I can't remember a July when there were so many "special" or "limited edition" releases available.  Some of them seemed less "special" but along the way there were some fun surprises.  So for the month of July here are a few "highlights" that passed through here.

Any Mancini score on CD is an event to say the least.  Film Score Monthly, which has released Mancini's Bachelor in Paradise along with a John Williams score (Penelope), this month announced the release of his superb dark thriller score Wait Until Dark.  The score features a piano tuned off a quarter-tone played against a piano tuned traditionally.  The effect is offsetting to say the least.  It's worth checking out if you are a fan of thriller music and a rare chance to hear Mancini in his lesser known dramatic form.

The High and the Mighty: A Century of Flight came out a couple of years ago.  Varese some how acquired this Koch recording that features master pops film conductor Richard Kaufman with the London Symphony Orchestra.  You cannot find a better mixture of old and new film music in stellar sound and with great performances.  Walton's "Prelude" and "Fugue" (presented as separate tracks here) from Spitfire is just on of many highlights.  There is music from The Last Starfighter, The Boy Who Could Fly, and even some music from Ron Goodwin (633 Squadron, Those Amazing Young Men in their Flying Machines).  It is a rich recording with some familiar themes ("Flying" from E.T. for example) along with a lot of familiar films represented by cues that are new to disc.  This is a fabulous release.

Already reviewed earlier this month, David Arnold's score for Godzilla was well worth the wait.  This 2-disc presentation of the complete score from La-La Land Records is a fun big blockbuster score in a summer when the ones we thought would be great have been mostly miss.  At last count they were down to the last 1000 or so copies. 

Also from La-La Land is a new Dominic Frontiere disc.  This one features music from a late-60s Western, Hang 'Em High coupled with the score for a Christopher Reeve adventure film, The Aviator (1985).  The former takes the sound of Morricone's Spaghetti Western style and tempers it a bit for a more mainstream Americana sound.  The latter is kind of like a Howard Hanson theme and variations big Romantic sound.  It's a great score filled with plenty to remind you that Frontiere is one of those undeservedly neglected film score composers.  I would also have passed on this one so was glad to have recieved this for review.

It's already halfway through the year and I can think of only 2 film scores that have really been impressive.  The first was David Shire's work on Zodiac.  The second is about 180 degrees in the opposite direction, Giacchino's Ratatouille.  This time out, Giacchino takes us on a Gallic musical journey that is filled with delightful gestures and a wonderful theme.  The flight through the sewer sequence features an amazing flute solo of virtuoso proportions that is some of the best writing heard in a long time.  It's still pretty early in Giacchino's career for him to break out uniquely with a style we can begin to identify as his own.  So far it feels very chameleon-like but perhaps in the future we will discern his fingerprints.  (I'm always reminded how much early Williams sounds like Mancini.) 

Finally, for classical music fans, there is a wonderful new recording of music by Tchaikovsky.  Now, I'm the first to tell you that we probably don't need another recording of the Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture (currently well over 150 recordings) but this one EMI by Antonio Pappano is really superb.  The disc includes Francesca da Rimini in a recording that makes the piece sound like music.  It is beautifully shaped and gorgeously recorded.  There is even another recording of the 1812 Overture.  But this time, Pappano chooses to use a version similar to the work's premiere.  The opening is quite striking as it is performed by chorus.  The choral parts included in this version give the work a whole different feel and make this warhorse sound like music.  Further creating the surprise is the fact that this is a live recording and it is with an Italian orchestra.  No wonder, perhaps, the lyricism of this music really sings here.  I would not throw away my other favorites of these pieces, but it's a great disc.

Tchaikovsky: Overtures & Fantasies         EMI

Godzilla (Arnold)        LLL

Hang Em High/The Aviator (Frontierre)     LLL

Ratatouille (Giacchino)        WD

Today marks the birthday of Hungarian born conductor Antal Dorati (1906-1988).  Classical music fans from mid-century on have Dorati to thank for a number of things both on recordings and in concert venues.  I'll start just with his work as a conductor here in this country.  For starters, Dallas has Dorati to thank for the fact that they even have an orchestra.  It was here that the conductor began his first American directorship in 1945 practically building the orchestra from nothing.  In 1949, he moved on to Minneapolis to assume the directorship of the then Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra.  This would prove to be a very fruitful eleven years kicking off in the first year with the premiere of Tibor Serly's completion of Bartok's Viola Concerto.  The orchestra would also enter into a contract with Mercury records for a series of classic recordings under the "Living Presence" label.

The 1960s found Dorati mostly in the recording studio and in conducting gigs in Europe.  He would return to essentially save the National Symphony Orchestra from bankruptcy over a seven year period begun in 1970.  In 1977 he moved on to Detroit building that orchestra into a world class ensemble.

All along the way, Dorati continued to leave behind a legacy of great recordings, specializing in music of Kodaly, Bartok, and Haydn.  It was Dorati who was the first to record all the symphonies of Haydn for London/Decca which to this day are the standards upon which any recording of these works is held.  He also was the first to record Delibes ballet, Coppelia, in stereo.  His recordings of Tchaikovsky's ballets, especially The Nutcracker, are simply the finest on disc.

On top of all this, Dorati was also a composer with several works for large orchestra (two symphonies recorded for the BIS label).  Dorati's performances are essential for most serious classical music collections and because the recordings for Mercury were cutting edge for their time they turn out to stand by even the more recent releases.  Here are a few to get you started as many of the Mercury discs have gone in and out of print.