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April 2000 Film Music CD Reviews |
Film Music Editor: Ian Lace |
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index page/monthly listings/April/
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Alphabetical composer indexReturn to the April Index with thumbnails Part 3 [Part 1] [ Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4]
OST
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This album ,which combines a significant CD-ROM element, is one of two discs we have received for review this month from Museum Music. The other is 'Alfred Hitchcock, music from his films'). Museum Music is a New York-based multi-media company that creates, produces and distributes specially-designed, state-of-the-art compact discs for museums and other special interest markets. [Enquiries to Trish Ireland, V.P. Sales and Marketing, Museum Music Inc. 451 Greenwich Street 2nd floor, New York NY 10013. Phone: 631-351-6978 and fax 631-351-6992 www:museummusic.com]
30X30 is music by Joel Goodman for a documentary film, The Making of the J Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles. Goodman has composed score for a number of films notably for those shown at the Sundance Film Festival. He has also scored for television including the NBC Olympic Preview, ABC's Family Matters and NBC's Saturday Night Live. Goodman's score is compelling, if not particularly literally evocative of construction activity even though the cue titles are so orientated ('Stone select', Pouring concrete for example) - which, of course, makes for a more interesting listening experience. His style for 30X30 so named because the architectural plan for the J Paul Getty Center is based on a 30X30 grid, is close to that of Philip Glass. The textures are frequently rich and the design polytonal with interesting juxtapositionings of his often exotic instrumental resources as in the ethnic drums of 'Silk Road' that mixes Arabian and Oriental modes; and 'Prayer' that transports us to the top of the world for Tibetan-like music. The score has a distinct world music orientation with a mix of many styles. There is a Hispanic influence appropriate to the history, culture and proportionate population of California. Goodman's score is attractively melodic and has both power and lyricism.
The CD-ROM element is impressively designed. The film clip shows many views of the J Paul Getty Museum, prominently located on a hilltop. It is a magnificent design with beautiful curving lines, predominantly white with much use of a light coloured stone, travertine, imported from Italy to give it a rough cast yet timeless quality.
Reviewer
Ian Lace
Music:
CD-ROM:
************************************************************** EDITOR'S RECOMMENDATION April 2000
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This album is one of two discs we have received for review this month from Museum Music. (The other is '30X30 - The making of the J Paul Getty Museum in LA'). Museum Music is a New York-based multi-media company that creates, produces and distributes specially-designed, state-of-the-art compact discs for museums and other special interest markets. [Enquiries to Trish Ireland, V.P. Sales and Marketing, Museum Music Inc. 451 Greenwich Street 2nd floor, New York NY 10013. Phone: 631-351-6978 and fax 631-351-6992 www:museummusic.com]
This is an absolutely fascinating album. It was made by the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) which enjoyed a long collaboration with Hitchcock. When MOMA's Film Library was established in 1935, Hitchcock's films were among the earliest acquired, and the Museum continues to collect not only his films, but stills, posters and press material relating to the master's work.
It has to be said immediately that this album includes music readily available from Varèse Sarabande - Vertigo, Suspicion, Psycho and Spellbound - and Rebecca, Marnie and Family Plot from Silva Screen.
BUT it is what comprises the remainder of this album that rivets the attention.
From Warner Bros we have soundtracks, complete with sound effects and a smattering of dialogue (all minimal and in no way distracting). From Strangers on a Train there is Dimitri Tiomkin's marvellous Main Title or Prologue (one of my great favourites). From the same film, the 'Duet for four feet', underscores the opening shots, at ground level, as we see first the feet of a sexy woman and then those of the doppelganger characters Guy Haines and Bruno Anthony as they hurry along the platform to catch their train. Then there is the dramatic and black moody music for the scene where Guy steals into the Anthony mansion and is greeted by a growling dog.
From Notorious (released by the defunct RKO Radio studio) Roy Webb's music, creating some sympathy for the villain, is heard for the scene in which Alex (Claude Rains) awakening in the middle of the night goes into his wine cellar and discovers the shards of the wine bottle broken by American operative Devlin (Cary Grant). From The Wrong Man there is Bernard Herrmann's music for 'Manny in his Cell', again with a little sound effects. The camera swirls around and around conveying Manny's psychological torture while Herrmann's music builds in intensity until it almost becomes hysterical. And, from North by Northwest we have more Herrmann anguish with music for the scene where Cary Grant has to control his car in 'The Wild Ride' after he has been made to drink a huge amount of whisky. Also from the film is Herrmann's sly romantic 'Conversation Piece.'
