Music is love in search of a word.” This thought by the noted 19th Century American poet, Sidney Lanier, is brought to life in the romantically rich instrumental settings of The San Remo Orchestra, directed by Alfred Scholz. For here, in one album, are the familiar melodies of the world’s most cherished love themes by the world’s foremost composers... haunting themes of gentle persuasion and melodic passion that have long kindled the flames of love and shall continue to sustain the mood romantic year after year. In Gondola Song, an excerpt from his operetta ‘One Night In Venice,’ Johann Strauss successfully proved that a love song can be written in waltz tempo. This Italian-flavored serenade captures the image of eternal amore amid the rhythm of oars gracefully plying the warm-blue canal. The bewitching Solvejg’s Song is part of the incidental music Edvard Grieg wrote for the play, ‘Peer Gynt.’ Another Viennese operetta selection follows, the Spring-like Roses In Tyrol with its visions of blossoming love, the best known inspiration of Karl Zeller, a contemporary of Strauss. Liszt’s Liebestraum is perhaps the classic love song, though Mendelssohn’s May Breezes, from the piano collection, ‘Songs Without Words,’ matches it in lyrical attraction. Wieniawski’s Romance, from his ‘Violin Concerto No. 2’ closes the side in an atmosphere of candlelight and artful endearment. The coquettish melody from the ‘Letter Scene’ of Offenbach’s ‘La Perichole,’ opens the second side, followed by two immortal Tchaikovsky compositions: the ever-appealing Andante Cantabile, from his ‘Fifth Symphony,’ and the pleasure-seeking June Barcarole, originally a prominent piano piece. Copin’s Nocturne In D Flat once again emphasizes its mood of magnetic infatuation, while Plaisir D’Amour, written by Padre Martini in the early 18th Century, underlines the timeless influence of romantic fascination. The rapture of Romance closes the album, this time in the lush ardor of the Rubinstein classic. Alfred Scholz is one of the most promising European orchestra leaders and arrangers in the field of light concert and mood music. A graduate of Prague Conservatory, he began his career as a violinist and later studied conducting in Vienna under Professor Hans Swarovsky. Subsequently, he formed his own orchestra and toured various European countries. He has made countless recordings that are heard on radio and television throughout the continent, and is also a noted composer with many popular European song hits to his credit.