The Midnight String Quartet were an easy listening chamber music

Chamber music

Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...

 quartet, consisting of two violins, a viola, and a cello, made up of students (at the time) or graduates from the University of Southern California

University of Southern California

The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...

. They played lush ethereal sounds to covers and standards over several albums from 1966 to the early seventies, supplemented by a professional rhythm section, often including bass, drums and guitar and sometimes piano and harpsichord.

History

The Midnight String Quartet made a series of instrumental exotica

Exotica

Exotica is a musical genre, named after the 1957 Martin Denny album of the same title, popular during the 1950s to mid-1960s, typically with the suburban set who came of age during World War II. The musical colloquialism, exotica, means tropical ersatz: the non-native, pseudo experience of Oceania...

 recordings produced by "Tommy 'Snuff' Garrett

Snuff Garrett

Snuff Garrett is a retired American record producer whose most famous work was during the 1960s and 1970s. His nickname is a play on Garrett's Snuff, a brand of snuff....

," on Viva Records (U.S.), a subsidiary of Snuff Garrett Records.
Their First album, Rhapsodies for Young Lovers (1966) was arranged by Leon Russell

Leon Russell

Claude Russell Bridges , known professionally as Leon Russell, is an American musician and songwriter, who has recorded as a session musician, sideman, and maintained a solo career in music....

 and spent 59 weeks in the Billboard charts

Billboard charts

The Billboard charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs or albums in the United States. The results are published in Billboard magazine...

 peaking at number 17 in November 1966.

More chart success followed in the U.S. with Spanish Rhapsodies for Young Lovers, reaching number 76 in May 1967 and Rhapsodies for Young Lovers, Volume Two, reaching number 67 in July 1967.Christmas Rhapsodies for Young Lovers reached number 18 at Christmas 1967 while Love Rhapsodies only making number 129 in March 1968.The Look of Love and Other Rhapsodies for Young Lovers reached number 194 in August 1968.

Midnight String Quartet continued releasing albums with a double album Best of the Midnight String Quartet being released in 1971.

Interest resurfaced during the Lounge Revival of the mid nineties and has seen among others, the re- release on cd of Rhapsodies for Young Lovers on the Varese Sarabande label with extra tracks and additional liner notes by ‘Elevator music’ and‘The Cocktail’ author Joseph Lanza.

Personnel

Besides the string quartet itself (The Midnight String Quartet), other players in the rhythm section of their first album Rhapsodies For Young Lovers include:

Leon Russell

Leon Russell

Claude Russell Bridges , known professionally as Leon Russell, is an American musician and songwriter, who has recorded as a session musician, sideman, and maintained a solo career in music....

- Piano, arrangements & conductor.
Jim W. Gordon- Drums.
Michel Rubini- Harpsichord.
Lyle Workman- Bass.

Midnight Strings Quartet Members:
Violins: Ron Folsom and Jay Rosen.
Viola: Jerry Epstein.
Cello: Ryan Selberg.

Discography

Original LPs

• Rhapsodies for Young Lovers (1966) Viva Records V-36001

Blue Star (The Medic Theme)/Lara's Theme/Lover's Concerto/Moonlight Sonata/My Heart's Symphony/Shadow Of Your Smile (Love Theme From The Sandpipers)/Strangers In The Night/Tonight's Dream/What Now My Love/Yesterday/You Don't Have To Say You Love Me/Young Lovers' Rhapsody

• Spanish Rhapsodies for Young Lovers (1967) Viva Records V-36004

Cuando Calienta El Sol (Love Me With All Your Heart)/El Relicario/Girl From Ipanema/Guantanamera/La Paloma/Lonely Bull/Maria Elena/Meditation/Our Day Will Come/Quiet Nights Of Quiet Stars/Spanish Eyes/Summer Samba

• Rhapsodies for Young Lovers, Volume 2 (1967) Viva Records V-36008

Alfie/Born Free/Clair De Lune/I Hear A Symphony/My Cup Runneth Over/Portrait Of My Love/Prelude To Love/Prophesy Of Love/Strangers No More/This Is My Song/Til

• Christmas Rhapsodies for Young Lovers (1967) Viva Records V-36010

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas/Silent Night/White Christmas/The Little Drummer Boy/Oh, Holy Night/The Christmas Song/Sleigh Ride/It Came Upon a Midnight Clear/Blue Christmas/First Noel/Winter Wonderland/Christmas Rhapsody

• Love Rhapsodies (1968) Viva Records V-36013

Never My Love/Fascination/Can't Take My Eyes Off You/Please Love Me Forever/Softly/Tara's Theme//Goin' Out of My Head/The Look Of Her/Misty Night/Impossible Dream/Twilight Sonata/My Prayer

• The Look of Love and Other Rhapsodies for Young Lovers (1968) Viva Records V-36015

Apologize/By The Time I Get To Phoenix/Classical Gas/Good, Bad And The Ugly/Kiss Me Goodbye/Love Is Blue/Love Sonata/MacArthur Park/Midnight Memories/The Look Of Love/Theme From Valley Of The Dolls/Young Girl

• Goodnight My Love and Other Rhapsodies for Young Lovers (1969) Viva Records V-36019

Goodnight My Love/For Once/I Say a Little Prayer/Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing/My Special Angel/I Love How You Love Me/I'm Gonna Make You Love Me/Two Different Worlds/Love Poem/Those Were the Days/Lavender Love/No Not Much

• Rhapsodies for Young Lovers, Volume Three (1971) Viva Records V-36022

Jean/You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'/Love Theme from "Romeo and Juliet"/Windmills of Your Mind/Starlight Memories/Yesterday, When I Was Young/Man and a Woman/Nocturne/And That Reminds Me/Everybody's Talkin'/There's a Place for Lovers/Good Morning Starshine

Good Morning Starshine

"Good Morning Starshine" is a pop song from the musical Hair. It was a #3 hit in the United States in June of 1969 for the singer Oliver.-History:...

• Best of the Midnight String Quartet: Unforgettable Love Songs (1971) Viva Records BS-2571

[Two record set] Never My Love/Strangers in the Night/Look of Love/Love Is Blue/You Don't Have to Say You Love Me/Till/MacArthur Park/Yesterday/Lara's Theme From Doctor Zhivago/What Now, My Love?/Man and a Woman/Michelle/The Shadow of Your Smile/Can't Take My Eyes Off You/Windmills of Your Mind/My Special Angel/Love Theme from "Romeo and Juliet"/Goin' Out of My Head/Tara's Theme/Goodnight My Love
CD reissues

• Rhapsodies for Young Lovers (2007) Varese Sarabande 066852

External links

• http://www.bsnpubs.com/warner/distributed/viva.html