There are also original soundtrack recordings from early Hitchcock thrillers made in England: Young and Innocent with its period dance band music (for 'No One can Like the Drumer Man' cue), The 39 Steps and Sabotage - all scored by Louis Levy. Sabotage is the most successful the latter with the 'Delayed on the bus' cue that has an insistent tick-tocking stalking the music until the explosion which demolishes the bus carrying the boy with the can of film concealing a bomb. Hubert Bath and Henry Stafford's rather colourless music for Blackmail completes this excellent compilation.
Reviewer
Ian Lace
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CD1: Lawrence of Arabia (Overture), Dr. Zhivago*, A Passage to India, Jesus of Nazareth*, Ghost, Villa Rides, The Fixer*, Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, Red Sun, Topaz, The Mosquito Coast, The Year of Living Dangerously, Witness (Building the Barn - electronic version), Is Paris Burning?
CD2: Dr. Zhivago (Lara's Theme), Ryan's Daughter*, The Professionals, Fatal Attraction, The Tin Drum*, No Way Out, Enemy Mine*, Night of the Generals, El Condor, The Man Who Would Be King, Witness (Building the Barn - orchestral version), Lawrence of Arabia*
* indicates a suite from the score
Maurice Jarre is a consummate screen composer, his music often working very well with the film it is written to accompany, often at the expense of being particularly enjoyable away from the images. Perhaps because of this, and even given the massive popularity of his scores for Lawrence of Arabia and Dr. Zhivago, Maurice Jarre has never been a composer to find great favour among film music aficionados. I am afraid that this generously extensive and spectacularly recorded anthology will do little to change that, as if this is the most enjoyable of the composer's output, his back catalogue must remain largely unappealing.
Jarre will, of course, forever be associated with the great English director David Lean, and this double album reflects the fact with three separate sections totalling around 40 minutes of music from the four films the pair made in collaboration. Despite the album's title, the most music is from Lawrence of Arabia, the first disc opening with the 'Overture', the second ending with an almost 13-minute suite from the score. Few would seriously deny that this is Jarre's finest work for the screen, music so much better than almost everything else in his canon that one can only wonder 'what went wrong?' Perhaps it was just that he never again had a film so good, and needed greatness to inspire his own creativity. Whatever, the sound has both great physical impact, and subtle ambient detail. The suite is most skilfully arranged, and the playing is spot on.
The other Lean/Jarre films are covered by a brief theme from A Passage to India - the director's belated and disappointing final film - a suite and a version of 'Lara's Theme' from Dr. Zhivago, and rather better, nine minutes from Ryan's Daughter. Regardless of what anyone else tells you, this film is a masterpiece (Lean's second finest), and the music rather superior to that from Dr. Zhivago.
The other director Jarre is particularly associated with is the Australian Peter Weir. We are offered electronic music (arranged and performed with great skill by Mark Ayres) from The Year of Living Dangerously, The Mosquito Coast, and from the famous 'Building the Barn' sequence from Weir's finest American film, Witness. This particular cue, a blend of baroque fugue and rousing Coplandesque Americana is rightly celebrated as the strongest single piece of film music Maurice Jarre has written in decades. The booklet offer a reason as to why the film version, and indeed the entire score, were originally recorded using electronic instruments - apparently it was to avoid upsetting the sensibilities of the Amish, as featured in the film. The Amish reject all instrumental music, believing it to be associated with the devil. Given that they also reject all modern technology, presumably they would regard electronic music as even more 'devilish'? (And come to that, wouldn't they so regard the very idea of film itself?) The explanation really doesn't make any sense: surely a choral score would have been the route to take - or perhaps someone should just have pointed-out to the Amish all those places in the Bible where instruments are happily condoned and encouraged, for instance, the very fact that King David is recorded as being both a skilled player of the lyre (1 Samuel 16: 16-18) and even an inventor of musical instruments (Amos 6:5). (NIV). Anyway, Jarre's piece works as a fine independent musical set-piece, and is presented here both in electronic and orchestral versions. The latter is by far the superior. Incidentally, this month's Earth: Final Conflict soundtrack also contains electronic scoring for a drama involving the Amish.
