Charles Gerhardt (conductor)
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Charles Allan Gerhardt (February 6, 1927 – February 22, 1999) was an American conductor,
record producer A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure.Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...
, and arranger.


Early years

Gerhardt grew up in
Little Rock, Arkansas (The Little Rock, The "Little Rock") , government_type = council-manager government, Council-manager , leader_title = List of mayors of Little Rock, Arkansas, Mayor , leader_name = Frank Scott Jr. , leader_ ...
, where he studied the piano at age five and composition at age nine. He studied music and engineering at several colleges including the University of Illinois, the
University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...
, and the
College of William & Mary The College of William & Mary (officially The College of William and Mary in Virginia, abbreviated as William & Mary, W&M) is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia. Founded in 1693 by letters patent issued by King William III ...
. He also studied piano privately and at the
Juilliard School The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most el ...
. His formal education was interrupted by World War II, during which he served in the Navy in the
Aleutians The Aleutian Islands (; ; ale, Unangam Tanangin,”Land of the Aleuts", possibly from Chukchi ''aliat'', "island"), also called the Aleut Islands or Aleutic Islands and known before 1867 as the Catherine Archipelago, are a chain of 14 large vo ...
as a chaplain's assistant.


RCA Victor

For a time, he was a clerk at the Record Hunter on
Lexington Avenue Lexington Avenue, often colloquially abbreviated as "Lex", is an avenue on the East Side of the borough of Manhattan in New York City that carries southbound one-way traffic from East 131st Street to Gramercy Park at East 21st Street. Along it ...
in New York City. Between 1951 and 1955 he worked on the technical side of
RCA Victor RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also Aris ...
records. At first, this role consisted of transferring 78 rpm recordings of
Enrico Caruso Enrico Caruso (, , ; 25 February 1873 – 2 August 1921) was an Italian operatic first lyrical tenor then dramatic tenor. He sang to great acclaim at the major opera houses of Europe and the Americas, appearing in a wide variety of roles (74) ...
and
Artur Schnabel Artur Schnabel (17 April 1882 – 15 August 1951) was an Austrian-American classical pianist, composer and pedagogue. Schnabel was known for his intellectual seriousness as a musician, avoiding pure technical bravura. Among the 20th centur ...
to tape, including removing surface noise preparatory to LP reissue. He also assisted at sessions for
Kirsten Flagstad Kirsten Malfrid Flagstad (12 July 1895 – 7 December 1962) was a Norwegian opera singer, who was the outstanding Wagnerian soprano of her era. Her triumphant debut in New York on 2 February 1935 is one of the legends of opera. Giulio Gatti-Casa ...
,
Vladimir Horowitz Vladimir Samoylovich Horowitz; yi, וולאַדימיר סאַמוילאָוויטש האָראָוויץ, group=n (November 5, 1989)Schonberg, 1992 was a Russian-born American classical pianist. Considered one of the greatest pianists of all ...
,
William Kapell William Kapell (September 20, 1922October 29, 1953) was an American pianist and recording artist, killed at the age of 31 in the crash of a commercial airliner returning from a concert tour in Australia. Biography William Kapell was born in New ...
,
