Most of July has been filled with week long commitments including a moving mission trip to Queens, NY.  As I tend to fill my office day with music, the two weeks without some music can be a bit overwhelming though not causing too much withdrawal!  The final week of the month allowed a bit of "recovery" and "rest" that was filled with a few musical surprises.  If you are keeping track of the plethora of new film score re-issues from the many private labels you know that you may have to play the lottery just to keep up with so many great releases seeming to come from every side, the biggest being the release of Alex North's Spartacus on a massive package from Varese Sarabande!  This month though the five "great" releases are mostly classical releases and you will see reviews of most over the coming days here on the blog.  Yes, I finally figured out how to delay posts so that I can avoid double posting that buries reviews if I do them all the same day now.

The one film score that stood out this month is Film Score Monthly's 2-disc release of Star Trek III-The Search for Spock.  This comes on the heels of their release of the second ST installment and now allows James Horner fans a chance to hear the musical connections between both scores.  Though not a big Horner fan, his two Star Trek scores were seminal to the establishment of his career as a film composer after his Battle Beyond the Stars.  That score and these Star Trek ones all appeared on the now defunct GNP label so it is likely we may see further of these releases forthcoming from FSM. 

Continuing with film music connections for a moment, we switch to an outstanding new release featuring violinist Matthew Trusler.  This is one of the first times the violin concerto of Miklos Rozsa and Erich Wolfgang Korngold appear to have been paired on a single release and this allows one to hear their distinct musical and concert music approaches in quick succession.  The release is on Orchid Music, Trusler's own label.  The disc brings together these two monumental concerti premiered by the great Jascha Heifetz along with three smaller, and delightful encores.  Trusler's performances are awesome and his orchestral support is perfect.  There are plenty of fine recordings of the Korngold out there and adding this one will give you yet another though without doubling up on warhorse repertoire.

Next up is an alert for a chance to experience some great music by another unfairly neglected composer.  Fans of the MN Orchestra's days under Eiji Oue will be glad to pick up this latest CPO release featuring Music for Left-Hand Piano by Franz Schmidt (reviewed this coming week here).  The CD features two monumental pieces composed for Paul Wittgenstein, a noted pianist who lost his right arm in WWI and commissioned a number of works (Ravel's concerto being the most-played of the lot).  The opening Concertante Variations are an engaging collection of variations running through a bolero, fugato, landler, and more with gorgeous orchestration.  The disc includes a 43-minute piano concerto that is no less engaging.  Easily recommended to fans of Bruckner (though Schmidt's music tends to be a bit more focused and coherent), Strauss, or even Mahler.  Check back this week for a more detailed review.

Two more familiar works on two different CDs round off my best of the month list for July.  Both are by American orchestras at the top of their game.  First up is yet another stunning recording from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's Resound label.  Ein Heldenleben may not be ones first Richard Strauss work to grab off the shelf but Bernard Haitink's vision for this work on this new release may simply be one of the finest captured on disc and is a fitting memento to his final season as the CSO's conductor.  The live recordings also feature a fascinating lesser known Webern orchestral piece that comes before his shift toward serial composition.

Finally, give your audio system a perfect workout with the new Pentatone Classics release of Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique.  The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra shines in this performance conducted by Marek Janowski.  The performance is committed and well-recorded with amazing detail for the many solo instrumental sections and fantastic brass playing that never blares or overwhelms the music.  Check the review for more details.

I suspect that next month will be harder to pick just five releases with the many limited editions that are on their way and a host of great music to yet be discovered.  This month's choices should give everyone plenty to explore in the warm days of summer.

The little vacation at the beginning of the month and dearth of new hard copy releases made for a quiet June here.  A lot of soundtrack labels continue to provide access to digital versions of their releases.  I have not yet decided whether to review those here or not.  The main reason is that often the sound quality can be questionable and in some cases the releases are simply on-line re-issues of hard copy discs. 

