The Golden Age of Hollywood ****

JEROME MOROSS/MAX STEINER/MIKLOS ROZSA/BERNARD HERRMANN/DMITRI TIOMKIN/ERICH WOLFGANG KORNGOLD/RICHARD ADDINSELL/ELMER BERNSTEIN

RPO 017

15 tracks – 77:26

The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra averted disappearing altogether decades ago when Louis Clark and the ensemble released the multi-million selling disco album, Hooked on Classics.  Over the years the orchestra has classed up what used to be referred to as “elevator music” while still maintaining a number of superb classical releases.  It is this versatility which can sometimes be overlooked for “serious” ensembles.  Film music collectors may recall several fine film music compilations with the orchestra under the baton of Elmer Bernstein, Carl Davis, and John Scott.  Over the past decade, the orchestra has released on its own label a variety of contemporary film music, often conducted by the composers, from their concert series.  The discs have been exclusively available from the orchestra’s website.  The Golden Age of Hollywood comes from their Here Come the Classics series of which this 2006 release is volume 17!  One can hope that more film compilations will find their way to the states. 

The current release will best be enjoyed if one simply forgets its title and just listens to the resulting music since much of the music comes from the late 1950s or 1960s.  The oldest music represented here is Gone With the Wind whose requisite “Tara” theme must appear.  The album is bookended by music from two classic Western scores, Jerome Moross’ The Big Country and Elmer Bernstein’s The Magnificent Seven (in an arrangement by Paul Bateman).  The former makes for a fine opening, though the Warner Brothers fanfare in the following familiar Casablanca suite might have worked better.  The performance of the suite is filled with sliding strings and a bit too much bass, but manages to work just fine once the suite settles in to its more pop music big tune “As Time Goes By”.  Personally, it always is fascinating that any of Steiner’s music shows up at all as the orchestra could have simply played a banal arrangement.  But it is a reminder at the effectiveness of borrowed tunes and Steiner’s reworking of them that still makes Casablanca a classic score and film. 

The suite from Korngold’s The Sea Hawk is a welcome departure from more Robin Hood music, though one does wish for a bit more Korngold.  The big romantic cinema concertos from Rozsa’s Spellbound score (which sounds like there is a theremin being used and Addinsell’s “Warsaw Concerto” from Dangerous Moonlight (Suicide Squadron) are well performed with great rubato by the orchestra and Roderick Elms.  The familiar “Love Theme” and “Parade of the Charioteers” from Ben-Hur also make their requisite appearances here.  The “Love Theme” features a rather gorgeous violin solo and quite moving performance.  Rozsa’s parade work must not be difficult as it seems to receive fine performances on disc a lot and this one is just as good as many others with fine brass playing. 

The odder choices, though no less well-performed, are the main theme from The Guns of Navarone.  Its appearance after Herrmann’s suite from Psycho allows for an interesting comparison of styles.  While having some Herrmann on the release, neither selection is arguably “Golden Age” material—especially his music for Taxi Driver which appears as a lengthy seven-minute track here.  The work is an intriguing choice and some of the swells are really well done.  Phil Todd’s saxophone solos sometimes feel a bit too harsh at times missing some of the noir-ish flavor of the original.  The selection itself just sort of ends rather oddly as well making the following Korngold selection a bit jarring.  The interpretation and music simply are out of place in the context of the rest of the music on the disc which hurts it more than is perhaps fair.

The recording features fine performances of all this music in richer acoustics that sometimes make climaxes a bit compressed.  Some purists may also take issue with the flexible tempos but again the intent here is to present these works as concert pieces more than to remain terribly faithful to original film tempi.  The dynamic range is most pronounced in the selections from Psycho.  Serebrier proves to have some feel for these works and shapes the music perhaps more than some might like in the more romantic-tinged selections.  Apart from the quibble with many of the actual selections not being really Golden Age music, one can still enjoy this lengthy concert of great film music played by one of Great Britain’s premiere orchestras.

After a couple week break, it is on to the rush of Holiday releases.  In the past couple of weeks there have been more film score "grails" released than most wallets can ever hope to keep up with as labels trot out some major releases.  Varese Sarabande may have the biggest surprise with its release of John Williams' score for Family Plot--one of the most-requested of the composer's 1970s work.  For some, a new Elfman-Burton box set will be the perfect, and likely only gift!, they'll receive as it comes in around $500 and features a number of previously unreleased cues from Elfman's scores.  LaLa Land also saw some jobs drop with the announcement of their final 2010 releases among which are a complete Star Trek V, Batman Returns, and Home Alone. 

All that said, here are five releases received here that stood out for me in November:

RCA released 6 of Charles Gerhardt's phenomenal film score recordings from the 1970s this fall and of them all, I'm partial to the all-Korngold program The Sea Hawk.  This is some of the most engaging film music from one of the finest 20th century composers.  And this album works quite well.  The collection of Alfred Newman scores on Captain From Castille is also a personal favorite.  But really, if you've never heard any of these releases do your self a favor and pick them all up as the sound is simply fabulous. 

Korngold's Symphony in F# received what may be one of its finest recorded performances to date on a new Pentatone release, reviewed here earlier in November.  Marc Albrecht takes his Strasbourg orchestra to new heights in this well-shaped performance that captures the power of this music even more so I think than Andre Previn did a decade ago on DG.  This fabulous performance is recorded in Hybrid super-audio making it an audiophile's dream.  If you are partial to Mahler or Strauss, this work continues that Austrian symphonic trend coupled with Korngold's brilliant orchestration and engaging melodies.

Another current trend is revisiting film scores that are classic and appeared early in the CD mastering era of the past 10-15 years or so.  This often means going back to the sources and remastering the material again often creating even crisper sound.  Intrada's recent release of Goldsmith's Patton score is one of those stellar releases that re-issues this score on CD from its original sources and then also includes the album release Goldsmith made at the time.  All remastered in amazing sound.  It truly is a highlight of the year for this quintessential score.  Fans can now compare the original soundtrack, Goldsmith's first album recording, and his later Varese rerecording for the first time.

Carl Davis may not be as familiar to most American readers and film music fans, but he has an extensive catalogue of work for the BBC and English films as well as music commissioned to accompany silent films (especially those of Charlie Chaplin).  His private label has been releasing a mix of newer scores along with reissued material over the past year or so.  Carl's War is the latest release in his Carl Davis Collection and it is a gem.  The recordings here all were made earlier this year and focus on music for WWII dramas.  The Czech National Symphony is conducted by the composer in what amount to a series of suites for concert performance.  The disc begins with a concert arrangement of the theme and a march from The World at War.  Additional music includes suites derived from his scores for Goodnight Mr. Tom, Anne Franke Remembered, and Echoes That Remain.  There is also a new longer rhapsody based on music from one of his first film scores, The Snow Goose.  Overall, this is a wonderfully fulfilling hour plus of richly-scored and deeply moving music from one of Britain's finest film composers.

There are five great ways to explore music this month.  It is rather odd that we are heading into the final days of 2010 with very little buzz on Oscar scores.  In 2011, I will most likely have to submit to the cultural shift in music recording and begin including reviews of releases of digitally downloadable-only productions.  Perhaps we'll need to have a "highlights" of those releases instead of individual reviews the way Royal Brown used to overview the latest film scores.  But we'll see what 2011 brings.  Happy listening.