The Boy Friend (1971).
I chanced upon the album cover art of Dick Ellescas a few weeks ago when I was searching for something on Discogs. Classical music labels are extraordinarily lazy when it comes to packaging their recordings, as a result of which the commissioning of original art always stands out. Dick Ellescas turned up again more recently when I was working my way through the Ken Russell filmography. Russell’s Sandy Wilson adaptation, The Boy Friend, was released in the US with an Ellescas poster that combines an Art Deco style with the modishness of early 70s graphics. This also stood out from the crowd and sent me in search of more of the same. The examples here are only a small selection from the Ellescas oeuvre; Discogs credits him with over 30 album covers. The Strauss cover below is uncredited so there may be more out there. Some of Ellescas’s illustrations for Cosmopolitan magazine may be seen here.
The Magic Christian (1969).
Borodin/Liadov: Symphony No.1/From The Book Of Revelation From Days Of Old/A Musical Snuff-box (1971); Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra, USSR Symphony Orchestra.
Strauss: Die Frau Ohne Schatten (1971); Kurt Eichhorn, Orchestra of Bavarian Radio, James King.
Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker (Complete Ballet, Op. 71) (1972); André Previn, The London Symphony Orchestra.
Stravinsky: The Firebird (Complete Original Version, 1910) (1973); Seiji Ozawa, Orchestre De Paris.
Tchaikovsky: Sleeping Beauty (Complete Ballet) (1974); André Previn, London Symphony Orchestra.
Wagner: Tristan Und Isolde (1974); Wilhelm Furtwängler, Philharmonia Orchestra, Kirsten Flagstad, Ludwig Suthaus.
Sibelius: Four Legends From The “Kalevala” (1975); Sir Charles Groves, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.
Swan Lake, The Complete Ballet, Op. 20 (1976); André Previn, London Symphony Orchestra.
Ravel/Debussy: Bolero/La Mer/Prèlude À L’après-midi D’un Faune (1977); Herbert von Karajan, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.
Ketèlbey: In A Monastery Garden (1978); John Lanchberry, Philharmonia Orchestra.
Prokofiev: Romeo And Juliet (Suite From The Ballet) (1979); André Previn, London Symphony Orchestra.
Verdi: Aida (1980); Riccardo Muti, New Philharmonia Orchestra, Montserrat Caballé, Placido Domingo.
Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade (1983); Riccardo Muti, Philadelphia Orchestra.
Elsewhere on { feuilleton }
• The album covers archive
• The illustrators archive
Wherein we are once again reminded that the great loss of the move from analog to digital, from the LP to the compact disc, was not the sound quality, which so many still go on and on about, but album cover art. Now in the age of the download it disappears altogether except perhaps as a subsidiary PDF link.
ps: And album notes of course. Remember when artists wrote comments or explanatory notes about the cuts on their albums to communicate their intentions to their audience? Ah, literacy!
I’m glad that you’ve been working your way through the films of Ken Russell, John Coulthart. I’m always happy when anyone writes about him as I love so many of his films. The boyfriend is a special one for me.. I curious footnote about this show: Julie Andrews starred in the original production on stage. In the 1950s. At that time, her husband was a young man named Tony Walton. Period by the time Ken Russell made the movie, Miss Andrews was on to bigger things, and Twiggy got the starring role. But one of the most compelling elements and what makes the boyfriend so beautiful are the designs for the state show put together by Tony Walton.
Stephen: Albums still have notes–I’ve designed a few CDs containing them–but it’s true they’re an uncommon thing. They’re still prevalent in classical music, however, where people want to read about compositions. What you don’t get on classical CDs is this kind of decorated cover, the usual form is a picture of the composer, performer or conductor.
Christopher: It was good to see The Boy Friend again since I’d not seen it for a long time. Very enjoyable, and a remarkable contrast to The Devils which he made before it.
These images took me back to the late 1970s when I first started to buy Classical music on albums. I certainly see Mucha, Maxfield Parrish, Peter Max, and maybe a hint of the Vienna Secession in this art by Ellescas. 1983 seems a bit late for the style on that Scheherazade cover.
Are you going to write up a review/overview/reappraisal of Ken Russell’s films? I have some favorites among them. Strangely, in spite of being both a huge Mahler and Russell fan, I think his Mahler film was short of the mark; maybe I just expected too much from it. On the other hand, who else could have done “Tommy” justice?
No, I wasn’t going to review the films, I’m too busy with other things just now. I have changed my opinion of him a little, mainly in his favour. His OTT qualities used to exasperate me at times, overwhelming my appreciation of his skills as a film-maker. This time around I was concentrating more on the skills and less on the pyrotechnics.