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FEBRUARY 1999  Part two


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COMPETITION WIN a CD of your Choice from Crotchet


Stephen WARBECK Shakespeare in Love    OST   SONY SK63387 [55:27]

 

Crotchet (UK)

Amazon


Going by the trailer (not always the safest of things to do) this is the sort of film which could only be made here and which may well catch the imagination. Perhaps people who were attracted by the recent film ‘Elizabeth’ will be intrigued enough by the Elizabethan era to want to explore another window onto that era.

What of the music. It is melodious, insistent and atmospheric. The style mixes elements of Patrick Doyle (nobility), Nyman (urgency) and Geoffrey Burgon (Brideshead Revisited). All three composers are represented in the title track which is both sorrowing and dynamic. The music of the first track recurs often notably in track 11 which includes a swift change from mezzo forte to whisper quiet playing. This is striking. Utterly compelling. Hesitancy and tenderness are represented in Viola’s Audition followed by a return to urgency - an urgency suggestive of Shakespeare’s creativity. If occasionally I thought of parts of Beethoven’s Ode to Joy this is no weakness.

Tracks 4-6 and 10 had what I had feared: insufferable Elizabethan court dances, lutenist airs, sad dumpes and Elizabethan elegy. Not compelling, I am afraid. In track 7 there is something of the title music. Somnolent clouds appear to chase across the cold moonlit sky and this picture carries over nicely into the concentrated reflection of ‘Love and the Rehearsal’. Reflection returns for track 16 with its steady piano notes and vocalising solo soprano.

Pulsing dynamism is recaptured in tracks 12-14 which are insistently dark, sturdy and driven. In News of Marlowe’s Death the sturdiness and subdued colours of the music hint that Warbeck may well have listened to Edmund Rubbra’s fine symphonies especially No. 4. Track 15 represents a ‘dark midnight of the soul’ and a running battle with all its chaos and confusion.

Track 18 projects a ghastly twilight. The last four tracks are possibly the most impressive of all. They establish a spirit of success and satisfied rest. Track 20 for example musically wraps around the listener an aural quilt of surpassing softness and warmth and in track 22 tired summation pervades all. The ending of the final track is quiet. A nicely rounded sunset close to this bejewelled and subtle score. The film stars Gwyneth Paltrow, Joseph Fiennes, Geoffrey Rush, Colin Firth, Ben Affleck and Judi Dench.

The notes are skeletal with some nice publicity stills but in years to come someone picking up this disc will know little about the film or the music or Stephen Warbeck if they have to rely on the CD insert. The disc is not of a generous length but the playing time is about the standard for the CD of a contemporary film release. A good score with many imaginative touches especially within the last ten affecting minutes. Star rating applied with reference to the rather ‘twee’ Elizabethan dance tracks.

Reviewer

Rob Barnett


 Compilation: REEL LOVE - Great Romantic Movie Themes    RYKO RCD 10742 [47:20]

Music from: Goodbye Again; The Misfits; Two for the Seesaw; Irma La Douce; Live for Life; Buona Sera, Mrs Campbell; Gaily, Gaily; The Happy Ending; Love is a Funny Thing; Last Tango in Paris.

 

Crotchet (UK)


As the (uncredited) perceptive and intelligent CD notes to this album observes, after the broad, lush romantic themes of the 1940s and '50s, written by the greats like Korngold and Steiner, music for the screen romances of the 1960s changed to accommodate the jazz, pop and rock fashions of those days. This compilation reflects that change.

The album opens with music for Goodbye Again (1961), starring Anthony Perkins and Ingrid Bergman, by French composer Georges Auric who already had an accomplished career behind him scoring such films as Beauty and the Beast, The Lavender Hill Mob and Moulin Rouge. Auric's Main Theme straddles many dramatic and romantic moods and commences with sweeping, diving string glissandi and powerful brass statements before the rich romantic theme sounds out on strings and brass. "Mon Paris" has a tango-like rhythm under a slow unwinding bluesy melody for woodwinds.

Rob Barnett reviewed the recent Ryko release of the Alex North's The Misfits (1961) on this site recently (RCD 10735). From that score we have "Love's Reverie" a complex little bitter-sweet jazz-based composition which is harmonically striking. It is, in turn, blowsy and sweetly romantic and its often poignant turns of phrase suggest vulnerability.