Continuing the religious theme, there is an impressive suite from the 1977 Franco Zeffirelli mini-series, Jesus of Nazareth. This is one case where rather more would be appreciated, as the score was obviously conceived on a grand scale to match the 7 hours of the series. The 8-minutes here really only whets the appetite for a longer-suite, or possibly a full album. A 9-minute suite from Enemy Mine offers an effective shift from electronics to orchestra, and the main title from No Way Out builds tension with synthesisers in a very 80's Carpenteresque way. It will be enough to make you watch the film again, which given that this remains one of the great screen thrillers, is no bad thing.
The Tin Drum is the sort of score which is, once heard, never forgotten. It has a uniquely percussive sound. The question is, for all its invention, will you ever want to hear it again? As for the rest of the music, it too often seems lacking the inspiration which would make it truly outstanding, while at the same time never being less than thoroughly professional. Whatever your feelings about the music of Maurice Jarre, this excellent value anthology offers as good a presentation of the highlights of his career as you are going to find.
Reviewer
Gary S. Dalkin
************************************************************** EDITOR'S RECOMMENDATION April 2000
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Why is Dimitri Tiomkin so disliked within the community of Golden Age film music composers? Despite writing classic scores for any number of great films, and working successfully with virtually every top director from Capra to Zinnemann, his work is largely ignored while others' are resurrected and/or re-recorded on an almost daily basis. (This Web site, for example, currently offers reviews of 12 Max Steiner scores, but only 2 of Tiomkin's.) Perhaps part of the problem lies in Tiomkin's early gift for self-promotion - a faux pas of great magnitude among the normally self-effacing Hollywood studio musicians. Worse still, his gift for tune-writing often resulted in hit singles (such as 'Friendly Persuasion' 'The High and the Mighty' and High Noon's 'Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darling.') Although this came decades before the now pervasive theme-song tie-ins began imposing commercial considerations on artistic film music decisions, perhaps Tiomkin's contemporaries resented his commercial success.
In any event, he was the first and only choice of producer-director-star John Wayne to score The Alamo, a three-hour-plus account of the 1836 Texas siege in which a handful of defenders were eventually massacred by Mexican forces. Tiomkin's score -- earthy, melodious, rhythmic, and ultimately heart-rending -- ranks among the best ever written for any spectacle, Western or otherwise. At the heart of that score are two themes, a ballad-like melody that functions as a recurring motif throughout the score, and the gorgeous 'Green Leaves of Summer,' which functions both in underscoring and in lyric form for the film's key scene the night before the final, fatal attack. Director Wayne, perhaps reflecting his mentor, John Ford, wanted a song to illustrate the men's awareness of their impending deaths. The result is hauntingly beautiful, and its use in this particular scene is a highlight in this often overblown, plodding film. Indeed, it is one of the best uses of a song as underscoring I've ever heard in a film. After first introducing the 'Green Leaves' theme in the overture with high strings, Tiomkin then offers it with accordions -- the effect is both somber and sentimental -- in the main title following a stunning solo trumpet version of 'De Guella,' this latter piece borrowed from Tiomkin's score to Rio Bravo just one year earlier.
Also worthy of note is Tiomkin's reel-like music for Crockett and his Tennesseans, which is jaunty as a coonskin cap and has the earthy feel of a buckskin legging. Character and mood are communicated with immediacy as well as economy. This same quality can be found in Tiomkin's simpler songs, 'Tennessee Babe' and 'Here's to the Ladies,' each offering a folk-tune beauty and simplicity such as Stephen Foster might have written.
And if the above comprised the whole of the score for The Alamo, it would be a stunning achievement. But there is more. Simply put, nobody ever wrote action cues quite like Dimitri Tiomkin, and The Alamo contains perhaps his best work of this sort. These include 'Raid for Cattle,' 'Santa Anna,' and the combined, 7-minute cue depicting the 'Charge of Santa Anna /Death of David Crockett /The Final Assault.' 'Raid for Cattle' is a virtual tone poem, following the Texans'stealthy movements as they prepare to steal the Mexican troops' cattle, patiently await the dawn's coming, and then spring their attack amid an orchestral frenzy that never loses touch with its several thematic parts. Listen, too, as Tiomkin's woodwinds whirl and his strings snap, whip-like, to herald the approach of Gen. Santa Anna. And finally, marvel at how he captures specific action amid the vast panorama of the film's final assault scenes, ending -- as the score began -- with the trumpeted 'De Guella.' (Max Steiner, among others, could have taken lessons from Tiomkin on how to punctuate action cues with trumpets.)