Wanda Landowska Wanda Aleksandra Landowska (5 July 1879 – 16 August 1959) was a Polish harpsichordist and pianist whose performances, teaching, writings and especially her many recordings played a large role in reviving the popularity of the harpsichord in ...
, and
Zinka Milanov Zinka Milanov (; May 17, 1906 – May 30, 1989) was a Croatian operatic dramatic soprano who had a major career centered on the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. After finishing her education in Zagreb, Milanov made her debut in 1927 in Ljublj ...
. In 1954, he worked with
Leopold Stokowski Leopold Anthony Stokowski (18 April 1882 – 13 September 1977) was a British conductor. One of the leading conductors of the early and mid-20th century, he is best known for his long association with the Philadelphia Orchestra and his appeara ...
and the
NBC Symphony Orchestra The NBC Symphony Orchestra was a radio orchestra conceived by David Sarnoff, the president of the Radio Corporation of America, especially for the conductor Arturo Toscanini. The NBC Symphony performed weekly radio concert broadcasts with Tosca ...
on the experimental stereophonic recordings of ballet suites from
Gian Carlo Menotti Gian Carlo Menotti (, ; July 7, 1911 – February 1, 2007) was an Italian composer, librettist, director, and playwright who is primarily known for his output of 25 operas. Although he often referred to himself as an American composer, he kept h ...
's ''Sebastian'' and
Prokofiev Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev; alternative transliterations of his name include ''Sergey'' or ''Serge'', and ''Prokofief'', ''Prokofieff'', or ''Prokofyev''., group=n (27 April .S. 15 April1891 – 5 March 1953) was a Russian composer, p ...
's ''
Romeo and Juliet ''Romeo and Juliet'' is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about the romance between two Italian youths from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetim ...
'', which were not commercially released in stereo until 1978. He also became RCA's liaison with
Arturo Toscanini Arturo Toscanini (; ; March 25, 1867January 16, 1957) was an Italian conductor. He was one of the most acclaimed and influential musicians of the late 19th and early 20th century, renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orch ...
, in the conductor's last years. It was Toscanini who encouraged him to study conducting. For five years Gerhardt worked at
Westminster Records Westminster Records was an American classical music record label, issuing original recordings until 1965. It was co–founded in 1949 by Mischa Naida (who later founded Musical Heritage Society), the owner of the Westminster Record Shop in New Y ...
in New York. With Westminster struggling (the company filed for bankruptcy in December 1959), he switched to recording pop singers including
Eddie Fisher Edwin Jack Fisher (August 10, 1928 – September 22, 2010) was an American singer and actor. He was one of the most popular artists during the 1950s, selling millions of records and hosting his own TV show, ''The Eddie Fisher Show''. Actress Eli ...
. His great opportunity as a producer came with a call from George R. Marek, the head of RCA Victor's Red Seal department, offering an opportunity to produce recordings for ''
Reader's Digest ''Reader's Digest'' is an American general-interest family magazine, published ten times a year. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, it is now headquartered in midtown Manhattan. The magazine was founded in 1922 by DeWitt Wallace and his wi ...
'' in England.