Two scores by André Previn come next. The Main Title theme Two for the Seesaw (1962) that starred Shirley Maclaine and Robert Mitchum, Previn, has a smoochy, moody duet between horn and trumpet that gives way to strings with trumpet intoning over a softly brushed percussion rhythm. Previn adopted the lovely "Our Language of Love" from the stage musical of Irma La Douce for the 1963 Billy Wilder romantic comedy film starring Shirley MacLaine - this time with Jack Lemon. The song from the Ryko CD (RCD 10729) that I reviewed recently on this site, is presented here beginning with a scintillating accordion accompaniment (very Parisian) and later taken up by violin d' amour with accordion in counterpoint.

Francis Lai is represented by two scores too. For the sequel to the very popular A Man And A Woman, Live for Life (1967), comes "Live for Life" and "Theme to Catherine". The former employs a persistently repetitive, ardent/yearning piano rhythm and some electronic keyboard filigree patterns while the Catherine music has a mellow but descriptive trumpet solo set against delicate cascading strings. Lai's attractive title theme from Love is a Funny Thing (1970) features electronic harpsichord and organ seguing into a bridge for string and chorus.

Riz Ortoloni wrote a very catchy score for Buona Sera, Mrs Campbell (1968). The "Orchestral Theme" is appropriately sexy and smoochy for the film's glamourous star, Gina Lollobrigida; and "Won't You Dance With Me" is a lovely quiet melody, a duet for piano and guitar over brushed percussion that later picks up a faster beat to make dancing to it irresistible.

Gaily, Gaily (1969) has Henry Mancini's attractive sinewy tango duet for groups of strings and guitar - "The Tango I Saved for You". Michel Legrand is represented by two cues from his score for The Happy Ending (1969) that starred Jean Simmons. "It Ought to be Forever" is an old fashioned romantic theme - a soft descending melody for strings over piano and brushed percussion again. "What are You Doing the Rest of Your Life" is a beautiful melody but the arrangement (yes, it might have been used like this in the film) is too clever by half and its beauty is fatally muted.

Finally we have Gato Barbieri's "Tango" for Last Tango in Paris (1972). (Rob Barnett reviewed the Ryko CD [RCD 10724] on this site last year.). A strident, discordant opening leads to an accordion and strings take on this well known ambivalent love theme.

An enjoyable compilation

Reviewer

Ian Lace


VARIOUS The Hammer Film Music Collection Volume One   GDI GDICD002 [54:59]

 

Crotchet (UK)


There is wonderful story behind the origin of this disc. Producer happened upon the recordings, when they were all thought to be lost. There will in fact be further volumes in the near future - such was the volume of the material discovered.

When Hammer is mentioned, there really is only name that stands out musically. I will forever salute James Bernard for his contributions to the genre, and to hear them as originally recorded is a massive treat. Beginning with The Devil Rides Out is a grand idea. We go straight into that unrelenting style of his. This is a particularly unnerving motif which ascends and repeats on those snare drums and sharp brass hits, reaching a register that wants to take the enamel off your teeth !

His pieces are scattered through the rest of the 25 cues, and encompass pretty much the best thematic material he penned. The outstanding Dracula theme still impresses every time I hear it. Here the sound is quite distant yet claustrophobic, and the pacing drum is a heartbeat waiting to explode. The inspired idea of his to spell out the title nasty in notes also appears in Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed, although somehow it is not quite as effective as Dracula or the recent Nosferatu. There is always a pervading eerieness in his pieces. A terrific example is the use of a solo female voice and a sustained synth chord throughout The Gorgon.

The other sound easily associated with Bernard is the bittersweet romantic strings he found a home for in the most unlikely of settings. Scars of Dracula feature those strings, offset and interrupted by the main theme, but the lover’s theme that closes the album in Taste the Blood of Dracula is left alone and quite heartbreaking in its sincerity.

Let us not forget who else worked under the Hammer however. Christopher Gunning matched any such romantic heights with his gorgeous theme for Hands of the Ripper. Even Harry Robinson got a waltz in for Lust For A Vampire, and amazing subtlety for Countess Dracula. Then there is his Western swagger for Twins of Evil. Other fantastic contributions to the studio and this album came from Franz Reizenstein (The Mummy), Mario Nascimbene (Creatures he World Forgot), Carlo Martelli (The Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb), and Malcolm Williamson (Blood From the Mummy’s Tomb) amongst others. Roll on Volume 2.