Didier C. Deutsch has done a commendable job producing this 1995 re-issue of the original soundtrack, complete with 11 additional cues. Carryovers from the original LP include several dialogue tracks (including music) featuring speeches by Wayne in the role of David Crockett. Both are corny and could well have been excluded, though his farewell speech to the girl Flaca, in which he explains his reasons for remaining at the Alamo, is not without a certain poetic charm. ("Had me some money, and had me some medals -- but none of it seemed a lifetime worth the pain of the mother that bore me.") It's also rather appalling that anyone would have considered using 'The Eyes of Texas Are Upon You' for the ending, and its inclusion here adds nothing. Nor, for that matter, does the Brothers Four version of 'The Green Leaves of Summer' although I do rather like the pop-single version of the main ballad by country singer Marty Robbins.
Deutsch's notes offer insight on the political controversies that helped sink the movie's Academy Award prospects in 1960, as well as the score's murky recording history. But there is no information on specific cues, nor any credit on the excellent choral work which, I presume, was led by Jester Hairston with whom Tiomkin frequently worked.
Eyesight problems limited Tiomkin's output in the years after The Alamo, although he would score at least three more masterpieces: The Guns of Navarone, 55 Days at Peking and Fall of the Roman Empire. Although best known for his Western movie scores, Tiomkin soon would be succeeded as the reigning master in that genre by the young Elmer Bernstein, whose Magnificent Seven score, ironically, was nominated for an Academy Award along with The Alamo in 1960. Both lost, as did Alex North's Spartacus, to Ernest Gold's Exodus -- itself the beneficiary of a highly popular song.
Reviewer
John Huether
music
album
John Heuther has eloquently expressed much of what I want to say. Personally, I could not place this western music above Tiomkin's scores for Red River, Duel in the Sun or High Noon, but then, in the UK, the Alamo does not have the same historical resonance. Nevertheless, this is a very impressive score with all the sweep and excitement one could wish for together with the ravishing melody that is 'The Green Hills of Summer'. All the well-loved Tiomkin musical thumbprints are in place: the stirring pace, the sudden pauses and shifts of key and accent, those thrilling jagged dotted rhythms and dramatic, trenchant staccato two-note figures. As John observes there is that stunning solo trumpet of 'De Guella' sounding far more bitter than sweet here than it did in Rio Bravo. And the use of 'folk-tune' material is economical but telling. Highly recommended
Ian Lace
[John raises a very valid and important point about the neglect of Tiomkin's music. Readers might recall my indignation about the very cursory mention and treatment of Tiomkin in the Warner Bros 75th Anniversary Box Set issued by Rhino. However, you will notice that Museum Music, in their tribute to Alfred Hitchcock album, reviewed on this site, this month includes the Main Titles and a good slice of the music, with unobtrusive sound effects, from Strangers on a Train.
Nevertheless I am taking this opportunity of appealing to record producers, SILVA SCREEN, VARÈSE SARABANDE, NONESUCH, RHINO, BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY SCREEN ARCHIVES, SCREEN ARCHIVES and through MARCO POLO to John Morgan to please re-examine the work of Dimitri Tiomkin and let us have a full appreciation of his music in modern digital sound. If any of these companies would like to respond to this appeal; I will be delighted to publish their message on this site. Ian Lace]
To see the significant response we have had to this appeal click here
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I approached Tony Bremner's recording of The Big Country with no small degree of trepidation. Jerome Moross' main title alone is a signature piece among Western film scores, frequently performed in film music concerts -- and usually very badly: the string opening isn't furious enough and the brass fanfares that follow are usually too timid. By the time Moross' glorious, flowing Big County theme arrives, the effect is already vitiated for anyone familiar with the original.
And the potential hurdles don't end there for any conductor attempting to recreate the entire score. Beneath its harmonic simplicity, the score is driven by intricate and demanding tempos and rhythms. Cues such as 'The Welcoming," 'The Raid & Capture,' and - most notably -- 'The War Party Gathers' require careful attention on the conductor's part to recreate the experience Moross brought to the screen back in 1958 for director William Wyler's expansive study of courage and violence, focusing on a water war between two ranches amid the wide open Western vista.
