Five Sax is a group of international saxophone players who formed back in 2011.  The present disc features their own arrangements of a variety of film music.  Obviously not necessarily for purists, the album does feature some great virtuosic performances covering a blend of familiar and less familiar fare.

The album opens with an interesting idea: a series of themes from classic pirate films from Korngold to Badelt/Zimmer.  The arrangement itself is overall quite good.  The music from Hook and the Korngold (with beautifully-shaped thematic playing here!) seems to fit best for the sound of the group, the punch of the more recent Pirates of the Caribbean adds some nice contrast rhythmically.  Personally, it might have been better placed at the end of the album to help orient the audience better to the overall sound of this music and with the somewhat exciting finale working well with added percussion.

That said, the inclusion of music by Leroy Shields (1893-1962) will be the greatest find here.  Shields provided music for the Laurel and Hardy films and the ensemble has put together a little “suite” of sorts featuring five incidental pieces from these films (including the signature “Cuckoo” and delightful “Little Dancing Girl”).  The performances here are simply wonderful capturing the spirit of this music and the period quite wonderfully.  The theme from Rota’s score for 81/2 follows (this would have been a great opening track) and is another great highlight of this carnival like atmosphere.

Next up are three more lyrical choices.  “Gabriel’s Oboe” from The Mission may seem like a bold choice but demonstrates the expressive qualities of the soprano sax.  “Playing Love” (The Legend of 1900) is perhaps one of Morricone’s most masterful underscoring moments and this is an equally touching arrangement which also features pianist Jacek Obstarczyk.  “Married Life” from Up then seems like a very natural choice to flow out of these two pieces and is simply perfect.

The CD then takes a bit of a left turn musically with a suite from Psycho!  The opening is less harsh, but the knife sequence is perhaps not quite as successful.  What is interesting is that one can hear some of the jazz-like rhythmic ideas of Herrmann’s score more clearly in this setting.  We get to recover a bit with a cover of “Hedwig’s Theme” (with some added percussion aiding the colors) and then an interesting suite of music from Shore’s The Lord of the Rings scores.  The latter is interesting but percussion ideas, while trying to get at the flavor of the music, do not work always as well.  Jazzier and rock influences provide musical contrast for Bono’s theme from Goldeneye, which works well.  Finally, we are in firm jazz territory with selections from Henry Mancini’s The Pink Panther whose original sax solo is among the classic film themes for the instrument.  Here the added percussion and performance is simply spot on!  Three additional musical sequences follow from the 1964 film (“The Village Inn”, “Royal Blue”, and “It Had Better Be Tonight”) and are all excellently chosen for this ensemble.

Five Sax have put together a really fun album of film music that explores the wide range of their ensemble of saxes.  The choices are performed with a great sense of the music’s original sound often with a real attention to detail and energy that draw you in rather quickly.  Some sequencing aside, the album plays quite well with listeners sure to find something that stands out to them along the way.  At the Movies is thus a fairly successful compilation of film music arrangements with fabulous performances on this wonderful Orlando Records release.

Music from the Walt Disney/Pixar Films for Solo Piano ****

MICHAEL GIACCHINO

BuySoundtrax Records

30 tracks – 56:14

Available as a digital download.

BuySoundtrax Records features opportunities for a number of individual downloads of memorable film music on their website.  Their increasing stable of artists features pianists, guitarists, and electronic music experts coupled with a host of composers given a chance to explore their music in more intimate settings.  This new release focuses on perhaps some of the most memorable music from Disney/Pixar that brought Michael Giacchino into the top tier of new Hollywood composers.  The music here comes from the composer’s scores for Up, Ratatouille, and The Incredibles focusing on select miniatures from each score.  Pianist Mark Northam performs music from the most recent two scores and Joohyun Park tackles music from the breakthrough The Incredibles.  Each score has appeared in piano reductions and it is not clear if these are the sources for some of the performances here or are the performer’s realizations.

Up was Giacchino’s first well-deserved Oscar and the score is perhaps one of the finest examples of matching music to picture to get at the heart of the film.  The four-minute sequence, “Married Life,” is one of the most moving animated moments on film and Giacchino’s music manages to capture the beauty of life between two people without seeming overly cloying or sentimental.  The sentimental part comes perhaps in the way that primary theme recalls Carl’s remembrances throughout the film.  The eleven selections here include plenty of presentation of that main theme and that sequence quite well.  The music comes across almost like a silent film piano score with more brilliant and fuller extended jazz harmonies that at times recall here a hybrid of Satie and Ravel piano music.  In the original score, the way Giacchino’s orchestration evolves helps give the theme more interest which can seem rather repetitive when the dressing is removed given the 1-minute plus length of some of these tracks.  But Northam’s performance is still quite delightful.  There may just be an over abundance of selections here but Northam is fairly faithful to the score cues. 

The music of Ratatouille perhaps sits more in a France between the wars musically.  Its memorable song, “Le Festin,” certainly feels like Edith Piaf must have sung and recorded it at some time.  Northam’s performance plays with the tempo of this song just a bit to really give it a romantic sensibility that works well in this setting.  The other selections work somewhat well as lighter jazzy piano solos with perhaps a slight overabundance of material.  Interestingly more tracks feel a bit like concert piano music here (especially “Losing Control”).

Of the three scores, the big brassy jazz music Giacchino used for The Incredibles seems like it would not translate as well to a smaller medium.  For the selections here, Park shifts to electronic piano for some of the selections which some may find works better.  The piano selections again feel more like concert works and there appears to be some overdubbing giving things a piano 4-hands produced feel at times.  The music seems a bit more abstract as a result though no less effective for the most part.  She does a fine job presenting these tracks which work less well over all in this medium.

In each case, the original scores are still preferable, but the performances on this release are all fairly faithful and loving recreations that are quite valid on their own.  By staying faithful to the scores without remixing them as suites, listeners can further appreciate the design of this music and how orchestration impacts the way a given track sounds when dressed up.  Fans of the music will definitely want to check this out.