The Mellotron Group

Recently ,in an interview, Mike Pinder expressed that Mantovani had been an influence on his 
mellotron work. Vaguely remembering some haunting strains of "Love is a Many Splendored 
Thing" I went on Google to find out more. The first site I visited had a clip of  the music that 
Nurse Ratchet played to calm down the patients in 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest". This 
put me in a bad frame of mind to be open to Mr. Mantovani. Indeed I started to suspect that 
he was responsible for the Musak I had to listen to in the 60's and 70's while my mom was 
shopping in the lingerie department. Bad associations! Then I began to read about some of 
his unique studio methods. "Cascading Strings"!! Listening back to the clip, I was no longer 
sure if I was hearing an orchestra drenched in a lot of reverb or the string section doing 
something weird. I am wondering if ,perhaps, he had a rank of violins playing the melody and 
another picking it up at a lower volume followed by yet another and another- simulating 
reverb. The effect, if you can bear to listen to it, is very interesting. Anyone know anything 
more about cascading strings or Mr. Mantovani?