloud logo and sepia-toned photo of the orchestra. The 101 Strings orchestra was composed of 124 string instruments (all male except for the harpist) and was conducted by Wilhelm Stephan.
Core staff arrangers were Monty Kelly, Joseph Francis Kuhn and Robert Lowden. All three proved adept at penning original compositions that were stylistically consistent both with contemporary hit songs and each other Kelly's earliest successes were Latin and Spanish travelogues (such as the Soul of Spain series) although, following the British Invasion, he became 101 Strings' 'Now Sound' specialist. Kuhn concentrated on radio-friendly numbers in the 'Pops' orchestral manner ("Blues Pizzicato," etc.) which provided Somerset its initial catalog of originals. Lowden penned lounge ballads (such as "Blue Twilight"). Their body of early 1960s work would be recycled via rerelease throughout the next twenty years.
Although many 101 Strings albums are simply orchestrated versions of pop hits and show tunes, the early material contains many examples of the exotica and lounge genres. Songs of the Seasons in Japan, Hawaiian Paradise and East of Suez are three such albums. 101 Strings Play the Blues and Back Beat Symphony comprise early experiments in symphonic-pop hybridization, while Fly Me To The Moon contains five noir-ish originals.
In the 30 years of their existence, 101 Strings sold over 50,000,000 records worldwide.
DID YOU KNOW ?
Pieces of Dreams was written by famous French composer and orchestrator Michel Legrand for the film with the same name.
The film was directed by Dan Haller and was released in 1970.
Legrand received two Academy Award Nominations: one for the soundtrack in general, the other for "Pieces of dreams" specifically (Best Original song).
MHO
The 101 Strings at their best with a beautiful rendition of Michel Legrand's outstanding composition "Pieces of Dreams".
Romantic, enchanting and a melody that will linger on in your mind, long after you stopped listening...... Enjoy.
Music Fast Facts : To win a gold disc, an album needs to sell 100,000 copies in Britain, and 500,000 in the United States. ▼▼▼
THE 101 STRINGS
101 Strings Orchestra was a brand for a highly successful easy listening symphonic music organization, with a discography exceeding a hundred albums and a creative lifetime of roughly thirty years. Their LPs were individualized by the slogan "The Sound of Magnificence", a cloud logo and sepia-toned photo of the orchestra. The 101 Strings orchestra was composed of 124 string instruments (all male except for the harpist) and was conducted by Wilhelm Stephan.
Core staff arrangers were Monty Kelly, Joseph Francis Kuhn and Robert Lowden. All three proved adept at penning original compositions that were stylistically consistent both with contemporary hit songs and each other Kelly's earliest successes were Latin and Spanish travelogues (such as the Soul of Spain series) although, following the British Invasion, he became 101 Strings' 'Now Sound' specialist. Kuhn concentrated on radio-friendly numbers in the 'Pops' orchestral manner ("Blues Pizzicato," etc.) which provided Somerset its initial catalog of originals. Lowden penned lounge ballads (such as "Blue Twilight"). Their body of early 1960s work would be recycled via rerelease throughout the next twenty years.
Although many 101 Strings albums are simply orchestrated versions of pop hits and show tunes, the early material contains many examples of the exotica and lounge genres. Songs of the Seasons in Japan, Hawaiian Paradise and East of Suez are three such albums. 101 Strings Play the Blues and Back Beat Symphony comprise early experiments in symphonic-pop hybridization, while Fly Me To The Moon contains five noir-ish originals.
In the 30 years of their existence, 101 Strings sold over 50,000,000 records worldwide.
DID YOU KNOW ?
Pieces of Dreams was written by famous French composer and orchestrator Michel Legrand for the film with the same name.
The film was directed by Dan Haller and was released in 1970.
Legrand received two Academy Award Nominations: one for the soundtrack in general, the other for "Pieces of dreams" specifically (Best Original song).
MHO
The 101 Strings at their best with a beautiful rendition of Michel Legrand's outstanding composition "Pieces of Dreams".
Romantic, enchanting and a melody that will linger on in your mind, long after you stopped listening...... Enjoy.