That said, there are plenty of limited edition releases to get excited about the past few months and keeping up with them is almost a job in itself.  In case you have not heard yet, Robert Townson at Varese Sarabande celebrated his 1000th release by announcing that the label is releasing Alex North's score for Spartacus.  This is one of many holy grail scores for film music fans whi have had to settle for a meager representation on an old MCA CD.  Varese's new issue is a 6 disc plus DVD extravaganza in a limited pressing of 5000 copies.  One disc features existing stereo score material, two discs present the entire score albeit in mono, then there are extras and a disc entirely devoted to versions of the "Love Theme."  It starts shipping in August so look for that to be an easy "best of" selection if it arrives before that month is out.  No indication on the site if this is selling fast or not yet.

On the new score front there seems to be little to get excited about.  I've heard James Newton Howard's score for The Last Airbender and it feels semi-influenced by Zimmer's synth-score styling (so a lot like their last two Dark Knight collaborations).  Looking forward to hearing Howard Shore's Eclipse but I do suspect it will be much like a Shore suspense score.  Other than that, it feels like a lackluster dumping ground for films this summer.

In the midst of all this, a few choice selections worth looking for in the meantime are provided here.  First up is another limited edition from Varese.  For those of you older readers who remember how ecstatic we were to receive a 2-LP set of Star Wars music and a later hard-to-find CD boxed set of all the music, it must seem hard to believe that something as new as Giacchino's score for Star Trek received a new 2-disc "deluxe" treatment.  The limited edition (5000 copy) set is still claiming around 2000 or so copies available.  The music receives a fine presentation here in one of the composer's most engaging scores.  It gains a lot from hearing it here in what claims to be its entirety.  Some will be irritated at the glossy oversized cardboard presenation of the two discs but once you figure out how to put it in your music library you'll forget about it anyway.  All three of the first Star Trek Movies are now available in expanded editions we await those for IV, V, and VI plus all those Next Generation scores.  The release is available mostly at www.varesesarabande.com in their "Soundtrack Club" collection.  If your wallet is heavy you can grab this and the Spartacus release.

La-La Land released another late 1990's score this month.  This time it is Jerry Goldsmith's The Edge.  If you have not seen this David Mamet penned thriller it makes for a great movie night.  Fine performances from Alec Baldwin and Anthony Hopkins are almost overshadowed by Bart the Bear's rampages--some of the scariest live-action bear footage you will likely see.  Goldsmith's score is superb and the presentation here expands on the Milan release while correcting some clicking issues that appeared on some pressings.  One of the composer's finest nature themes appears in this score along with some great action sequences. 

I picked up a few older releases this month as well.  Among them was John Addison's score for Torn Curtain. 

This appears as "out-of-print" but can be tracked down pretty easily.  Addison's score has a great main theme and

a fun little love theme.  It's a short CD coming from that era when many were still around 40 minutes in length but it

is a score worth having.

I've enjoyed Cliff Eidelman's music since his score for Star Trek VI and wish he could get himself some worthy

scoring projects.  His music for the little seen Steve Martin drama,  A Simple Twist of Fate features a truly

beautiful main theme that helps pull together this subdued score with many gentle moments of beauty.  It was a

welcome respite from the action and adventure music that made up a lot of my listening.  It's probably not one of

his "best" scores but continues to demonstrate that we should hear more from him.  Maybe someday we will when

we get away from all the cut and pasting scoring that seems to be the norm these days.

If you were a kid in the early 1970s (back when the studios had not recognized the marketing niche of children's

films) you likely grew up on re-issues of Don Knotts movies.  My favorite is The Ghost and Mr. Chicken-

always a perennial October film viewed in our home.  The score for that and nearly all of Knotts' comedy films

was by Vic Mizzy.  Mizzy is known mostly for his theme to the original "The Addams Family" series and for

"Green Acres."  By the 1960s he had alrady had a long career with a delightfully developed style of fun

orchestrations.  You can hear many of his scores through the great releases from Percepto.  A little sale helped fill

in my Mizzy collection with a two-score disc featuring music from two other films, one originally intended to be

scored by Henry Mancini.  The scores are for The Caper of the Golden Bulls and The Perils of Pauline. 

Fun melodies, essentially mono-thematic approach to scoring, and bubbly orchestrations with a little Spanish flair

in the first score make this a healthy dose of Mizzy's ability.  One of the great "Silver Age" composers deserving

your attention!

July will probably be a bit spotty for blog entries here so be patient and catch up on some great listening!