Thus it's not without some relief that I find Bremner's effort quite laudable. This 1995 CD re-release (from a 1988 recording) features London's Philharmonia Orchestra performing 26 of the original soundtrack recording's 42 cues, several of which are combined on the same tracks. In addition to the above-mentioned cues, I particularly enjoyed the four successive dance tunes that Moross composed as source music for the engagement party. 'McKay in Blanco Canyon'-- in which the music's powerful effect derives from its silent bars -- also merits particular mention. "You almost expect an echo to bounce back from the white walls of the canyon," Bremner says in his highly informative liner notes which, in addition to noting cues that were dropped ALSO notes certain passages that are nearly inaudible in the final film due to other sound effects. There are caveats when comparing this to the original soundtrack -- while Bremner's conducting is appropriately brisk, it sometimes lags slightly -- 'The Welcoming,' for example, takes an added 10 seconds here over Moross' version. And I wish they had included the short 'Night in Blanco Canyon' cue. Nevertheless, this is a sterling effort.
But there remains one more issue, and (wouldn't you know it?) it involves that main title music -- those brass fanfares just aren't up to the original. A failing on Bremner's part? No. Interestingly, the score as originally recorded by Moross is not what the composer initially intended! In a note to musicologist Christopher Palmer (this album's producer) Moross confirmed that he had wanted the fanfares to be even quicker -- a Scotch snap -- which may have been too fast for Moross' trumpeters. Although it upsets my own concept of what should be, Bremner is faithful here to Moross' original intent.
Reviewer
John Huether
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Few can fail to be impressed by Jarre's now timeless soaring theme for Lawrence of Arabia and it has become pretty much impossible not to instantly associate it with desert dunes and shimmering heat hazes. And so we find ourselves with another chance to assess the quality and impact of this famous work, as it is re-released in enhanced Surround Sound.
Opening with an "Overture" that incorporates all of the key themes used in the score, we are introduced to that familiar, sweepingly majestic melody that most of us know so well. Other elements such as "The Voice of the Guns" representing the British colonial aspects of the story, along with some quintessential Arabian style flourishes give a broad overview of what is to come.
The "Main Titles" are perhaps a little unexpected, simply because that famous theme does not dominate as one might have anticipated. Instead it plays second fiddle to a more jaunty melody and these two disparate phrases vie with each other to create a fascinating double edged mood that is actually quite effective.
"First Entrance to the Desert/Night and Star/Lawrence and Tafas" is a suite of cues, not available with the original soundtrack recording. It opens with a lone flute and conjures up a vivid picture of an Arabian landscape, before building menacingly toward a fuller rendition of the main theme. Finally it quietens into a lilting variation that reminded me of Elmer Bernstein's The Black Cauldron, while the conclusion focuses mainly on various takes on those two contrasting themes introduced in the Main Titles.
"The Miracle" is darker in tone and gradually increases tempo until it almost resembles one of James Bernard's Dracula scores (which I hasten to add is fine by me!) and there is more suitably exotic work on "That is the Desert" which is hard to fault, even if it is a little uninspiring to listen to. "Nefud Mirage/The Sun's Anvil" is skilfully realised and you find yourself almost feeling as if you're trudging through endless sand, thirsting for water! After which, various readings of the ever-present main theme take over with "The Return of Gasim/Bringing Gasim into Camp" - a frenetic version that gallops forward relentlessly, until it gives way to a brief recap of the spirited theme from the Main Titles. Eventually though, this is replaced with even more variations on that oft heard central motif.
Some strong trumpet work is the highlight of "Arrival at Auda's Camp" in a rousing Arabian style theme with much clashing of cymbals and then there is another suite of cues not available on the original 1962 soundtrack with "On to Akaba/The Beach at Night". But really this offers very little that is new and one might argue that this was probably the reason why it was left out in the first place. The scurrying strings of "Sinai Desert", another new track, are the most notable feature of this relatively short piece, before "The Voice of the Guns", a typically pompous, military style march composed by Kenneth J. Alford and arranged by Jarre, gets a full-blooded performance. "Horse Stampede/Ali Rescues Lawrence/Lawrence and his Bodyguard" is another suite that includes new material, although the last of the three did appear on the original soundtrack. But this only gives us more of the themes already heard and there is little to get enthused about.
The finale would have been over fairly swiftly if only the first half of "The End/Playoff Music" had been included as was originally the case, with its brief nods to "The Voice of the Guns" and the central theme. But now we also have an additional extended cue that once more restates most of score's key elements.
