April 3, 2009

  • Best of March: New to the "Collection"

    Coming next week I'll share my real favorite "new" to the library book about film music.  But for now, here are a selection of five favorite "new" to my library discs. 

    First up is an older score that I managed to find on a browsing day.  Howard Shore's one score for Tim Burton, Ed Wood, is that delicious combination of old-fashioned movie music from Universal horror scoring days coupled with Shore's own innate scoring style.  The inclusion of theremin sounds here makes this one of Shore's earliest accessible scores for music fans that could not grasp his musical sensibility.  It shows Burton's fascination with musical and film worlds that he would later parody in Mars Attacks! featuring a score by Elfman that takes a page from classic 1950s sci-fi films.

    Ironically, the more recent Monsters vs. Aliens does the same thing and that score by new comer Henry Jackman  is also a fun listen of contemporary film scoring with lots of classic monster and sci-fi music gestures.  It is a richly-orchestrated score that is a wonderful introduction to this genre of music for new listeners plus includes plenty of fun songs that younger listeners will enjoy.

    Two limited edition, and now unavailable, releases were sent for review this week and those of you who were able to get them know how great they were.  Barry's Until September is a beautiful romantic, one-trick theme score much like his equally popular Somewhere in Time.  Though monothematic to the extreme, the richly-orchestrated Barry sound is hard not to like here in Intrada's beautiful pressing.  The other score was a limited edition release by La La Land that I completely missed hearing about until it was sold out.  It was Rosenthal's 1977 score for The Island of Dr. Moreau.  I remember this film fondly as the favorite sci-fi flick of my pre-teen movie going experience and the score does not disappoint.  We can all hope that this might reappear soon.  For now you can only hear excerpts on the label's website.

    And now for something completely different.  Claudio Abbado is not necessarily known for his period instrument

    performances and so Archiv's release of the complete Mozart Violin Concerti will be a revelation for those

    looking for a near perfect overview of these amazing works.  Giuliano Carmignola, not necessarily a Classical

    music household name, manages to perform these works with a nod to period style and musical sensibility that one

    often finds missing in contemporary performances of these works. Mozart's violin concerti tend to value a different

    sensibility than the showier concerti favored and learned by popular performers with higher profiles in the music

    world.  It takes someone with the depth of musical ability and sense of nuance that Carmignola has that makes

    listening to these 5 pieces, and a Sinfonia Concertante among the most satisfying musical experiences one will

    have this year.  He does for these pieces what Perahia and Uchida achieved in their traversals of the piano

    concerti.  The two-disc set is a must have for Mozarteans and will be a disc returned to often.