Reviewer

Paul Tonks


Graeme REVELL The Siege    OST   VARÈSE SARABANDE VSD-5989 [29:43]PLUS The Negotiator OST  RESTLESS 74321621762 [41:24]

 

The Seige
Crotchet (UK)
Amazon
The Negotiator
Crotchet
Amazon


Above all else, Revell has been of interest through his obvious gift for rhythm. Right from Dead Calm, there has been something in his style suggestive of an ear for meter & the pacing of his scores to picture have been impressive indeed.

Of late, he has developed a style utilising synth percussion over an orchestral base. David Arnold found himself placed upon a pedestal for his collaboration with The Propellerheads on Tomorrow Never Dies, but Revell has been fiddling with this fusion for some time (as indeed have others). Seemingly back to back have arrived these 2 thriller scores, and with them a sad culmination of that stylistic development. He now sounds just like the others. To whit, he might well be of the Media Ventures ilk, pounding out a very thorough synth mock-up for a film’s producers and then not really needing to do much more.

"The Siege" from The Siege (yawn) could be right out of The Rock, The Peacemaker, or Con Air. It crashes and rolls, and you know darn well it won’t be discernible under the film’s own noise. The same goes for "The FBI Building". In "The Blue Bus" some interesting use of volume on tracks distances the percussion from the theme on strings, but here the discs’ other problem arises. The title would seem to have been partly inspired by its similarity to the Speed motif. Should I go into the realms of familiarity ?

The opening "The Sheik’s Abduction" has a sampled manipulated keyboard substituted for the guitars that achieved the same effect in Howard Shore’s Crash. "Theatre Bombing" has a shakahuchi right out of any number of Horner scores. "Investigation" has a wailing sample sounding for all he world like Christopher Franke’s Shadow sound effect from the series Babylon 5. To round it off, both "Samir & Sharon" and "Torture" make uninspired use of the duduk. Revell probably didn’t exactly introduce the instrument to the world through his use of it in The Crow, but it certainly caught on. It has appeared in all sorts of guises. Good as in Emil Cmiral’s Ronin, and bad as in Jo LoDuca’s Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. When Revell revisits that sound now himself, it just sounds like a parody of a parody.

The Negotiator has its share of familiarity too, but is on the whole a better score. "The Second Breach is another sampled noise nightmare, and it was with "Chris Sabian Replaced" that I realised a lot of the quieter sample passages of these scores were reminding me of John Powell’s Face/Off (another Media Ventures score). Try to ignore the referencing of Morricone’s The Untouchables at the end of "Hostage Crisis" too.

I did say this was better though, and that proves itself by the "Take the Shot", which is an elegy proper as opposed to "Elegy" which features those pesky Uillean Pipes. It gets elaborated upon in "Escape" by military drums and cymbal. A progression that makes its reappearance in the overture of an "End Titles" very welcome. A one-off appearance by solo guitar giving a lament to the end of "End Game" is also a welcome change of pace.

These haven’t put me off his work by any means. The Saint and Fled were two recent scores that more properly demonstrated his skills. Hopefully projects will inspire those heights again soon.

The Siege

The Negotiator

Reviewer

Paul Tonks


Antoine DUHAMEL La Nina de tus Ojos    The City of Prague Philharmonicconducted by Mario Klemens   CAM Original Soundtracks COS-700053 [55:58]

 

Crotchet (UK)


Symphonic music is not inherently funny, so the way to make instrumental music comical is to do something far beyond the norm. The result is always burlesque, which is not exactly gut-busting humor, and it typically degrades the 'serious' aspects of composition. "La Nina de tus Ojos" is a score that balances parody and drama in such a way as to make use of both ideals. True, there is nothing outrageously droll about the filmusic, but there is wit. The film itself is a dramatic comedy set in 1938 Berlin, with a Spanish film crew shooting an Andalusian musical titled "La Nina de tus Ojos" ("The Girl of Your Dreams.")