If there is one major criticism to be levelled at this work, it would have to be its over reliance on that instantly recognisable main theme. Of course, this works extremely well in the film, but perhaps is not quite as welcome outside of that partnership. However good it may be, after a while you can't help wishing there was just a little more variety. Even so, the orchestrations by Gerard Schurmann (revised by Christopher Palmer) and the playing of The Philharmonia Orchestra (conducted by Tony Bremner) are first rate. But the inclusion of these twenty plus minutes of extra music is questionable, when all it does is to pad out the CD without offering anything particularly fresh. Still, for the avid collector or Jarre devotees this well produced disc would have to be seriously considered, if only for the remastering in HDCD and Dolby Surround.
Reviewer
Mark Hockley
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Gene Roddenberry's Earth: Final Conflict (to give the show its full title) is an American TV series apparently based on an idea left behind by the titular producer (and Mr Star Trek himself) after his demise. Though given that the idea 'enigmatic aliens come to earth' is one of the stock premises of the science fiction, quite how much credit the demised Mr R. deserves for the posthumous show is debatable. Certainly the reviews I have read - the show has yet to debut on national television, as yet only being available on Channel 5 - suggest that the show owns rather more to the complexity and sophistication of Babylon 5 than the 'planet-of-the-week' adventures of Star Trek.
This of course suggests an on-going thematic unity. This is certainly evident from the CD, for although the notes make much of the diverse global locations (and appropriate ethnic instrumentation) of different episodes - suggesting a rather fragmented soundtrack album might result - the disc actually flows with considerable coherence. This is true even though there is music from 24 different episodes, plus the main and end title music, included on the album. The titles given are the titles of the episodes themselves, with no notes or indication as to which scenes in those episodes might be being depicted.
The music is largely electronic, with real brass and strings being utilised in the title themes. There is assorted ethnic instrumentation for various episodes: Irish pipes, whistle and fiddle are specifically noted, as is the EWI (Electronic Wind Instrument - not to be confused with the Electronic Valve Instrument featured in Maurice Jarre's EVI Concerto.) Other solo instruments are: flutes, trumpet, oboe, violin, erhu, in addition to which is the solo voice of Leah Erbe.
This is not what one might expect given the Star Trek associations. There is very little action music. Rather, this is more akin to a new-age/world music soundscape album, with a fashionably Celtic feel and some most attractive 'haunting' solo female vocals - indeed, parts are akin to the glittering, atmospheric elements of James Horner's Titanic. It works here, but this is the second album this month that I have had for review with a score using this device - the first was Mark Thomas' stunning Aristocrats - and it is rapidly in danger of becoming a cliché. Even so, the score is works as an album partly because it allows its electronic sounds to sound otherworldly, rather than act, and fail, as a cheap alternative to a symphony orchestra, but mainly because Micky Arbe and Maribeth Solomon have clear melodic and compositional gifts. They work well together, as they should given that they have written over 30 scores in partnership over the last 20 years, including several for IMAX films such as Blue Planet (1990).
What action cues they are tend towards the repeated percussion, tension-building of Babylon 5, as indeed does the mystical shimmering of the score, than the combative explosiveness of orchestral SF action. The coherence happily comes from the modern trend to have a single composer, or team, to score an entire series, again like Babylon 5 or The X Files, a trend which can only be applauded. The ancestor of this sort of scoring is the German synth. progressive rock group Tangerine Dream - B5 composer Christopher Franke was once a member - and anyone who grew-up with their music in the 70's, and with Jean Michel Jarre and Mike Oldfield, will feel quite at home with the music on this disc. It's not essential, it's not even particularly memorable - though the theme is dramatic enough - but it is thoroughly enjoyable in an undemanding way.
As a curious aside - by strange coincidence this album connects with Silva Screen's The Essential Maurice Jarre Film Music Collection (which I also review this month) by virtue of both releases featuring electronic music for dramas involving the Amish. As astute cultural commentator Harry Hill might say, what's the chances of that happening?
Reviewer
Gary S. Dalkin
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This album follows Muti's very impressive 1997 recording of Nino Rota's film music with the same orchestra on the Sony label. It eclipses in every way its rival 1998 Palumbo/Boni Chandos recording.
