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Today on Too Opinionated, we sit down with Donelle Dadigan, the President and Co-founder of the Jos\xe9 Iturbi Foundation & President and Founder of The Hollywood Museum.\xa0

Once upon a time in the 1940s and 1950s in America, classical music and its stars were a natural part of many big Hollywood movies. This golden age saw the creation of famous musical hits such as Anchors Aweigh with Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra or That Midnight Kiss with Mario Lanza, in which a spirited piano virtuoso and conductor always played himself: Jos\xe9 Iturbi. Nowadays known only to connoisseurs and aficionados, the native Spaniard was at the time, along with Oscar Levant (An American in Paris), one of the most commercially successful classical artists in Hollywood. When the film A Song to Remember was released in 1945, for example, Iturbi\u2019s recording of a Chopin Polonaise sold 800,000 copies. Shortly thereafter, his recording company, RCA Victor, paid him over $118,000 in semiannual royalties \u2013 a record at the time. And Iturbi\u2019s passion wasn\u2019t just for music: he completed 1,400 hours of flying as a pilot, enjoyed riding motorcycles fast, and excelled as an amateur boxer. This edition is a tribute to an era when classical music from films made its journey around the world. It contains all the recordings made by Jos\xe9 Iturbi and his sister Amparo Iturbi for RCA Victor from 1933 to 1955, painstakingly restored and remastered from the original records and tapes, including numerous previously unreleased recordings. The 188-page coffee-table book includes a detailed biographical essay by \u201cAmbassador for the American Songbook\u201d and producer of this set Michael Feinstein, extensive documentation with photographs and facsimiles from the Jos\xe9 Iturbi Foundation archives, and a complete session and release discography.
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\xb7\xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0The complete RCA Victor Recordings\xa0by Jos\xe9 Iturbi\xa0from\xa01933 to 1953,\xa0including his piano duo recordings with sister Amparo Iturbi\xa0as well as Amparo Iturbi\u2019s solo\xa0recordings\xa0on\xa016 CDs, restored and remastered from the original lacquer discs and\xa0analogue tapes using high-resolution 24 bit/192 kHz mastering technology with\xa0about 95% of the recordings appearing on CD for the first time and\xa023 pieces\xa0previously unreleased.
\xb7\xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0A\xa0new, captivating essay\xa0by GRAMMY\xae-nominated singer, pianist, and\xa0music anthropologist\xa0Michael Feinstein\xa0on the life and work of Jos\xe9 Iturbi.
\xb7\xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0Complete\xa0session discography\xa0as well a complete documentation of Jos\xe9 Iturbi\u2019s\xa0commercial releases\xa0on 78rpm and LP.
\xb7\xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0Photo book\xa0with previously unseen\xa0photos\xa0and facsimiles\xa0from the Iturbi Archives in Hollywood.

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