The music perfectly captures this setting. There are some clichés, including Hollywood-style outbursts that seem pilfered straight from John Williams' "1941" score, but these do not hamper the musical juggling act Duhamel creates. Two entertaining songs by Perello & Mostazo, 'Los Piconeros' and 'La Bien Paga,' liven things further.

The album begins with a rather pointless suite, 'Polaroids' From Film. The suite contains four movements, 'Los Piconeros' acting as bookends (the first sung in Spanish, then last in German) and the center two movements are the title track and the finale. It is an interesting idea, but one executed without structure, or melodic support. It serves no purpose when compared to the music in the film chronology. The soundtrack proper embodies variety and skill.

The production is agreeable. Biographies, plot synopsis, extensive credits, movie stills, and captions lay out in an attractive manner. The booklet is in Italian, English, French, and Spanish. The presentation is in Dolby Surround and sounds fine. The City of Prague Philharmonic deserves extra praise for an orchestral performance filled with a delightful abundance of grace and satire. It is an ensemble that captures the spirit of filmusic more than many better-known orchestras.

Reviewer

Jeffrey Wheeler


Paolo BUONVINO Ecco Fatto    Orchestra di Roma Formazione Orchestrale   CAM Original Soundtracks CAM-493056 [47:51]

 

Crotchet (UK)


Filmusic often expresses dynamic emotions and skills. That is what it exists for, to add this emotion and skill to the film as well as support its own non-diegetic contribution to the 'reality' of the film. I have not seen the Italian comedy "Ecco Fatto" (international films very rarely show in the American Mid-South), but the soundtrack has structure, drama, and humor.

Although the music calls for an assortment of symphonic elements, it has a few superficial effects, making some moments similar to light pop or folk music. Ordinarily this spells doom, but when done properly the result is very satisfying. Paolo Buonvino handles the job competently. With his so-so orchestration being the weakest attribute, the melodies and harmonies themselves must shine.

Three main themes appear. There is a bouncy tango, filled with adroit manner and a touch of wit. There is the 'Tormento' theme, a short tune with an unmistakably sad intent (the track name does say it all). The dominant theme, the 'Ecco Fatto' theme, is lyrical and heartfelt. It forms the basis for a song titled 'Le ali della felicita.' I cannot comment on the lyrics as I do not read or speak Italian, but the music is soothing, easy listening. The remainder of the cues primarily support the central material.

Ecco Fatto is not a classic film score, but it has a personality that is difficult to refuse. Being smart and stylish goes a long way.

The album includes a four-page booklet, with straightforward notes on the film, the director (with photograph), the composer (with photo), and the music production, as well as stills from the motion picture. The music presentation is in Dolby Surround and has little digital distortion.

As an aside, the album unfortunately ends with two pop songs (by four songwriters, Buonvino not among them) performed by Isterika. These songs are obscene. With pulsing rock guitars, the sounds of a Isterika having an orgasm (simulated, I should think), no sense of musical structure, the songs thoroughly trounce the senses. They are to the human ear what Indian Love Call is to the Martians from Mars Attacks. Isterika should have taken her hysteria and removed it from the area, because this is as bad as it gets.

Thank goodness, tracks 1 through 17 possess sanity!

Reviewer

Jeffrey Wheeler


Armando TROVAIOLI Rugantino    Orchestra di Roma, Roman Academy Choir and I4+4 di Nora Orlandi conducted by Armando Trovaioli   CAM Original Soundtracks CAM-493058 [68:38]

 

Crotchet (UK)


I do not read Italian,
nor speak it at all,
but music is universal,
so you know where I fall:
The lyrics are a complete mystery!
Thankfully the synopsis
provides me some history
to figure out what the fuss is about.

The composer is prolific,
with over 350 film scores to his name.
His stage musical is terrific --
it rarely bores or acts tame.
Like an Italian Leonard Bernstein
he injects it with jazzy rhythms and time.

The vocals are strong,
from soloist to throng.
The music is brilliant,
so how can one go wrong?
The story seems amusing
and the production is a delight
(though the sound does not quite take flight),
thus the 60-plus minutes do not feel too long.

With style from Broadway to baroque,
to blues to a neo-classical stroke,
this album is worth a listen.