The Piano Concerto in C (1959-60) was dedicated to Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli and is a glittering kaleidoscopic showpiece that reminds one of Rota's music for Fellini's films. There is a certain Poulenc-like insouciance as well as the Stravinsky wit of Pulcinella and Petrushka. In fact I was haunted by saucy, cheeky, frentic images of the commedia dell'arte while listening to this music. This element of farce carries over into the central Arietta con variazioni (Andantino cantabile) that begins with the cor anglais, oboe and clarinet taking turns to swank across the sound stage before the piano enters to add its own disadainful note. Rachmaninov-like flourishes and scurryings push the music on its way and attempts at tenderness and romance are smartly ridiculed. The final Allegro introduces a more serious and powerful note amongst all the carnival's frenetic shouting; and its picaresque cadenza, is played with clean precision and dexterity and a wit mixed with beguiling limpid beauty by Tomassi.
The Piano Concerto in E "Piccolo mondo antico" was composed in 1978 and was the Milan-based composer's last work. It concedes nothing to the ghastly avante garde fashions of the day that so repulsed the ordinary music lover. Rather it looks back to the
Late Romantics with the imposing 14-minute opening movement very much in the style of Rachmaninov with all his passion and melodic melancholy. (There is a pinch of Mendelsohn evident too.) In parts I was reminded of Rota's music for the film, The Glass Mountain. The writing for the piano is (as in the C major concerto) refined and charming. The cadenza here too is striking, as affecting as it is virtuosic. Beginning rather mournfully in something of the sound world of Schumann , the Andante develops a passion and intensity that reminded me of Rota's music for Il Gattopardo. The final Allegro is vivacious and energetic with a fine red-blooded peroration at its climax.
An excellent recording with documentation that includes an interesting transcript of an interview with Muti about the works. This is let down by an example of how not to write a programme note from Andria Zaccaria, it's pompous and full of self-importance and no substance and more importantly, has very little about the actual works.
Reviewer
Ian Lace
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This is a marvellous collection refurbished in brilliant Surround Sound. All the great Fellini scores are here including the La Dolce Vita (1960) and Amarcord. Amarcord has probably Rota's strongest and most memorable melody for a Fellini film; Aamarcord being a kaleidoscope of Fellini's memories of growing up in his small home-town during the early rise of Fascism. The decadence of La Dolce Vita is reflected in an unusually bitter score, a sour comment on the characters' perpetual pursuit of gratification. Rota makes discrete reference to Respighi's Roman Trilogy and there are hints of Gregorian plainsong as well as jazz in this rich, complex score.
The album's opening music is the exuberant, high-spirited score for Lo Sceicco Bianco (The White Shiekh) (1952), the film about honeymooners in Rome; she enraptured by the actor who portrays her favourite photo-strip character The White Sheikh, and he consoled by a sympathetic prostitute. The music has all the heart-on-sleeve OTT romance one would associate with the Shiekh in a cartoon-caper wrapping. The delicious music for I Vitelloni about a group of young men's adventures in a small town is poised and reflectively romantic with some comic youthful swagger. La Strada about the simple-minded circus waif brutalised by the travelling strong man drew a memorable score from Rota distinguished by its sad poignant opening trumpet figure speaking eloquently of isolation and dejection. Il Bidone (The Swindler) mixes a roguish nobility with jaunty comic impudence. The artless score for Le Notte di Cabiria (The Nights of Cabiria) sparkles from the delicacy of its opening music denoting Cabiria's guileless optimism, through to its jazzy elements and ironic comment on the prostitute's blowsy, carefree demeanour. The brief Boccacio 70 excerpt has the well-known, jolly and cheeky "Drink More Milk" music for the sequence when a giant illustration on a billboard steps down to chase a rather uptight man. 8½ drew as quirky a score as its title for this hallucinogenic tale with a frantic allegro betraying the leading character's (he is caught in a traffic jam when he hallucinates) panic and frustration.
For the charming Giulietta degli Spiriti (1965), Rota conceived a score of strange enchantment but grounded with the usual carnival spirits and a few echoes of La Dolce Vita's decadence. Fellini Satyricon has appropriate antiquarian associations. Beginning pensively, again with plainsong associations and elegant simplicity, before the tempo quickens and licentiousness begins with a carefree, cheeky rustic dance. I Clowns has the obvious slapstick as well as Spanish rhythms and some reflective material as well as a catchy melody. Roma is another picaresque kaleidoscopic score, nostalgic and decadent. Il Casanova has music against type in line with Fellini's ultimately bleak and assessment of the character.
