May 30, 2010

  • Best of May: New to the Collection

    After an insanely busy April of releases, May seemed a bit anti-climactic.  Is it me or are the May "summer" kick-off movies just a bit lackluster?  Well, that just leaves us with a chance to catch our breath from the myriad new releases of older scores that seemed to explode over the past few months from every direction.  As the month comes to a close here are 5 CDs worth checking out.

    First up is an import from BIS called American Spectrum.  <iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=cinemusical-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asins=B001RKWICA&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="width:120px;height:240px;" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0"></iframe>
    There are many reasons to seek this disc out.  One is that you get to support a great regional orchestra, the North Carolina Symphony, which continues to grow as one of the Southeast's best orchestras next to the Atlanta SO.  The other is that it includes performances by Branford Marsalis and his quartet.  The four pieces on this disc are all jazz-influenced to some extent.  The oldest work is from 1963, Ned Rorem's Lions-A Dream.  This is a fascinating piece to hear in the context of the two works which open the CD and intend to revisit that period.  The opening work is Michael Daugherty's Sunset Strip which is truly a delightful three-movement work of orchestral jazz and contemporary composition that has a riff that is reminiscent of Hawaii 5-0.  The ghosts of Morton Stevens and Neal Hefti are just a few of the many delightful references in this work.  Next up is I think a premiere recording of John Williams' Escapades.  The piece is derived from his score to Catch Me If You Can.  <iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=cinemusical-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asins=B00007BKUE&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="width:120px;height:240px;" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0"></iframe>
    If you are familiar with Stan Getz's work and the cool jazz of the 1950s and 1960s (Williams was a pianist on a couple of Getz releases) you will love hearing how this music contemporizes that sound.  (Pick this disc up with a copy of Getz's Focus <iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=cinemusical-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asins=B0000047CY&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="width:120px;height:240px;" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0"></iframe>
    or Mickey One.<iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=cinemusical-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asins=B00000DLX7&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="width:120px;height:240px;" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0"></iframe>
    )  The final work is a piece by Christopher Rouse with a bit more French Baroque influence.  It's another fine piece of American 20th century music.  The recording is SACD so the sound is amazing to boot.

    Stargate was one of the first films in the 1990s that made me consider film music as worthy of attention again beyond my John Williams collection.  With Independence Day, David Arnold created one of the finest scores of the 1990s with amazing action cues and full orchestration that expanded on his Jarre/Barry hybrid style.  La-La Land Records has released a limited 2-disc set of the complete score now in stellar sound and resequenced to follow film order.  This is truly one of the great re-issues of the year to date.  You can find it at www.lalalandrecords.com.

    The label's other release was The Poseidon Adventure.  This was a slight improvement over a Film Score Monthly release (that release essentially launched my freelance film music reviewing career with FSM!).  La-La Land's sound is slightly improved but the real attraction here was the number of alternate cues including one "Main Title" that is closer to the composer's approach for Images.  This disc sold out pretty quickly but it was a highlight of the month for me.

    Just reviewed Saturday, a new Capriccio disc of music by Luigi Dallapiccola continues to stick in my mind.  My "connection" with the composer comes through his work Sicut Umbra which was the basis of my Master's Thesis (which you can probably download now from UNC-CH!).  As a composer, I tend to see serialism as an interesting experimental dead end.  But, Dallapiccola's music fascinates me because he brings a lyric quality that seems missing from the more Germanic practitioners.  My own discoveries were that even when he is strictly serial, or even moves seemingly away for more spontaneous moments in his music, there is a harmonic connection that lets his music communicate more fully with his audiences.  This disc of Piano Rarities features a delightful little concerto that is more modern than serial and a great little sonata.  <iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=cinemusical-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asins=B003COG19U&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="width:120px;height:240px;" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0"></iframe>
    Check yesterday's review for more details.

    Finally, I picked up the fourth volume in Naxos' Leroy Anderson series.  <iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=cinemusical-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asins=B001DELX76&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="width:120px;height:240px;" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0"></iframe>
    Earlier volumes have made it to the best of the month list here.  This release allows us to hear the complete Irish Suite and Scottish Suite plus a few song versions of Anderson's miniatures.  The concluding track is the famous, non-choral version, of A Christmas Festival--probably one of the composer's most performed works. 

    There you have it.  Five fascinating releases worth your time and effort!