Reviewer

Jeffrey Wheeler


Arthur B. RUBINSTEIN Motion Picture Scores   OST   SUPER TRACKS MUSIC GROUP ABR01/02

Nick of Time; Best of Times; Stakeout; Another Stakeout; Hypersapien; Wargames; Deal of the Century; The Hardway.

 


Note This is a very limited promotional edition that is only available from soundtrack mail order houses like SOUNDTRACKS DIRECT, BFS, Screen Archives,etc. Or it can be ordered directly from SUPERCOLLECTOR at www.supercollector.com

As a composer promo, this is on a par with those of Michael Lewis and Robert Folk in terms of ambition. It is generous in every department (except perhaps in notes). This is a double CD set covering 8 movies, and has almost consistently quality sound to boast too.

Nick of Time is about the worst of the ugly ducklings in actor Johnny Depp’s career. The ‘hook’ of having the action unfold in real time (90 minutes) is interesting, but without Depp or Christopher Walken this might as well have been a TV movie of the week. Slightly predictably, the score opens on a Carnivalesque theme with strings, female voice and a ticking clock with bells. We’re talking insanity and CLOCKS here. Wherever possible, the countdown will continue. "Union Station - The Innocents" is a little sweetness for Depp and daughter on synths prior to her kidnapping. "Rough Side Down" has some interesting arrangements for harp and a rhythmic beat. Both "What’s My Poison?" and "Suite Dream" play up the building suspense with various ticking effects with an occasional sweetness reminder for the daughter in danger. "It’s 1:30" reminds a little of Christopher Young’s chasing theme from Hellraiser. This is the big countdown piece and brings the drama to a suitable high wake up alarm level.

Best of Times is a nice contrast, being very much comically upbeat. Think Police Academy with high trumpet over a marching band. "The Winning Dream" offers tenderness from guitar and strings. Then the band returns for the opening of "Night Game" and all of "Taft High Band". "The Pass - The Catch" is a gradual build of tinklings and drumrolls to suggest the momentousness of it all - captured inevitably in cringeworthy slow motion. Boy - sports based movies can be hideously predictable !

Another Stakeout opens surprisingly atmospherically; almost ghostly with an echoing piano figure that appears and disappears. A gentle harmonica adds to that mood. Then "It’s A Dirty Job" is more like it - with raunchy trumpets and a funky rock beat. "Bloodhounds Are Us" features a harmonica’s sassiness. It’s odd that this should feature on disc one, before the original movie is covered disc two. Separating them ensures the material isn’t overly repetitive, but the reversed order loses our appreciation of its development.

Hypersapien opens almost seemingly at Christmas, with excitable strings oozing blinking lights amongst the snow. A complete left turn with "Prairie Moon Rise" is the Western sound of yore. Left again for "Chasing A Trilyte", which is very surreal. Chinese mini-chimes work with a tick-tocking effect. Finally, "Leaving Earth" apparently occurs at Christmas time again. This is a very odd mix of styles for one small sci-fi movie.

Wargames is a musical exercise in creeping about. The opening is a cat burglar’s ideal accompaniment, offset only the once by a moment of fun for a tambourine. With "This Is Not A Game" the familiarity of John Williams’ style is introduced, and will stay throughout the score. "Finding Joshua" is about the only light moment for what tried hard to work as a comedy as well as a thriller. "Serious Threats" showcases a small heroic motif Matthew Broderick had, while a flipside saccharine sweetness pervades "Edge of the World". The sadly dated look at the computer world is brought to thundering conclusion with "Crashing NORAD" - a pounding action cue.

It is then a jarring transition into the guitar funk of the "Main Titles - Prison Riot" for Stakeout. "Maria’s Street" is almost a calypso, with shouting and a quite mad saxophone. In fact the sax is one of the score’s key instruments along with: bass guitar, bongos, synths and electric guitar. The synths come off worse really, certainly in the rather lame romance for "Trust Me". As mentioned above, this might have come off better with a chronological sequence.

The mellow trombone of "The Idea" is a very welcoming start for Deal of the Century. We realise by "The Hustle" that a jazzy mood is the primary idea. Here a bass plays scale to brushed drums and a cheesy synthesiser, while other parts exude jazz from a fuller band and/or orchestra (e.g. "The Sellout"). For "The Seduction" it’s time to dim the lights baby ! This is Lounge seduction at its coolest. Contrasted against it are pulpy action histrionics in "The Plane", and Brazilian guitars in "South of the Border Sale" features. Later, "Serenata" is simply two guitars in conversation.

