July 2, 2018

  • More Classic TV Thriller Music!

     Thriller 2 (TV Series): Music by Jerry Goldsmith

    Lucie Svehlova, violin. Jaromir Klepac, piano.
    City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra/Nic Raine
    Tadlow Music 029
    Total Time:  70:44
    Recording:   ****/****
    Performance: ****/****

     

    Last year, Tadlow released a collection of scores from the classic television series, Thriller (1960-62).  Opening with Boris Karloff setting up our tale, each week brought a new shocking horror story that tended to be quite advanced for its time.  Jerry Goldsmith had been working in television on projects such as Climax! and Playhouse 90, but this would be a chance for him to create more modern and experimental music—the sort of style in seed form that would blossom across his career.  He would provide original scores for sixteen episodes for the short-lived series.  In their first release, Tadlow focused on six episodes and they repeat that plan here for Thriller 2.  Orchestrations and reconstructions for the project are by Leigh Phillips who had the DVD isolated scores as a guide.  The members of the City of Prague Philharmonic are here under the direction of Nic Raine to bring Goldsmith fans further explorations of some of the composer’s earliest music.

     

    One of the remarkable aspects about this recording is its fuller sound.  Often TV scores from the period can feel a bit dry and cut rather close.  Tadlow’s sound helps expand the ambience and reverb to allow for a more modern orchestral sound.  There are some really amazing moments in these scores that tend to feature melodies that will take on slightly different shape in future film score by the composer.  Each of the episodes has a “Prologue/Roll” call track that is then followed by a suite of music from that episode. Most compelling is a melody that appears in the suite for “God Grant That She Lye Stille” (a la Papillon).  Some of the ways the brass harmonies punctuate the woodwind ideas in alternation will become a common stylistic approach in Goldsmith’s music and it is fascinating to hear this on display here.  As is the case, the music has a somewhat episodic quality, but is interesting to hear how Goldsmith works towards a specific sound world in these scores.  Each suite thus creates the right chilling atmosphere with excellent shifts in orchestration to make this possible.  Many of the scores use a smaller ensemble and in this collection violins are completely absent!  A list of the ensemble makeup for each episode helps see the many ways Goldsmith was experimenting with sound (like all those flutes in “Late Date”!).  It is like he took a page from Herrmann’s playbook, but then added his own unique ostinato approaches and clusters of harmony.  Now and then he throws in the sort of classic styles (like the Western-Spanish styles of “The Bride Who Died Twice”) one might expect, but they still have his fingerprints plainly there.  “Masquerade” has touches that will be explored in his work on The Twilight Zone as well.  The suites are intended to give us a sample of the music from each episode.  They do not necessarily all have that big finale as this tended to be reserved for the actual end of the episode itself with the theme following.

     

    As one listens to these scores from Thriller it is rather fascinating that there was this opportunity to craft such unique music for television.  They are of further interest to Goldsmith fans for the ways we can hear early versions of common tropes in his music.  But there are plenty of unique aspects that show him experimenting.  That it is still his music though is very clear demonstrating he had begun to find his own voice even while pulling in influences from contemporary scoring maestros.  Television scores can be a little rougher to get into with their often briefer cues, but Phillips has chosen this material wisely and crafted dramatic and engaging concert suites.

     

    For an added bonus, the album closes with the “Teakwood Nocturne” from the Terror in Teakwood episode.  The piece was originally a piano solo and was written by studio pianist and composer Caesar Giovannini (1925-2017).  Intended to be a period piece, it helps provide the perfect contrast to Goldmsith’s starker contemporary scoring.  The piece has been transcribed here for violin and piano to feature the concertmaster Lucie Svehlova.  It is a stunningly beautiful work that hopefully will become more widely known, even an orchestral version might be worth considering if there is to ever be a Thriller 3!