Recently ,in an interview, Mike Pinder expressed that Mantovani had been an influence on his
mellotron work. Vaguely remembering some haunting strains of "Love is a Many Splendored
Thing" I went on Google to find out more. The first site I visited had a clip of the music that
Nurse Ratchet played to calm down the patients in 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest". This
put me in a bad frame of mind to be open to Mr. Mantovani. Indeed I started to suspect that
he was responsible for the Musak I had to listen to in the 60's and 70's while my mom was
shopping in the lingerie department. Bad associations! Then I began to read about some of
his unique studio methods. "Cascading Strings"!! Listening back to the clip, I was no longer
sure if I was hearing an orchestra drenched in a lot of reverb or the string section doing
something weird. I am wondering if ,perhaps, he had a rank of violins playing the melody and
another picking it up at a lower volume followed by yet another and another- simulating
reverb. The effect, if you can bear to listen to it, is very interesting. Anyone know anything
more about cascading strings or Mr. Mantovani?