What a free-for-all opens The Hard Way. "Big Apple Juice" mixes Egyptian styles with South American and jazz. "Where Have You Gone, L. Ron ?" starts like the lounge jazz of Deal of the Century, and becomes something right out of Twin Peaks with a sax recorded from another room. A little typical rock action "N.Y.C. Subway Authority", and a fabulously sustained action cue, massing percussion, strings and horns with "Top of the World" brings the terrific final score and indeed the album, to a huge crescendo.

Reviewer

Paul Tonks

and Ian Lace adds a footnote

Arthur B. Rubinstein (not to be confused with, Arthur Rubinstein, the famous late classical concert pianist), I admit, is a name that is quite unfamiliar to me - probably because he has been unfortunate enough to have scored so many films that have been damned by the critics. Not one of the films listed has a good review in Halliwell. Which is a pity because Rubinstein's music is supremely colourful and individual with unexpected twists and turns that delight the ear; his music might be likened to looking at the brilliant ever-shifting patterns of a kaleidoscope. It is anarchic and whacky but above all it is fun. It is rare that such a sense of enjoyment and sheer exuberance is so strongly communicated. I enjoyed this set and I will certainly look out for the name Arthur B. Rubinstein on future film credits and I hope that this 2 CD promotional set will bring him commissions to score more worthy films.


Reviewer

Ian Lace


ANDRZEJ KORZYNSKI Music to the films of Andrzej Wajda (1969-81) OST orchestras conducted by composer OLYMPIA OCD601 [77:28]

 

Crotchet




So much attention is focused on Hollywood's film music that we can easily forget the work of composers elsewhere. This is particularly true of the Eastern Bloc countries as they used to be known. Cultural and political barriers exacerbated the ignorance of these films and music although they travelled more freely from the early 1970s onwards and were increasingly seen in art-house cinemas and found their metièr on Channel 4 and BBC2.

As for Wajda's films I can in fairness recall seeing his grim war-time epics such as Kanal and Ashes and Diamonds in afternoon matinees on BBC during the 1960s. These were and remain granitically dark impressive films. They are lodged deeply in my consciousness. I was not greatly aware of the music and am not all clear as to who the composer(s) was although I seem to remember the name of the conductor Jan Krenz. I hope one day to hear the music for this series in a CD reissue and to review it here. Can anyone advise me of a source and catalogue numbers?

Man of Iron (1981 - 9 tracks - 26:58). The first two tracks are affecting string serenades on a single very strong theme. They occasionally veer towards Mantovani schmaltz but nothing seriously worrying. Track 3 is a horror with the theme taken by a Hammond organ and with a dreadfully seventies pop beat in the background. The fourth and fifth tracks are more restrained: like some grand pavane for strings. Tracks 6 and 7 have space age synthesised warblings mixed with 1970s USA TV music. All very dated and feeble now. The Funeral Music [8] returns to the strings for a sombrely meandering November-morning essay. The last track for the film is a starkly guitar accompanied song. It sounds like a bitterly spat-out folk-song - all hoarsely shouted.

Man of Marble (1977 - 8 tracks - 25:00). If the music for Man of Iron suffers from a dated trendiness then Man of Marble has it in spades. Electric guitars, processed choral singing, tinkling percussion and bongos dominate tracks 10-14. Track 15 (In the Shipyard) deploys a string orchestra in a sleepy evocative essay but even then the composer cannot resist a few burbles from the Hammond Organ and a 'get-on-down' guitar contribution. The Katowice Ironworks track sounds like a cross between Procul Harum, the Swingle Singers and the music for British Television's Countdown. The final track The Striptease has a breathy processed female breathing as an ostinato and over it a jazzy harmonica contribution. This is commercially appalling stuff.

The Birchwood (1970 - 3 tracks - 7:35) is a uplifting contrast to Man of Marble. A scorching violin solo (a sort of Lark Descending) against close-up strings and woodwind sings affectingly. A harpsichord adds to the atmosphere of this exotic aubade. This music might have come from some dream of Sheherazade. I am impressed with the quality of sound extracted by Olympia. The music resonates with that of Alan Hovhaness and Korzynski's countryman Szymanowski.

