Wladimir Selinsky – Music From The Kraft Television Theatre

Wladimir Selinsky – Music From The Kraft Television Theatre

Music From The Kraft Television Theatre is a fascinating piece of 1950s American television music, presenting orchestral scores composed and conducted by Wladimir Selinsky for productions associated with Kraft Television Theatre. Originally issued in 1957 on RKO/Unique as ULP-127, the album preserves music from the golden age of live American television drama, when composers were creating substantial original scores to accompany weekly anthology productions.

Selinsky was a Russian-born American composer, conductor and violinist whose career stretched from radio into the emerging medium of television. The New York Public Library's extensive Wladimir Selinsky Papers contain scripts, scores and production material from his work on Kraft Television Theatre, Lux Video Theatre, U.S. Steel Hour and other dramatic programmes. His career also included radio work for CBS and NBC and orchestral performances alongside major conductors including Bruno Walter, Leopold Stokowski and Pierre Monteux.

The album opens with “A Night To Remember”, followed by “Snapfinger Creek,” “The Beautiful Time” and “Most Blessed Woman.” These pieces demonstrate Selinsky's ability to create dramatic orchestral music that could establish atmosphere, tension and character within the relatively compressed timings required by live television. Contemporary documentation identifies the individual pieces with productions broadcast during the mid-1950s, rather than treating them as a conventional standalone orchestral suite.

Particularly intriguing is “Jasmine” from The Lost Weekend, alongside “A Child Is Born,” “Hang Up My Guns” and “Profile In Courage.” The album closes with “Death Is A Spanish Dancer”, a dramatic piece whose title alone hints at the variety of stories for which Selinsky was providing musical accompaniment. Your copy lists this final track as “Spanish Dancer.”

For collectors, the album offers considerably more than a generic 1950s easy-listening record. It documents the largely forgotten craft of live television scoring, when composers such as Selinsky were writing and conducting original orchestral music specifically to support anthology drama. Kraft Television Theatre itself ran from 1947 to 1958, and Selinsky scored numerous episodes during its middle-1950s period.

This makes Music From The Kraft Television Theatre an especially appealing record for collectors of vintage television soundtracks, obscure orchestral music, library-style recordings, 1950s Americana and early TV history. It is also a valuable document of Wladimir Selinsky's television work, with the surviving archive material at the New York Public Library giving an unusually strong connection between the commercial LP and the original scores created for the programmes.

Side A

1. A Night To Remember – 2:46
2. Snapfinger Creek – 3:45
3. The Beautiful Time – 4:26
4. Most Blessed Woman – 3:24
5. “Jasmine” From The Lost Weekend – 2:45

Side B

1. A Child Is Born – 5:50
2. Hang Up My Guns – 3:29
3. Profile In Courage – 3:39
4. Spanish Dancer – 3:54