Though a little delay between the end of August and today, the month of August, though slim in releases, allowed for some major amazing recordings to be thoroughly enjoyed in the dog days of summer. Private and specialty labels continue to church out wallet-busting releases from composers of the Golden Age of film and of more recent vintage. These selections are easily spread across the choices that stood out in the month of August.
La-La Land Records has continued to surprise film score fans with releases of music that we thought we'd never hear in full (like Arnold's Godzilla score). For those of us who had to wait 10 or 15 years for expanded Star Wars releases it is parodixically unfair and exhilerating to see scores we were just happy to have at all on CD released in expanded versions. First up for the month then was the 2-disc release of Danny Elfman's Batman score. Not only is this a fantastic piece of musical cinema, but historically was important for launching the composer into a new level of film scoring that continues to impress today. La-La Land provides whole new mastering of the original album sequence but kicks off with a complete presentation of the score in its correct order. This music never sounded so great and it reminds you of all the core pieces of Elfman's style that continue to be expanded upon. The score is as much a distinct accompaniment to a Tim Burton film, which the composer usually returns to for the director, but an extension of great orchestral scores with a little mix of Herrmann and Shostakovich.
I owe my appreciation of Bronislau Kaper's music solely to my reviewing for Film Score Monthly. Apart from a few selections from Mutiny on the Bounty I had not paid much attention to the music of this Golden Age composer. And like many film music fans, one's knowledge or appreciation of the composers comes from their experience of the films themselves. You cannot appreciate a film score composer if you never really grew up with the films they wrote for or managed to see any of them. Kaper's scores were written for good films but many of them are dramatic features that most of us from a post-1960s generation would rarely see. FSM released what promises to be a series with its Bronislau Kaper at M-G-M (1954-1962) set. The three CDs contain music from the last films the composer provided music for and each are fascinating pieces of film scoring. The dramatic underscoring throughout is still different from say Alfred Newman, but bares some resemblance to that style. Kaper's melodic gifts are quite assured and the music hear is always engaging. The highlight, and most familiar of the films represented here is Butterfield 8. But music for The Power and the Prize (1958) is also impressive. The other scores represented here are Her 12 Men (1954), Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956), Ada (1961) and Two Loves (1961).
The last release, and practically everything else special or otherwise that was announced in August, simply paled next to Varese Sarabande's massive special edition of SPARTACUS. Alex North's classic score finally receives the attention it deserves after languishing on a minimal CD presentation that barely scratched the surface of this fabulous score. The set contains the score portions available in stereo and then the complete score in mono. Additional alternatives are also part of the earlier collection of music here. The sound is simply remarkable with such attention to detail that one marvels at the clarity of such dense orchestral textures. This is music not just to be heard but to be experienced. Finally we can hear how North introduces the famous love theme into the score and how he leaves out high strings until far into the score itself focusing on woodwind and brass textures. Also included in this package are 2 discs that feature various approaches and variations to the love theme itself. This might seem like overkill but Robert Townson has selected both classic approaches that stretch back to Bill Evans and Carlos Santana up to modern day arrangements from Dave Grusin to Alexandre Desplat and Mark Isham. Perhaps far more enjoyable than anyone could have imagined, the discs make for remarkably engaging listening. A 90-minute DVD features conversations with a number of composers discussing Alex North, the importance of Spartacus, and film composing in general. It is the sort of resource that people teaching film and film music need to have at their fingertips as it is instructional in so many ways. I'm still trying to digest some of the comments made by the composers including the intense desire to find ways to get North's music accessible to a larger public. John Williams discusses at one point how hard it was to get North to re-orchestrate his music so that regular symphony orchestras could play it as the demands of the scores was beyond the economics of most ensembles. Williams has recently created some performance editions of North's score which some might find disturbing but the intent is an honorable one. However, I found the discussion fascinating because no one would think to rewrite Mahler's music to be affordable to play. Ah, the days we are in for orchestral performance. The price tag on this set is large (thanks to a birthday I received this as the true gift it is!) but worth every penny.