Record producer

In 1960, he began to produce records for RCA Victor and ''Reader's Digest''. His partner was the legendary recording engineer
Kenneth Wilkinson Kenneth Ernest Wilkinson (28 July 1912 – 13 January 2004) was an audio engineer for Decca Records, known for engineering classical recordings with superb sound quality. After working for small recording companies, Wilkinson was taken onto th ...
of
Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934 by Lewis, Jack Kapp, American Decca's first president, and Milton Rackmil, who later became American ...
(then RCA's affiliate in Europe). This was the beginning of a partnership that lasted through 4,000 sessions. Their first major project was a 12-LP set for ''Reader's Digest'' Recordings: ''A Festival of Light Classical Music'', issued in both
monaural Monaural or monophonic sound reproduction (often shortened to mono) is sound intended to be heard as if it were emanating from one position. This contrasts with stereophonic sound or ''stereo'', which uses two separate audio channels to reproduc ...
and
stereophonic Stereophonic sound, or more commonly stereo, is a method of sound reproduction that recreates a multi-directional, 3-dimensional audible perspective. This is usually achieved by using two independent audio channels through a configuration ...
versions. Over two million copies of this set were sold in a few years. In 1961, he produced the ''Reader's Digest'' set of
Beethoven symphonies The compositions of Ludwig van Beethoven consist of 722 works written over forty-five years, from his earliest work in 1782 (variations for piano on a march by Ernst Christoph Dressler) when he was only eleven years old and still in Bonn, until hi ...
with the
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London, that performs and produces primarily classic works. The RPO was established by Thomas Beecham in 1946. In its early days, the orchestra secured profitable ...
conducted by
René Leibowitz René Leibowitz (; 17 February 1913 – 29 August 1972) was a Polish, later naturalised French, composer, conductor, music theorist and teacher. He was historically significant in promoting the music of the Second Viennese School in Paris after ...
. One of Gerhardt's favorite productions was the 1964 release ''Treasury of Great Music'', another 12-LP set for ''Reader's Digest''. This featured the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by such eminent figures as Sir
John Barbirolli Sir John Barbirolli ( Giovanni Battista Barbirolli; 2 December 189929 July 1970) was a British conductor and cellist. He is remembered above all as conductor of the Hallé Orchestra in Manchester, which he helped save from dissolution in 194 ...
, Sir
Malcolm Sargent Sir Harold Malcolm Watts Sargent (29 April 1895 – 3 October 1967) was an English conductor, organist and composer widely regarded as Britain's leading conductor of choral works. The musical ensembles with which he was associated include ...
,
Antal Doráti Antal Doráti (, , ; 9 April 1906 – 13 November 1988) was a Hungarian-born conductor and composer who became a naturalized American citizen in 1943. Biography Antal Doráti was born in Budapest, where his father Alexander Doráti was a vi ...
,
Jascha Horenstein Jascha Horenstein (russian: Яша Горенштейн;  – 2 April 1973) was an American conductor. Biography Horenstein was born in Kiev, Russian Empire (now Ukraine), into a well-to-do Jewish family; his mother (Marie Ettinger) came fr ...
,
Rudolf Kempe Rudolf Kempe (14 June 1910 – 12 May 1976) was a German conductor. Biography Kempe was born in Dresden, where from the age of fourteen he studied at the Dresden State Opera School. He played oboe in the opera orchestra of Dortmund and ...
,
Josef Krips Josef Alois Krips (8 April 1902 – 13 October 1974) was an Austrian conductor and violinist. Life and career Krips was born in Vienna. His father was Josef Jakob Krips, a medical doctor and amateur singer, and his mother was Aloisia, née Seit ...
,
Charles Münch Charles Munch (; born Charles Münch, 26 September 1891 – 6 November 1968) was an Alsatian French symphonic conductor and violinist. Noted for his mastery of the French orchestral repertoire, he was best known as music director of the Boston ...
,
Georges Prêtre Georges Prêtre (; 14 August 1924 – 4 January 2017) was a French orchestral and opera conductor. Biography Prêtre was born in Waziers (Nord), and attended the Douai Conservatory and then studied harmony under Maurice Duruflé and conducting ...
, and
Fritz Reiner Frederick Martin "Fritz" Reiner (December 19, 1888 – November 15, 1963) was a prominent conductor of opera and symphonic music in the twentieth century. Hungarian born and trained, he emigrated to the United States in 1922, where he rose to ...
. This was followed in 1966 by the album set ''All-Time Broadway Hit Parade'', which included 120 songs from various musical productions such as ''
Carousel A carousel or carrousel (mainly North American English), merry-go-round (List of sovereign states, international), roundabout (British English), or hurdy-gurdy (an old term in Australian English, in South Australia, SA) is a type of amusement ...
'', ''
The Music Man ''The Music Man'' is a musical with book, music, and lyrics by Meredith Willson, based on a story by Willson and Franklin Lacey. The plot concerns con man Harold Hill, who poses as a boys' band organizer and leader and sells band instruments and ...
'', ''
Guys and Dolls ''Guys and Dolls'' is a musical with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows. It is based on "The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown" (1933) and "Blood Pressure", which are two short stories by Damon Runyon, and also bo ...
'', ''
My Fair Lady ''My Fair Lady'' is a musical based on George Bernard Shaw's 1913 play ''Pygmalion'', with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. The story concerns Eliza Doolittle, a Cockney flower girl who takes speech lessons f ...
'', '' Pal Joey'', '' South Pacific'' and many more. The songs found on this collection were not recorded by the original artists. Many of the ''Reader's Digest'' recordings were later reissued on LP by
Quintessence Records Quintessence Records started in 1976. Quintessence was formed by Pickwick International Inc. as a budget label. Pickwick’s trademark for Quintessence was filed on December 10, 1976 with the initial Q made to look like a clef symbol. The labe ...
and
Chesky Records Chesky Records is a record company and label founded in 1978 by brothers David and Norman Chesky. The company produces high-definition recordings of music in a variety of genres, including jazz, classical, pop, R&B, folk and world/ethnic. Che ...
; a few have been reissued on CD.


