Some years ago I was searching for The Stars and Stripes Forever and my university library had a CD including that piece. I popped the CD in and the first song that blasted out was the almost familiar piece of music composed by Leo Arnaud: The first 45 seconds is familiar the rest not so familiar:
The version I have is performed by the Cleveland Winds Symphony conducted by Frederick Fennel and I have the whole CD and I strongly suggest this one. My review states:
This is a simple one to sum up.
If this CD does not bring a smile to your face, then you are DEAD and nothing ever more will make you smile.
My recollection of the notes is that the Olympic theme we know was originally recorded by a network orchestra and their horn section (i.e. their french horn players) was not deemed sufficiently skillful to play the version exactly as composed. So the horn passage of the music starting at about 45 seconds was dropped. However, the Cleveland Winds Orchestra’s horn players were sufficiently skilled and they play it as composed.
The version we now hear — is composed by John Williams, who is well known for composing the scores to many movies such as Indiana Jones, Star Wars, Jaws, and so on.
The version written by John Williams:
Some years ago I created a CD themed on winter. I included the Cleveland Winds version of the Olympic Theme, the US National Anthem, among others. The idea being we come to the ski hill listening to the Olympic theme and leave listening to our national anthem. Get it?
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