When I first started writing about film music some ten years or more ago, a "compilation" disc generally was one of those pops-like discs featuring the Cincinatti or Boston Pops.  Before that, there was Charles Gerhardt and his RCA Film music classic series.  Six of those discs from Gerhardt's series were released in 2010 and you should not need any more encouragement to go out and buy those or gift them to young music lovers.  It's great to watch eyes open wide upon hearing Korngold's fanfares blaze forward.  So rather than fill my list here with these releases, I have chosen what are essentially non-reissues.

First up is a box set collection, The Cincinnati Kid-Lalo Schifrin Film Scores, Vol 1 (1964-1968) from Film Score Monthly.  This fantastic selection of music covers a variety of the composers MGM scores familiar and less so and includes some of the pop albums Schifrin made in the 1960s.  It's not quite lounge-like but definitely a mix of the cool with the normal scoring with things like 1964's Rhino!

Christopher Gunning first made my ears perk up with his score to the Edith Piaf bio-pic, La Vie En Rose.  His score worked perfectly in that film.  British film and television fans though will be far more familiar with his music and so will the rest of us now that Chandos has released a great 70+ minute collection of his work from TV and film (reviewed here earlier in the year) as part of Rumon Gamba's film music series.  The Film & Television Music of Christopher Gunning makes one look forward to hearing more from this fine composer.

There was a flurry of emails and thanks for my review of Louise DiTullio's wonderful Cambria release, The Hollywood Flute.  These days there are too many review discs and downloads to warrant my reviewing some of the music I actually purchase for my own pleasure.  But when I heard this disc, I had to let others know about it so there were several reviews sent out to my normal places on-line.  This is probably the one disc I played the most last year!

Naxos also released a fun collection of film music on a collection called Movie Brass which features brass quintet versions of film favorites by Jerry Goldsmith, John Williams, David Arnold, and a take on Leonard Bernstein's West Side Story Dances.  It's all good fun and well done.

Silva Screen also released a massive set of 100 Greatest Film Themes-Take 2 which continues there surveys of great film music past and present over the course of 6 full CDs.  It was available for download as well which would give anyone a quick collection of great film music for their iPod!

With a huge host of special limited editions coming out in March, there are plenty of discs to wade through.  Settling on five personal favorites from among the many is a bit hard but here are the "highlights" for me this month.

First up is Chandos' superb new release of Bernard Herrmann's scores for Citizen Kane and Hangover Square.  Reviewed here earlier in the month, this new release makes one of the composer's most noted scores a gorgeous listening experience in fantastic performances under Rumon Gamba's direction.  Chados has a growing collection of fantastic releases in their film score series and this is their latest and a true "best of" that will probably show up on end-of-year lists.

Also striking was a new Naxos disc of choral music by James Whitbourn, Luminosity.  The larger scale piece is quite fascinating and listeners get a chance to hear enough of the composer's style to appreciate how he is able to sustain his seemingly simple textures and harmonic language for large stretches of time.  Check earlier in the month for a fuller review.

Archivmusik.com had a sale on the Albany label earlier in the month which allowed me to fill in some holes in my American Music area.  One of the great discs to be discovered had one of the more obnoxious titles:  The Cool, The Cowboyish, the Coy, the Combustible.  David Alan Miller leads the Albany Symphony Orchestra through four fascinating and fine compositions which kicks off with Morton Gould's rarely heard Cowboy Rhapsody.  It is a great pops piece that certainly deserves more playtime on symphony programs alongside other more familiar-themed works.  It literally explodes the disc open with an overture like quality.  Roy Harris' rarely heard Symphony No. 11:1967 is similar to the one movement structure superbly realized in his Third Symphony but this one is very accessible and clocks in aroudn 20 minutes.  Another delightful little piece is a symphony by Cecil Effinger.  Popular in its own day, the Little Symphony is in some ways a modern day Suite for Strings a la Arthur Foote.  Both great little pieces by the way.  The simplicity of the music does not take away from the fact that it is perhaps far more difficult to play than it sounds.  The disc concludes with a wonderful performance of Douglas Moore's second symphony a hugely engaging work from 1945 already seemingly out of place with the period.  Albany Records sound is simply unbelievably clear and reminds us of the lucky people in New York who have such a great regional orchestra.

Film Score Monthly released a 5-disc collection, a "first volume," of 1960s film music by Lalo Schifrin that is filled with treasures.  First up is one of the composer's early scores, Rhino (1964)--which I actually think I saw as a kid!--, which finds the composer exploring some African-style musical ideas and jungle rhythms.  Score and album presentations of The Cincinnati Kid allow us to hear far more of this score than was previously available.  There are also scores for a couple of spy films: Once a Thief, The Venetian Affair and Sol Madrid.  Of additional interest are some Verve recordings and other singles that FSM throws in that show a bit of Mancini influence in terms of how a film soundtrack album might be put together.  Schifrin's style though is so different from Mancini's that it is humorous to think them writing similar music.  Schifrin's jazz has a more rhythmic edge to Mancini's suave classy lounge style.  Little surprises like a recording of the theme from TV's Medical Center make this a fun collection wetting the appetite for what is to come on a future volume.

Finally, for those looking to give their ears a workout, consider picking up La-La Land's release of Dragonslayer.  This is Alex North's 1981 Oscar-nominated score for one of those fantasy dragon films and it is a an intense, densely-packed orchestral masterpiece with so many intricate, contrapuntal layers to disect that you will have many years to fully pick it apart to hear the many threads he composed here.  There are times when the score feels like a combination of his music for Spartacus with Journey to Fear.  Highly recommended and a limited edition so you might want to pick this one up before it disappears.

The summer blockbusters are already starting to role out in April now so that means potential for many great action film scores--at least in theory.  For the most part though, there are plenty of limited edition film scores and great new classical releases to keep almost anyone's wallet from getting a rest.