Conductor

The ''Reader's Digest'' projects created so much recording work that there was a need for another orchestra and conductor in London. Together with violinist and orchestral contractor
Sidney Sax Sidney Sax (1913–2005) was a British violinist. He was a noted orchestral leader and also a contractor, arranging personnel for many recording sessions. In 1964, he jointly founded the National Philharmonic Orchestra, London together with Cha ...
, Gerhardt formed an orchestra of top London orchestral and freelance musicians in 1964 for use in his recording sessions. He began to record this group in January 1964. The orchestra was incorporated as the
National Philharmonic Orchestra The National Philharmonic Orchestra was a British orchestra created exclusively for recording purposes. It was founded by RCA Records producer and conductor Charles Gerhardt and orchestra leader and contractor Sidney Sax. The orchestra was creat ...
in 1970 and Gerhardt himself conducted it in standard repertory, contemporary works, and
film score A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to ...
music.
Leopold Stokowski Leopold Anthony Stokowski (18 April 1882 – 13 September 1977) was a British conductor. One of the leading conductors of the early and mid-20th century, he is best known for his long association with the Philadelphia Orchestra and his appeara ...
made some of his last recordings with this same orchestra. Gerhardt had received some training in conducting, as well as advice from
Jascha Horenstein Jascha Horenstein (russian: Яша Горенштейн;  – 2 April 1973) was an American conductor. Biography Horenstein was born in Kiev, Russian Empire (now Ukraine), into a well-to-do Jewish family; his mother (Marie Ettinger) came fr ...
. His 1967 conducting of the so-called
RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra The RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra, sometimes also known as the Victor Symphony Orchestra, RCA Victor Salon Orchestra, the RCA Victor Orchestra and the RCA Orchestra, was an American studio orchestra founded in 1940 by the RCA Victor record label for ...
(which was the National Philharmonic Orchestra) of
Howard Hanson Howard Harold Hanson (October 28, 1896 – February 26, 1981)''The New York Times'' – Obituaries. Harold C. Schonberg. February 28, 1981 p. 1011/ref> was an American composer, conductor, educator, music theorist, and champion of American class ...
's Symphony No. 2 (''The Romantic'') garnered the praise of the composer. One particularly successful set Gerhardt conducted with the National Philharmonic Orchestra included the 14 LPs of the Classic Film Scores series for RCA, issued 1972–1978. This started with the 1972 release ''The Sea Hawk: The Classic Film Scores of
Erich Wolfgang Korngold Erich Wolfgang Korngold (May 29, 1897November 29, 1957) was an Austrian-born American composer and conductor. A child prodigy, he became one of the most important and influential composers in Hollywood history. He was a noted pianist and compo ...
''. The whole series was notable, especially for Gerhardt's own, extremely careful, preparation of the scores. Recordings were made in the acoustically outstanding
Kingsway Hall The Kingsway Hall in Holborn, London, was the base of the West London Mission (WLM) of the Methodist Church, and eventually became one of the most important recording venues for classical music and film music. It was built in 1912 and demolished ...
and engineered by
Kenneth Wilkinson Kenneth Ernest Wilkinson (28 July 1912 – 13 January 2004) was an audio engineer for Decca Records, known for engineering classical recordings with superb sound quality. After working for small recording companies, Wilkinson was taken onto th ...
. The producer of the series was
George Korngold George Korngold (December 17, 1928 in Vienna, Austria – November 25, 1987 in Los Angeles, California) was a prominent record producer as well as a music editor and producer active within the film industry. He was the younger son of Austrian compo ...
, the composer's son. The series continued with albums devoted to
Max Steiner Maximilian Raoul Steiner (May 10, 1888 – December 28, 1971) was an Austrian composer and conductor who emigrated to America and went on to become one of Hollywood's greatest musical composers. Steiner was a child prodigy who conducted ...
,
Miklós Rózsa Miklós Rózsa (; April 18, 1907 – July 27, 1995) was a Hungarian-American composer trained in Germany (1925–1931) and active in France (1931–1935), the United Kingdom (1935–1940), and the United States (1940–1995), with extensi ...
,
Franz Waxman Franz Waxman (né Wachsmann; December 24, 1906February 24, 1967) was a German-born composer and conductor of Jewish descent, known primarily for his work in the film music genre. His film scores include ''Bride of Frankenstein'', ''Rebecca'', ' ...
, Alfred Newman,
Dimitri Tiomkin Dimitri Zinovievich Tiomkin (, ; May 10, 1894 – November 11, 1979) was a Russian-born American film composer and conductor. Classically trained in St. Petersburg, Russia before the Bolshevik Revolution, he moved to Berlin and then New York City ...
and
Bernard Herrmann Bernard Herrmann (born Maximillian Herman; June 29, 1911December 24, 1975) was an American composer and conductor best known for his work in composing for films. As a conductor, he championed the music of lesser-known composers. He is widely re ...
as well as albums devoted to music in the films of
