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Ferrante & Teicher

Born Arthur Ferrante, 7 Sept 1921, New York City
Born Louis Teicher, 24 Aug 1924, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania

Ferrante & Teicher's work falls into two categories: prepared piano works and easy listening. After meeting as students, and then working as teachers, at Juilliard, they began to perform as a duo, primarily with classical groups, in 1946. They became a popular act on the "pops" symphony circuit. At the same time, they began experimenting with modifications to pianos, inserting objects into the stringbed, playing on the stringbed, striking keys or strings with blocks, and generally striving to figure out how to get the strangest possible sounds. Working before the first synthesizer, they succeeded in producing outworldly, almost electronic sounds. The pair described this musical transition:
... it was while teaching that we began experimenting and creating new material for two pianos. For novelty numbers we stuffed wads of paper, sticks, rubber stops, masonite strings, cardboard wedges, and sandpaper into the pianos conjuring up weird effects (a la [John] Cage) resembling gongs, castanets, drums, xylophone, and harpsichord. Though we have gradually dropped many of these gimmicks, we fell that we have developed a musical style, and undoubtedly play in a manner that makes some former colleagues at Juilliard wince a bit.
People who associate F&T with their easy listening music are often startled to hear their prepared piano works. There is nothing quite like them in the annals of recorded sounds. In fact, throughout this period, the duo was accused of using more than just pianos to produce these sounds, and they had to produce the following affadavit to convince Columbia Records before the label released their first single:
Divers persons upon hearing records of "Susanna's Last Stand" and "Caravan" and subsequent recordings by Ferrante and Teicher have asserted, implied or otherwise made known that such recordings were made by the use of various sundry instruments other than two pianos. Upon our solemn oath and undertaking we hereby assert, acknowledge, testify and state without equivocation or fear of contradiction that the only instruments played by Ferrante and Teicher in connection with the recordings of such compositions were two pianos.--Howard Scott and David Oppenheim, 24 Dec 1952
Aside from a few very early albums of classical pieces, most of their albums up to about 1961, however, are entirely comprised of prepared piano pieces.
After joining United Artists in 1960, they added an orchestral accompaniment (usually arranged by Don Costa and conducted by Nick Perito) and quickly abandoned fiddling with their pianos. As High Fidelity magazine noted of their first album with Costa and Perito, Golden Piano Hits, their new sound was,
Devoid of gimmickry ... a fact that may appeal to the musical-minded more than those who listen, with both ears, for spectacular sonic surprises.
It didn't take longer to figure out which was the larger audience. F&T became one of the best-selling instrumental easy listening groups of the 1960s. They had immediate hits with their renditions of "Exodus" and the theme from "The Apartment," and over 10 Top 100 hits in the next 13 years. They continued to record a steady stream of 4 albums a year for United Artists until 1979, when they formed their own label, Avante Garde. They often played to packed concert houses, appearing up to 100 times a year at their peak. Although they retired from performing in 1989, they remain close friends and have settled near each other in the Sarasota, Florida area. According to their manager, Scott Smith, they began practicing again in late 1998 in anticipation of a new series of recordings that will include new prepared piano sounds.
You can safely skip virtually everything recorded from the early United Artists LP, "Pianos in Paradise" on, though, unless you need a Muzak fix. The one prominent exception to this advice, however, is their best-selling album, Midnight Cowboy, which gained a lot of attention for its prominent use of Vinnie Bell's "watery" guitar effects. For most space age pop fans, the prepared piano albums are the ones to seek out.

Recordings

Prepared Piano Works

Soundproof, Westminster WP 6014 (mono, 1956)
Soundproof, Westminster WST 5011 (stereo, different songs from mono)
Soundblast, Westminster WP-6041 (mono, same songs as Soundproof (stereo version))
Adventure in Carols, Westminster WP 6021 (mono)
Heavenly Sounds in Hi-Fi, ABC-Paramount ABC-221 (reissued as Easy Listening Favorites, MCA Special Products MCAD-20733)
Ferrante and Teicher with Percussion, ABC-Paramount ABC-248
Blast Off!, ABC-Paramount ABCS-285 (1958)
Hi-Fireworks, Columbia CL 573
Dynamic Twin Pianos, United Artists WWS 8504 (also released as Keyboard Kapers, UAL-3284)
Standard Easy-Listening Fare

Themes from Broadway Shows, ABC-Paramount ABC-336
Golden Piano Hits, United Artists WWS 8505
The World's Greatest Themes, United Artists UAAS 6121
Latin Pianos, United Artists UAS 6135
West Side Story, United Artists UAS 6166
Tonight, United Artists UAS 6171
Pianos in Paradise, United Artists UAS 6230
Love Themes, United Artists UAS 6282
Concert for Lovers, United Artists UAS 6315
50 Fabulous Piano Favorites, United Artists UAS 6343
The Roaring 20's, United Artists UA-LA072-F
30th Anniversary on Stage, CD
Blast Off!, Varese Saraband CD
All Time Greatest Hits, EMI/Capitol Special Products CD
All Time Great Movie Themes, EMI/Capitol CD
America Forever, Varese Saraband CD
Christmas is So Special, EMI/Capitol CD
Collection, Varese Saraband CD
Denizens of the Deep, Varese Saraband CD
Easy Listening Favorites, MCA Special Markets CD
Great 1970s Motion Picture Themes, EMI/Capitol CD
Greatest Hits, WEA/Atlantic/Curb CD
Sound of Music, Varese Saraband CD
... and many more ...

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