亨利·曼西尼，1924年4月16日生于美国，1994年6月14日去世，美国著名电影作曲家之一，他的作品脍炙人口，卡通“顽皮豹”的旋律早已成为同类型音乐的经典，由奥黛丽赫本主演的《第凡内早餐》（BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY‘S）主题曲《月亮河》（MOON RIVER）更是年奥斯卡最佳配乐得主。他曾三次荣获奥斯卡音乐奖，其歌曲作品小巧玲珑，大都显示一种精致的通俗音乐的曲风。作为4座奥斯卡奖、7座金球奖、20座格莱美奖获得者，以及1995年格莱美终身成就奖获得者，亨利·曼西尼创造了众多耳熟能详的影视配乐，堪称“现代电影与电视主题音乐之父”。他制造的欢乐与浪漫，总是让人们深深感动。该辑收藏了他职业生涯中所有的经典配乐，其中包括绝对不能错过的1961年奥斯卡最佳歌曲、格莱美年度最佳歌曲《月亮河》，1964年获奥斯卡最佳配乐、格莱美最佳演奏、编曲奖的《粉红豹》主题曲，1970年奥斯卡最佳配乐《爱情的故事》……曼西尼的音乐悄无声息地渗透了人们的记忆与生活，细细品味这张专辑，我们会再次走进了那熟悉的世界：飞翔的小鸟、醉人的花香、和煦的阳光，以及绿阴下欢跃的节拍……应该感谢音乐，感谢曼西尼带给我们的这一切，以及那伴随我们成长的、最为珍贵的平常心。Henry Mancini曾如此说：“我很幸运能从1952年到1958年在大学中待了6年的时光，这段时间就像我出师前的学徒时期， 这6年锻练我成为一个成熟的电影音乐制作者。对一个从事电影音乐制作的作曲家来说，他们必须面对各种不同的银幕上表现的计划，并着手於编曲、配乐、改编成管弦乐等各式样的工作，他们必须利用日常生活的平凡题材，以极快的速度完成作品；这是一个和时间，以及和商界诡诈争战的工作。在那时他们拍片，只要求我在隔年完成音乐即可，但今日的工业社会，这种速度已不合时代了。”的确，从过去时日来看，Mancini创作电影音乐，不论是蓝调爵士，流行音乐，Mancini对於电影的想像力及原创力，以及真切的的态度，已完完全全表现在他的成绩单上了。他说：“我所唯一学到的就是，好的音乐，能使好电影更出色，但它绝不可能使一部烂电影变好。我们是作曲家，不是魔术师，我们只是创作音乐；在电影整体创作计划中，我们只是其中重要的一环，而非全部，一但它完成呈献时，若我们能感到真的对於整体有所贡献时，那正是我们满足与安慰的时刻。”by Kenneth M. Cassidy & Stephen Thomas ErlewineIf the recognition of one's peers is the true measure of success, then few men are as successful as composer, arranger, and conductor Henry Mancini. In a career that spanned 40 years, writing for film and television, Mancini won four Oscars and twenty Grammys, the all-time record for a pop artist. For 1961's Breakfast at Tiffany's alone, Mancini won five Grammys and two Oscars. Breakfast at Tiffany's includes the classic "Moon River" (lyrics by Johnny Mercer), arguably one of the finest pop songs of the last 50 years. At last count, there were over 1,000 recordings of it. His other notable songs include "Dear Heart," "Days of Wine and Roses" (one Oscar, two Grammys), and "Charade," the last two with lyrics by Mercer. He also had a number one record and won a Grammy for Nino Rota's "Love Theme From Romeo and Juliet." Among his other notable film scores are The Pink Panther (three Grammys), Hatari! (one Grammy), Victor/Victoria (an Oscar), Two for the Road, Wait Until Dark, and 10. His television themes include "Peter Gunn" (two Grammys, recorded by many rock artists), "Mr. Lucky" (two Grammys), "Newhart," "Remington Steele," and The Thorn Birds television mini-series.As a child, Mancini learned how to play a variety of musical instruments and as a teenager, he became enamored with jazz and big bands. He began to write arrangements and sent a few to Benny Goodman, who wrote the teenager back, encouraging him to pursue a career in music. Mancini enrolled in the Julliard School of Music in 1942, but his studies were cut short when he served in the military during World War II. After the war, he was hired by Tex Beneke, the leader of the Glenn Miller Orchestra, as a pianist and arranger. In the late '40s, he began writing scores for record and film studios, first for a recording session by the Mel-Tones, which featured his wife Ginny O'Connor, and then the Abbot & Costello film Lost in Alaska, the first movie he scored.Lost in Alaska led to more film scores, in particular 1954's The Glenn Miller Story and 1956's The Benny Goodman Story, which both showcased his big band roots. Soon, he was working on a large number of films and television, including Orson Welles' Touch of Evil and the TV show Peter Gunn. Mancini's scores frequently straddled the line between jazz and Hollywood dramatics, making his music both distinctive and influential.Mancini's heyday was the early '60s, when his score for Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961) yielded the Oscar-winning hit single "Moon River," which instantly became a pop standard. The following year, he wrote the music for Days of Wine and Roses, which also won an Oscar for its title song. Throughout the next three decades, he continued to be one of the most successful film composers in the world, as well as a popular concert conductor. He continued working until his death in 1994; just prior to his demise, he was writing the score for the musical adaption of Victor/Victoria.What kept Mancini's work fresh was his ability to write in almost any style imaginable and his successful experimentations with unusual sounds and instruments. In his 1989 memoir Did They Mention the Music?, Mancini's co-author Gene Lees wrote that "More than any other person, he Americanized film scoring, and in time even European film composers followed in his path," and that Mancini wrote scores that "contained almost as many fully developed song melodies as a Broadway musical." Had he not remained true to his first love, film scoring, Mancini would have more than likely made as large an impact on the Broadway stage as he made on the silver screen.