Bette Davis Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis (; April 5, 1908 – October 6, 1989) was an American actress with a career spanning more than 50 years and 100 acting credits. She was noted for playing unsympathetic, sardonic characters, and was famous for her pe ...
,
Humphrey Bogart Humphrey DeForest Bogart (; December 25, 1899 – January 14, 1957), nicknamed Bogie, was an American film and stage actor. His performances in Classical Hollywood cinema films made him an American cultural icon. In 1999, the American Film In ...
, and
Errol Flynn Errol Leslie Thomson Flynn (20 June 1909 – 14 October 1959) was an Australian-American actor who achieved worldwide fame during the Golden Age of Hollywood. He was known for his romantic swashbuckler roles, frequent partnerships with Olivia ...
. Numerous additional pieces were recorded but remain in the vaults. A
John Williams John Towner Williams (born February 8, 1932)Nylund, Rob (15 November 2022)Classic Connection review ''WBOI'' ("For the second time this year, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic honored American composer, conductor, and arranger John Williams, who wa ...
recording was made in 1978 to reflect Williams' (Korngold-inspired) scores which had become popular. BMG reissued the ''Classic Film Scores'' on CD encoded in
Dolby Surround Dolby Pro Logic is a surround sound processing technology developed by Dolby Laboratories, designed to decode soundtracks encoded with Dolby Surround. Dolby Stereo (also known as ''Dolby MP'' or ''Dolby SVA'') was developed by Dolby in 1976 f ...
. In 2010, RCA Sony rereleased six of the original CD releases. In 2011, additional albums were reissued. Although the new CDs do not mention it, the reissues still feature Dolby Surround encoding. In 2020 RCA re-released the original recordings from 1972 - 1976 in a 12-CD set. 1 Released under the title ''Contemporary Classic Film Scores''.
2 Compilation album Another recording he conducted for RCA was flautist
James Galway Sir James Galway (born 8 December 1939) is an Irish virtuoso flute player from Belfast, nicknamed "The Man with the Golden Flute". He established an international career as a solo flute player. In 2005, he received the Brit Award for Outstan ...
's ''Annie's Song'' album with the National Philharmonic Orchestra, which reached number three on the British charts in 1978. A compilation album distributed promotionally in 1989 titled "The Home Video Album" featured the Studio themes and some duplication of "The Spectacular World of Classic Film Scores" but also includes a suite from Dimitri Tiomkin's "The Thing from Another World as well as an amusing version of the 20th Century Fox Title, as orchestrated and performed by John Morris for Mel Brooks sendoff of Alfred Hitchcock, "High Anxiety". In 1979, Gerhardt conducted the National Philharmonic Orchestra in Korngold's score for the
Warner Brothers Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American Film studio, film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank, Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, Califo ...
' 1942 film version of ''
Kings Row ''Kings Row'' is a 1942 film starring Ann Sheridan, Robert Cummings, Ronald Reagan and Betty Field that tells a story of young people growing up in a small American town at the turn of the twentieth century. The picture was directed by Sam Wood ...
'', also produced by the composer's son George. This was an early digital audio recording available on the
Chalfont Records Chalfont Records was an American record label located in Montgomery, Alabama,Solodchin, Galina, David Ogden, John Underwood, and Stephen Orton, perfs. Serenades. The Delmé String Quartet. Chalfont Records, 1977. Vinyl recording. and associated wit ...
label, subsequently available on CD through Varese Sarabande. In 1989 Varese Sarabande released an album "Music from The Prince and the Pauper" and other films with the National Philharmonic Orchestra (VSD 5207. Along with Korngold, Miklós Rózsa, John Williams,
George Antheil George Johann Carl Antheil (; July 8, 1900 – February 12, 1959) was an American avant-garde composer, pianist, author, and inventor whose modernist musical compositions explored the modern sounds – musical, industrial, and mechanical – of t ...
, Michael Lewis, Alex North, Leonard Pennario, Georges Delerue and William Walton are represented.


Illness and death

Charles Gerhardt moved to
Redding, California Redding is the economic and cultural capital of the Shasta Cascade region of Northern California and the county seat of Shasta County. Redding lies along the Sacramento River, north of Sacramento, and south of California's northern border wi ...
, in 1991. He was diagnosed with brain cancer in late November 1998 and died from complications of brain surgery. He is buried at St. Joseph Catholic Cemetery in Redding.


References


Benson, Robert E. "Classic Film Scores"
includes numerous photographs and anecdotes about Gerhardt *Burlingame, Jon and Doug Galloway, "Charles Allan Gerhardt", ''Variety'', March 4, 1999. * Kozinn, Allan "Charles Allan Gerhardt, 72, Record Producer and Conductor" ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', March 1, 1999, p. 19. *Obituary, ''The Independent'' (London), April 2, 1999. *Obituary, Redding Record Searchlight (CA) – February 24, 1999, p. B2. {{DEFAULTSORT:Gerhardt, Charles 1927 births 1999 deaths Musicians from Detroit American male conductors (music) 20th-century American conductors (music) Classical musicians from Michigan 20th-century American male musicians