Victor YOUNG (1900-1956)
The Greatest Show on Earth - Prelude (March) (1952) [2:16]
The Uninvited - Suite (1944) [24:10]
Gulliver's Travels - Suite (1939) [16:38]
Bright Leaf - Suite (1950) [26:20]
Moscow Symphony Orchestra and Chorus/William Stromberg
rec. Mosfilm Studio, Moscow, Russia, April 1997
NAXOS FILM MUSIC CLASSICS 8.573368 [69:31]
Another disc in the re-release of the Marco
Polo 'Film Music Classics' series on Naxos. What was evident
in the original releases and has carried forward triumphantly here is the
sheer skill, dedication and devotion of the principal protagonists: William
Stromberg and John Morgan. In the Moscow Symphony Orchestra they found enthusiastic
and committed support.
Not being of an age to have encountered these films in the cinema, my main
introduction to the sheer brilliance of the music written for the Golden Age
of Hollywood was via RCA's remarkable series "The Classic Film
Scores" conducted by Charles Gerhardt with the National Philharmonic
Orchestra. Some 43 years after the initial release these recordings still
sound sensational. Unfortunately, I am nearly certain about this, no music
by Victor Young was included with the exception of the Main Title to The
Left Hand of God on the "Classic Film Scores of Humphrey Bogart"
disc. So guided by that series I have rather overlooked Young except as the
writer of such standards as When I fall in Love and My Foolish
Heart. Even Christopher Palmer in his excellent - but quite short - "The
Composer in Hollywood" [Marion Boyars Publishers - 1990] apologises for
the omission of Victor Young except in passing reference to others'
work. Hence this is my first extended encounter with his work, and impressive
it is too. Morgan and Stromberg have skilfully chosen a programme that shows
the range of Young's work from the razzamatazz of the march from The
Greatest Show on Earth to the high melodrama of Bright Leaf.
Interesting to read in the liner that there was an intention to include a
disc of Young's work from the outset. In part one imagines this was
to make good the absence of such a recording in previous surveys. Another
Marco Polo/Naxos/Stromberg compilation disc - this time recorded in Germany
with the Brandenburg
Philharmonic - featured Young's score for Scaramouche
- a disc I have and will now seek out again.
The scores selected cover the absolute heyday of Hollywood's Golden
Age from the 1930s through to the 1950s. The disc opens with the aforementioned
Greatest Show on Earth - pure parade ring bombast. It manages to
be completely original while sounding like a conflation of every Sousa marching-band
extravaganza you know. As with the whole disc it is played to the hilt and
sounds thoroughly idiomatic courtesy of the Moscow Symphony. Thankfully short
but a hugely entertaining curtain-raiser. The rest of the disc contains extended
suites/excerpts from three very different films. The 1944 The Uninvited
is a darkly atmospheric ghost story. Yet even here, Young is true to his popular
song roots and from the open title [track 2 - Prelude] fashioned a tune to
become very well-known as Stella by Starlight. In the original it
is given the full Hollywood treatment from lush strings, heroic brass and
even the obligatory concertante piano. Seconds into this track you will know
if you love or hate this - I love it. Throughout the aptness of Young's
cues are very apparent. The English-only liner is excellent at guiding the
listener through the narrative. Another example of the creative team's
dedication is in the restoration and re-scoring of cues either shortened or
omitted for the film's release. An example of this is the cue The
sobbing ghost [track 5] restored by Morgan and brilliantly atmospheric
- shivering string tremolandi and harp arpeggios over swirling wind and ominous
brass. There might not be much thematic content but it is laden with 'mood'.
Another feature of these suites is how well they are constructed to flow together
and mirror the narrative. So by the time the solution to the mystery of the
ghostly occurrences is reached there is a satisfying sense of musical resolution
too.
The 1939 cartoon Gulliver's Travels was released as a direct
response to the success of Disney's Snow White. In this film
Young acted not just as composer but also arranger of some five or so other
composers' songs which were interpolated into the score. Young references
these songs in the Prelude as well as setting up a distinctly 'cartoonish'
atmosphere with scuttling xylophone and busy strings leading to angelic chorus
and ever more lush orchestral textures. As is the nature of cartoon writing
there is a rather disconcerting rapid 'cutting' from comedy
to drama to storm and back. All of which is a technical tour de force
but away from the images this gives the music a rather schizophrenic character.
The other cues selected for this suite are more self-contained and appear
to be all-Young. This was one of Young's earliest scores and in it,
by the sheer facility and range of his invention as well as proving the vital
ability to produce cues in quantity and on time, he quickly established himself
as exactly the kind of staff composer the studios required. The longest single
cue in this suite; Gabby and the King-The Tower-The Archers [track
13] embodies all these virtues and occasionally echoes in a light-hearted
way Korngold's great score for Robin Hood. It is also an excellent
example of the sustained virtuosity of the Moscow players.
The disc is completed by the longest suite from the 1950 film Bright Leaf
- a film I have never seen and possibly never will. The liner describes
this as a tepid drama about a tobacco dynasty and goes further; "...
this bleak draggy drama, complete with utterly downbeat ending, was sunk further
by miscasting." Given that less than promising description the discovery
of Young's powerful and impressive score is all the more surprising
and thank goodness for its resurrection here. The film's setting is
the American South which gives Young plenty of opportunities for Gone
with the Wind like drama and sweeping melody. The bustling energy of
the two montage cues [tracks 17 and 19] are perfect examples of the sheer
energy and vigour of Young's scoring and its performance here. If one
is being ultra-critical of Young the film composer it is that he so submerges
himself in the genre that it is hard to hear who the 'real'
Victor Young is. I imagine it is this lack of individuality that so annoyed
the likes of Bernard Herrmann about his fellow film composers. Likewise, the
acknowledged greats of cinema such as Korngold, Steiner, Waxman, Rózsa and
Tiomkin managed to combine their responsibility to the narrative with a sound
that remained distinctly their own. Bright Leaf remains a very impressive
and compelling score - listen to the skilfully paced build-up through Suicide
cue [track 20] that in turn leads to the closing sequence Southern Vengeance
- The Fire - Finale. If you have an iota of empathy for the film music
genre this will impress - it presses all the expected buttons of ever-building
tension, disaster and an 'off-into-the-sunset' ending but so
what. This is all helped by excellent engineering and superb playing.
Alongside the musical excellence of this series, the retention of the original
detailed notes including a note from the arranger is valuable and adds greatly
to the enjoyment of the disc. The Moscow Symphony Orchestra are uniformly
on excellent form - their chorus struggle with idiomatic singing in English
- but not as badly as they do for the release of Korngold's Sea
Hawk set but that is a very minor concern. The engineering is ideally
detailed but also rich and full with an excitingly cinematic dynamic range
and depth. Aficionados of classic film scores will in all probability already
own this disc from its original release. If like me, it somehow slipped through
the net then it will bring great pleasure. Something of a revelation and a
very welcome return to the catalogue.
Nick Barnard
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