Metropole Orchestra - Roger Roger: Grands Travaux - Digital Download
Basta Music
Basta 3090762
French composer Roger Roger (real name!; 1911-1995) composed film music for films which did not exist -- music minus movies. He wrote "stock music" (programmatic themes, or pieces suited for a particular atmosphere) for publishers like The Chappell Mood Music Company in London, who specialize in orchestral music for background use in radio, TV, and film.
Roger recorded album after album of sophisticated and subtle works -- none of which were ever offered commercially to the general public. Roger knew this -- it was part of his contractual arrangement -- and never despaired of this. He became a wealthy man from the royalties garnered by the widespread use of his music -- and even though the European public may have scarcely known he existed, they heard his music every day in the cinema, on radio and TV, in commercials, in industrial productions, and at public events. He composed pop jingles for orchestra, complex classical-tinged tone poems, humorous themes, electronic works, and music that heightened drama, tragedy, comedy, or sales pitches. He never composed "down" -- Roger's works rank with the most sophisticated of pop compositions -- but his music nonetheless always had broad appeal.
GRANDS TRAVAUX represents the first commercially available compilation of such Roger works as "Traffic Boom," "Scenic Railway," "The Grip of Fear," and "Eccentric Walk." It was recorded and produced by Gert-Jan Blom in the Netherlands in 1994-95. The album cover artwork was provided by American illustrator/cartoonist Robert Armstrong.
From a New York Times review:
'"Quirky but never zany, melodic but never melodramatic . . . Roger Roger was a composer who managed to give all-purpose music a purpose."
Roger recorded album after album of sophisticated and subtle works -- none of which were ever offered commercially to the general public. Roger knew this -- it was part of his contractual arrangement -- and never despaired of this. He became a wealthy man from the royalties garnered by the widespread use of his music -- and even though the European public may have scarcely known he existed, they heard his music every day in the cinema, on radio and TV, in commercials, in industrial productions, and at public events. He composed pop jingles for orchestra, complex classical-tinged tone poems, humorous themes, electronic works, and music that heightened drama, tragedy, comedy, or sales pitches. He never composed "down" -- Roger's works rank with the most sophisticated of pop compositions -- but his music nonetheless always had broad appeal.
GRANDS TRAVAUX represents the first commercially available compilation of such Roger works as "Traffic Boom," "Scenic Railway," "The Grip of Fear," and "Eccentric Walk." It was recorded and produced by Gert-Jan Blom in the Netherlands in 1994-95. The album cover artwork was provided by American illustrator/cartoonist Robert Armstrong.
From a New York Times review:
'"Quirky but never zany, melodic but never melodramatic . . . Roger Roger was a composer who managed to give all-purpose music a purpose."
Order the album directly from us. When ordering the Digital Download, you will receive high quality mp3s (320 kbps). Or listen for free on Spotify:
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