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For tonight’s Bond on Vinyl post, we’re listening to music from Moonraker!
Ettore Carlo Teresa Stratta was born in Cuneo, Italy, in 1933. He learned to play piano by age 5 and went on to study piano and composition at the Conservatorio di Santa Cecilia in Rome. After moving to the United States in 1959, he found a job at Columbia Records’ pressing plant and worked his way up the company ladder. Eventually, he took on a more creative role to find at develop talent, and by 1967, he was influential in getting composer-musician Wendy Carlos to secure a contract with Columbia. This led to the release of the hit album Switched-On Bach, which set Bach’s works to a Moog synthesizer, won three Grammy awards and became the best-selling classical album of all time (see Bond on Vinyl 114).
Besides his role as an executive, Stratta was known as the pioneer of crossover. He adapted bossa nova, the tango, as well as Elvis hits into symphonic versions. Stratta was equally at home conducting jazz or classical music and worked with Yo-Yo Ma on recordings and cross-genre concerts.
Stratta founded and conducted his own orchestra called Fantasy Strings, later recording with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the London Symphony Orchestra. The LSO is credited with this 1980 compilation album, ‘Music From The Galaxies’. Besides familiar classical space themes of the time, like Alien, Star Trek, and Star Wars, John Barry’s main title theme for Moonraker is also included. My former library copy is well-worn, as I’m sure many young fans of space-themed films were at risk of incurring the five-cent-per-day fine to spin this record at home a few more times. 😄
146. Ettore Stratta – London Symphony Orchestra – Music From The Galaxies
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