Intrada is another label that is causing much pain in people's pocket books as every two weeks we see scores that we never thought would be available in our lifetimes. Spacecamp was a 1986 film whose release was dampened by the Challenger disaster. The score, by John Williams, is a mixture of Americana and soaring musical themes that lands right in the middle of a period that saw the composer's style somewhat in flux while he focused energy on his duties with the Boston Pops and a musical for Spielberg that never developed (it became the film Hook instead). All the troubles aside, the release of Spacecamp filled a gaping hole in Williams discography for fans of his music. Nearly all of the composer's scores are now, or have been, available.. The earliest needing a full release is now 1976's Family Plot. There are still a number of scores from the 1960s that are unreleased and some from the early 1970s as well, but we fans can now listen through the development of his style quite easily. Supposedly Leonard Slatkin is in the process of recording Williams' concertos and with any luck will include some of the smaller orchestral pieces composed in the 1980s and 1990s to fill in those releases (though my guess is they will sound much like Americana pop orchestral music familiar in Liberty Fanfare and Hymn to New England). Intrada presents the release as it initially appeared on an import CD in great sound. The notes provide a suggested film order sequencing to program for listening which is worth doing once you've listened through the album. This is a reminder of what it means to put an album together for listening but also how composer's build the emotional content of their score within the context of the film. A great example of how playing a disc in film order will enhance it's musical content is best done with A.I. which is far more powerful when sequenced in film order.
Finally, it is no surprise to find that I am a sucker for the orchestral film compilation album. This was how much of this music was introduced to me growing up anyway. Silva Screen tends to provide the perfect combination of film music in great sound so often and their releases make it easy to grab an eclectic set of film favorites for car drives. They do tend to re-issue and repackage a lot of their music but 100 Greatest Film Themes - Take 2 contained a great number of musical selections not appearing in other guises of music currently in my collection. I think that may be due to some of the selections on this set being available only in the UK, but there are a number of new recordings featuring conductor James Fitzpatrick as well. The set is organized over 6 discs arranged chronologically from 1941-2009. The intent is not to be inclusive of "great themes" because the label has released a couple of these in 4-disc versions over the years. So there are many things missing and some things included which make no sense. Personal favorites and highlights include: Ron Goodwin's Miss Marple Theme (disc 1); the "Waltz" from Murder on the Orient Express (Disc 2); Shire's theme from The Conversation (Disc 2); a suite of music from Blazing Saddles (Disc 2); music from Grusin's On Golden Pond (Disc 3); suite from Goldsmith's Gremlins conducted by the composer (Disc 3); the finale from The Color Purple (Disc 3); music from Grusin's The Goonies (Disc 3); "End Credits" from Miller's Crossing (Disc 4); the waltz from Amelie (Disc 5); music from Finding Neverland (Disc 5); the main titles from Fantastic Four (Disc 6); music from Valkyrie (Disc 6); a selection from Giacchino's Star Trek and his "Roar" overture for Cloverfield (Disc 6); and "War" from Avatar (Disc 6). For every interesting selection that is included by composer's often never represented on compilations the most striking thing is how little music there is of favorites like Barry, Goldsmith, and Williams. The Golden Age, well-represented on earlier similar Silva compilations, is quite absent from this collection. Performances are all top-notch from the top drawer of the recordings made by the label over the last decade or so.
That's a lot of great music for one month! The Spartacus limited edition is still around for those willing to plunk down their chunk of change. Overall, it was a great mixture of film's greatest music that made its way to the top of the pile often.
September should see a number of new releases of Oscar-hopefuls, or troubled films, coming to the forefront now and still more great limited edition releases.
1. Batman (Elfman) LLL
3. Butterfield 8: Bronislau Kaper at MGM FSM
5. Spartacus (North) Var. Sar.
6. Spacecamp (Williams) Intrada
8. 100 Greatest Film Themes—Take 2 Silva
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