MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


CD REVIEW

Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger


alternatively Crotchet   AmazonUK   AmazonUS

Masters and Commanders – music from seafaring film classics
Alfred NEWMAN (1901-1970) 1. Conquest from Captain from Castile [3:35]; Miklos ROZSA (1907-1995) 2. The Mayflower from Plymouth Adventure [3:56]; Klaus BADELT (b.1968) 3. The Medallion Calls [1:13]; 4. The Black Pearl [2:19]; 5. He’s a Pirate [1:16]; from Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl; Hans ZIMMER (b.1957) 6. Jack Sparrow [4:06]; 7. Hornpipe [1:22]; from Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest; Erich Wolfgang KORNGOLD (1897-1957) 8. Overture to Captain Blood [3:22]; Luigi BOCCHERINI (1743-1805) 9. Los Manolos (from La Musica Notturna delle Strade di Madrid) from Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World [3:27]; Elmer BERNSTEIN (1922-2004) 10. Prelude [3:17]; 11. Out to Sea [3:21]; from The Buccaneer; Franz WAXMAN (1906-1967) 12. Overture to Anne of the Indies [4:19]; Henry MANCINI (1924-1994) 13. Arctic Whale Hunt from The White Dawn [3:42]; KORNGOLD 14. Suite from The Sea Hawk [5:31]; Bronislau KAPER (1902-1983) 15. Main Title from Mutiny on the Bounty [2:07]; WAXMAN 16. Suite from Captains Courageous [5:37]; Morton GOULD (1913-1996) 17. Main Title ("The Ship") from Windjammer [3:04]; John DEBNEY (b.1956) 18. End Title from Cutthroat Island [5:08]
The Cincinnati Pops Orchestra/Erich Kunzel
TELARC CD-80682 [61:42]




For all lovers of film music and seafaring films in particular this is a must. It was Miklos Rozsa in his book "Double Life" who explained, as the title suggests, that he had a difficult job in persuading people that his mainstream classical music writing was serious and that he shouldn’t be "written off" as simply a writer of music for films who had nothing else to say. By this I don’t mean to say that composers of music for films alone shouldn’t be taken seriously either. It is clear that the discipline of writing music of specific lengths with tight deadlines and sometimes without even seeing the film first is a huge demand on the great skills such people have. Nor would I wish to suggest that their music cannot stand the test of time away from the films and down the years. It may not always be true but this disc is packed with music that will survive. The dedication of such composers is no less amazing – Rozsa spent no less that a year and a half researching for one film and long periods of time on all his film scores. One of Korngold’s film scores ran to no less that 90 minutes of music. This disc, which I hope is only one of a series - plenty more music for seafaring films out there - has some truly memorable music and all unmistakably connected with the sea. Those who are film music buffs will be pleased to note that the disc includes classic scores from Rozsa, Korngold (Captain Blood and The Sea Hawk), Bernstein, Waxman and Henry Mancini among others. Those who are perhaps new to such films but who have warmed to the antics of Johnny Depp (aka Captain Jack Sparrow) will be pleased to know the disc includes music from two of the series by different composers. The second, Hans Zimmer, has managed to weave a suggestion of Klaus Badelt’s music from the first film into his own to keep a continuity – clever! One message that comes from discs of film music is that films would lack the excitement they have if there was no music in them and that the general public is exposed to a genre of music many of them would not hear in their everyday life – so there’s educational value too! I loved this disc and anyone who loves films will too I’m sure. The music is well selected and beautifully played by a committed orchestra under a conductor who is equally enthusiastic about the film music genre.

Steve Arloff



 


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Chandos recordings
All Chandos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 

Return to Review Index

Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.