Ferrante (Arthur) and (Louis) Teicher

Ferrante (Arthur) and (Louis) Teicher, A- merican easy-listening piano duo. Ferrante (b. N.Y., Sept. 7, 1921) and Teicher (b. Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Aug. 24, 1924) perfected a twin-piano style that brought them four Top Ten hits and 30 chart albums between 1960 and 1972.

The pair met as children at the Juilliard School of Music, where they studied with Carl Friedberg. They both graduated from Juilliard as piano majors and taught at the school from 1944 to 1947, after which they turned to performing full-time, making their first recordings for Columbia Records in 1953. In 1960 they signed to United Artists Records and released the single “Theme from The Apartment” (music by Charles Williams), actually a 1949 tune called “Jealous Love” that was featured in the newly released film The Apartment; the record reached the Top Ten in September. The pianists followed it with an even more successful movie theme, “Exodus” (music by Ernest Gold), which reached the Top Ten in December and went gold.

These hits set a pattern for Ferrante and Teicher, who went on to record a string of singles and albums mostly employing music from motion pictures. “Love Theme from One Eyed Jacks” (music by Hugh Friedhofer) reached the Top 40 in April 1961. “Tonight” (music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim) from the musical West Side Story, made current by the release of the film version, became a Top Ten hit in December 1961, and the album it was on, West Side Story & Other Motion Picture & Broadway Hits, also hit the Top Ten, remaining in the charts 11 months.

Ferrante and Teicher’s singles sales eventually fell off, but they began to place many albums in the charts, averaging about three per year into the early 1970s. In September 1969 they released a compilation, 10th Anniversary/Golden Piano Hits, that went gold. The following month came their version of the title song from the film Midnight Cowboy (music by John Berry), which hit the Top Ten and earned them a Grammy nomination for Best Instrumental Arrangement.

Discography

West Side Story & Other Motion Picture and Broadway Hits (1961); Love Themes (1961); Golden Piano Hits (1962); Tonight (1962); Golden Themes from Motion Pictures (1962); Pianos in Paradise (1962); Snowboard (1962); Love Themes from “Cleopatra” (1963); Concert for Lovers (1963); 50 Fabulous Piano Favourites (1964); The Enchanted World of Ferrante and Tiecher (1964); My Fair Lady (1964); The People’s Choice (1964); Springtime (1965); By Popular Demand (1965); Only the Best (1965); Music to Read James Bond By (1965); The Ferrante and Teicher Concert (1965); For Lovers of All Ages (1966); You Asked for It! (1966); “A Man and a Woman” & Other Motion Pictures Themes (1968); Our Golden Favourites (1967); A Bouquet of Hits (1968); Midnight Cowboy (1969); Getting Together (1970); Love Is a Soft Touch (1970); The Music Lovers (1971); It’s Too Late (1971); Fiddler on the Roof (1972)- Fill the World with Love (1976); Nostalgic Hits (1977); The Twin Pianos of Ferrante and Teicher (1984).

—William Ruhlmann