Hunting Flies (1969 - 7 tracks - 17:48) is dated. Imagine a cross between Swingle Singers cool, bossa nova, The Shadow of Your Smile, Claude Lelouch's Un Homme et Une Femme and you have the picture. Track 22 is dated pop. Track 23 is like the chase music from a Benny Hill TV show with an insufferable then hilarious Hammond organ. Track 24 again deploys a prominent and prominently awful Hammond. A Country Landscape [25] and The Wonderful House [26] takes us back to the attractive, palely Eastern and natural music of The Birchwood. The last track Trying to Catch a Fly is a deliberately reversed orchestral track (pity I cannot find a way of re-reversing it) which in its twitterings and swoopings ends the disc in the surreal.

Olympia's valiant series merits closest attention. There is great variety on this disc. Korzynski can clearly write music of striking mood magic as well as music of appalling date-stamped trendiness. There is too little of the former here. This is a well-filled disc which includes some extremely fine concert music (tracks 1, 2, 18-20, 25) as well as much that does not bear a second listen. It would be a great pity for you to miss the music on the listed tracks. It is amongst the most original and attractive I have heard in a long time.

The disc was issued as long ago as 1993 and received little critical attention at the time. I hope that you will try to track it down and explore its strengths as well as discovering some of its awesomely awful weaknesses. The notes are typically (for Olympia) excellent.

The low star rating reflects the majority of the tracks. The other tracks listed above merit at least four stars.

Reviewer

Robert Barnett


Curio Corner


Sidney JONES The Geisha    Lilian Watson; Christopher Maltman; Sarah Walker; Richard Suart; the New London Light Opera Chorus and Orchestra conducted by Ronald Corp   HYPERION CDA67006 [77:12]

 

Crotchet (UK)


Through the years a whole series of stage plays, operas and Hollywood films have given us a somewhat clichéd view of Japan and its culture - (the films include: Sayonara and The Teahouse of the August Moon to name but two.) The Geisha was one of the earliest such models. It dates from 1896 and is very much in the mould of Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado. It was written by Sidney Jones a now very much forgotten composer whose musical style has long since been eclipsed, yet in the period between the early 1890s and the first World War his stage productions enjoyed considerable success. They included: A Gaiety Girl, An Artist's Model, and A Greek Slave (which was a precursor of Sondheim's A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum). But The Geisha - A Story of The Teahouse was his greatest success; it ran at Daly's Theatre, London for an unprecedented 760 performances and in its initial production, it starred Marie Tempest as Mimosa and Letty Lind as Molly.

The Geisha, described as a Japanese musical play is bright and breezy. Its musical style is Victorian/turn-of-the-century lyricism which would be swept into redundancy by the music of 1920s Broadway. From this period, only the music of Gilbert and Sullivan has survived with any real success. Yet, once attuned to this style, listeners will find much to amuse and beguile them in The Geisha. The story line is one of romantic and comic complications. The Tea House of the Thousand Joys (run by devious Chinaman Wun-Hi) - and, especially, its Geishas are a magnet to visiting English naval officers led, on this occasion by Lieutenant Reginald Fairfax who flirts with Mimosa the Chief Geisha. Fairfax's fiancée, Molly, is not amused and resolves to teach him a lesson by dressing as a Geisha and surprising him. In the meantime the Tea House is threatened with closure by womanising Marquis Imari, chief of police and Governor of the Province who is determined to have Mimosa to the chagrin of her admirer Katana Captain of the Governer's Guard. Many misunderstandings occur before all the lovers are united happily.

