
He is best remembered for his ability to transform European classical
music into pop music. His 1971 arrangement of Mozart's Symphony No. 40,
recorded with the Manuel de Falla orchestra, reached the top spot in the Dutch
charts and scored a top 10 hit in several other European countries. In 1970,
prior to this success, Waldo de los Rios had already climbed the charts around
Europe and America with Ludwig van Beethoven's Ode To Joy, which he arranged
and conducted for Miguel Ríos.
His record Mozart in the Seventies rearranged famous Mozart pieces in a
contemporary style, with a large percussion section. Several tracks from it
were used as theme tunes for BBC programs of that era, including the theme to
the BBC's coverage of the ‘Horse of the Year Show’. His re-working of Eine
Kleine Nachtmusik, was used for many years as the theme to the Radio 4 quiz
show ‘Brain of Britain’, and was the subject of frequent complaints from
classical music fans (with whom the show was popular) and presenter Robert
Robinson described it on air as "Mozart plus sacrilege".
Waldo also issued an album Symphonies for the Seventies which included
Mozart's Symphony no. 40 and other major composers including Dvořák's New
World. In 1971, he arranged and conducted the Spanish entry for the Eurovision
Song Contest, "En un mundo nuevo" for Karina. The song landed a
respectable second position and hit the charts in several European countries.
De los Rios scored two Euro-westerns besides the South American western
“Savage Pampas” previously mentioned. He wrote the scores for “A Town Called
Hell” (1971) and “Bad Man’s River” (1972).
Waldo was married to actress turned journalist/author Isabel Pisano
[1944- ]. Pisano later documented part of his life in her autobiography El Amado Fantasma (Plaza y Janés, 2002).
A victim of an acute depression while working on "Don Juan
Tenorio", de los Rios committed suicide in Madrid on March 28, 1977 by
shooting himself.
Today we remember Waldo de los Rios on what would have been his 90th
birthday.
a magic musician he has inspired many of my animated
ReplyDeletefilms e.g. "evolution" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roE32LCvunw&t=32s