Finally there is music for the 1979 film Prova D'Orchestra (Orchestral Rehearsal). Here Rota very wittily shows a rehearsal descending into chaos as instruments clash and score off each other before the conductor at last restores order.
An excellent compilation
Reviewer
Ian Lace
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With over seventy minutes of music, you certainly get value for money with this new compilation of themes and suites from a variety of Arnold Schwarzennger films and generally speaking the City of Prague Philharmonic give a pretty good account of themselves.
The proceedings open with Alan Silvestri's fine main theme from Predator and if this version lacks the cohesiveness of the original, it still manages to impress. Goldsmith's Total Recall comes next and while the strings are represented quite well, the distinctive rhythmic elements are less persuasive. Even so, it's a fair rendition of another strong theme.
James Horner's main title for Commando leaves something to be desired however, particularly the synthesiser and percussion work. It's interesting to also note how much this piece has in common with his own far superior music for Gorky Park.
Three pieces from Red Heat follow, although this is a minor example of Horner's action scoring. There seems to be little wrong with the interpretation and it becomes more interesting in the latter stages, but I get the impression from this and various other tracks, that it's considerably easier to recreate orchestral work than it is to emulate the electronic aspects of a score.
Two pieces from Kindergarten Cop by Randy Edelman are up next with "The Astoria School Theme" coming across quite well with its appealingly simple melody. "The Children's Montage" is a less attractive, but bolder variation on this theme and unfortunately begins to outstay its welcome before the end. Twins composed by Georges Delerue, is a gentle motif for harp and piano that concludes with an intriguing music box arrangement and this is supplemented by one of Randy Edelman's additional cues from the same film, "Going to Santa Fe" which is upbeat and funky, but to be truthful not really my kind of thing.
James Newton Howard 's Junior begins as a fairly bland theme, but develops into a surprisingly engaging piece with nicely understated string work and big brassy interludes. Far more accomplished and inventive than you might initially expect. The synths are back for Raw Deal, augmented by bass, drums and electric guitar and it all works rather well. Composed by the foursome of Gaudette, Bahler, Boardman and Galuten, this is reminiscent of Brad Fiedel's work, but sadly it loses focus about half way through.
The effective main title from The Running Man may come as a surprise for those who remember the film rather than the score, but Harold Faltermeyer certainly came up with a solid theme that gets an equally robust presentation here. The aforementioned Brad Fiedel steps up next with his theme from The Terminator, which has become something of a modern classic now. This version does it no harm at all and it's impossible to resist that simple but dynamic melody, supported by a well realised mechanical drum pattern. A highlight. Fiedel's work on the sequel Terminator II is also presented as a suite with "Desert' providing some ominous, low-key synth work with an additional touch of acoustic guitar. But things kick into high gear with the pounding "Trust Me" which effortlessly commands the attention. It may be brief, but it's undeniably stirring.
"It's Over" is another variation on the original Terminator theme and if this doesn't quite do it justice, it would require a complete disaster to rob this of its potency.
True Lies, also composed by Fiedel, is given an extended suite including the "Main Title" and although there appears to be little wrong with the rendering, this is really nothing more than routine action fare with little to recommend it. Wisely, the best is saved for last with a suite of cues from Basil Poledouris' magnificent Conan the Barbarian. I have to confess that this is probably my own personal favourite score, so I approached this with both anticipation and a little wariness. Fortunately, for the most part things turn out rather well. "Prologue" is gently compelling with its low strings and woodwork setting up "Anvil of Crom", the main title theme in the film itself. This comes off less well as the cymbals are slightly jarring and I felt that the arrangement left something to be desired. Just a little disappointing, but even so who deny the quality of such a fine theme!?
Everything comes together though for the outstanding "Riddle of Steel/Riders of Doom" with its gentle, beautiful first half before a bold, stirring reading of what I consider to be one of the finest pieces of film music ever written. With its fine choral work and some nice little variations on the original, this is wonderful stuff indeed!
"Chamber of Mirrors/Crystal Palace" is taken from the sequel Conan the Destroyer and is especially welcome because it features several of the new cues Poledouris used to complement his original work. A brief, but immensely enjoyable adventurous theme stands out amongst uniformly strong material. If the final track "Anvil of Crom-Finale" seems a little redundant as it's no more than a reprise, enough has come before to dispel any slight feelings of disappointment.
An entertaining collection!
Reviewer
Mark Hockley
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