The opening chorus, "Happy Japan" is bright and breezy and reminds one of the style of the Elgar part songs as well as of Gilbert and Sullivan. Clearly, many of the lyrics would be considered politically incorrect today such as those in the early patter song, "The dear little Jappy-Jap-Jappy" but they are conveyed with such innocence and irresistible charm that such considerations have to be dismissed. Both Lillian Watson as Mimosa and, particularly, Sarah Watson as Molly are excellent; they enter into the spirit of the work with enthusiastic commitment and without any trace of condescension. Mimosa's first big number, reminiscent of the style of Edward German, the charming "The Amorous Goldfish" has a nice catchy refrain. Molly, in her first number, shared with Christopher Maltman as Fairfax, remembers her toys in "The Toy", and amusingly derides Fairfax for toying with the Geishas. Sarah Watson at once shows her considerable comic and mimicking talents which she later demonstrates to the full when she mimics a kill-joy parrot determined to destroy the love life of two canaries in the delightful Act II comic song "The Interfering Parrot". Molly is also given one of the more risqué songs, "Chon Kina" which she delivers in her Geisha disguise. Lyrics like - "And if my art entices, Then at extra prices, I can dance for you in quite another way" may seem surprising, but then they were the Naughty Nineties! Richard Suart is in great form as Wun-Hi singing such tongue-twisting numbers as "Ching-a-ring-a-ree". Maltman and the chorus have their turn to shine in "Jack's the Boy" a sly and salty song with an engaging refrain about a roguish sailor with a girl in every port. The ensemble pieces are very clever and amusing too. Take the concerted piece, "We're going to call on the Marquis", when the company plan to have their revenge on the overbearing Police Chief It has all the hallmarks of the best of G&S and German.

Ronald Corp can add this sparkling album to the growing number of first class light music albums he has recorded for Hyperion

Reviewer

Ian Lace


Compilations: Cowboy Classics:- 

 Gene Autry - "The Last Round-Up" ASV CDAJA 5264  

 Roy Rogers - "The King of the Cowboys" ASV CDAJA 5297

 

Gene Autry
Crotchet

Amazon
Roy Rogers
Crotchet

Amazon


When I was a boy, in the late 1940s, Saturday was film club day when we children all stormed the local cinema (theatre) to be thrilled by the cliff-hanger serials, laugh at clowns like Laurel and Hardy and cheer the heroes of the big adventure films. When these were westerns they were often Roy Rogers or Gene Autry but when these cowboys stopped chasin' shootin' and fightin', and picked up their guitars and began to sing, we all cringed, groaned, whistled and stamped our feet in protest at these sissy interruptions. Our teenage sisters thought otherwise for they bought Autry and Rogers records in their millions. Now after so many years, it is instructive and a revelation to hear these ballads with more mature ears.

Gene Autry first recorded his songs in 1929 and over the years he sold millions of records. He reached the zenith of his fame in the 1930s and 1940s. His easy and understated manner, yet considerable technical skills charmed audiences. He modelled his style on the yodelling blues singing of Jimmie Rogers the first superstar of what would eventually be called country music. But, soon, Gene's songs took on a smoother, softer quality that brought his style closer to the more lucrative mainstream pop market.

This album commences with probably Autry's best remembered song, "The Last Roundup" and comprises 25 numbers many from Mascot, Republic, 20th Century Fox and Columbia films of the period. In "The Old Covered Wagon", he is teamed with Smiley Burnette his comic sidekick in so many of his films. Smiley was, himself, a gifted musician and composer. There is an interesting range of songs here from the sentimental songs like "Mother, Here's a Bouquet for You", composed by Smiley Burnette, to the swing-era inspired "Down in the Land of Zulu".

There are also 25 songs in the Roy Rogers album and it, too, begins with one of the singing cowboy star's best known numbers, "Tumbling Tumbleweed" recorded in 1936 with Rogers's famous backing group, The Sons of the Pioneers. Early on he played guitar and developed a considerable skill as a square-dance caller. "Round That Couple, Go Through and Swing" demonstrates his speed and clarity. Roy Rogers (real name Leonard Slye), the most successful of the singing cowboys, took his art to new heights.

Rogers made 100 or so B movies teamed with cowgirl (and Rogers's second wife) Dale Evans and old timer comedian Gabby Hayes and of course Bullet the dog and Trigger his horse. [The songs cover the period 1936 to 1947 so alas we don't have probably Roy's best loved song, "A Four-Legged Friend" which he crooned to Trigger in the 1952 Bob Hope spoof western Son of Paleface.] Nevertheless, all the old favourites are here including: "When the Golden Train Comes Down", "Hi-Yo Silver", "Along the Navajo Trail", "Hold that Critter Down", "Blue Shadows on the Trail", "Pecos Bill" and "Home on the Range."

Gene Autry

Roy Rogers

Reviewer

Ian Lace


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