February was a bit of a busy month as labels begin to pick up after the holiday lull.  It is also a chance to catch up on a few releases overlooked by myself over the past few months.  The five highlights this month are mostly film scores with one standout classical release.

I'll start with the classical release since it is truly worthy of mention again here.  Leonard Slatkin's new recording of Rachmaninov's Symphony No. 2 is perhaps one of the finest interpretations put down on disc.  The Detroit Symphony is really at the top of their game and this bodes well for a bunch of releases supposedly on their way from Slatkin and the DSO on Naxos.  In many ways superior to his earlier recording in St. Louis--which is also one of those essential recordings--the detail of the recording here allows listeners to hear the amazing balance of the orchestra throughout what was evidently a live recording.  This is the most accessible of the Rachmaniov symphonies and worthy of anyone's music library.

Next are three 2009 scores that have much to recommend them.  First up is Barsotti's score for Die Papstin (Pope Joan) a German film that will probably need to be caught on video here in the states.  Barsotti's score tends toward more Baroque and Romantic underscore with some chant (the story occurs in the Middle Ages).  The thematic writing is really engaging and there is a lot of fine music in the 68+ minutes of material found on this Konigskinder import.  Most interesting is how the chant material finds its way into the orchestral textures.

I finally had a chance to hear Gabriel Yared's score for Amelia and it was a wonderful surprise with a strong main theme that is among the composer's finest.  This is a richly romantic score in many ways with a couple of action tracks.  It's the Amelia's theme though that makes this cd a charm from beginning to end and will have many listening to this for some time to come.

The same can be said for Alexandre Desplat's Cheri which contains one of his best thematic waltzes.  If you are fond of Ravel and early 20th century French music you will likely fall in love with this gorgeous score.  With all the music I review and listen to daily and weekly, I had to finally put this one away.  It has been a long time since I've listened to a single score as many times in a row as I did for this one.  This is highly worth your time.

Finally, Film Score Monthly rewarded John Williams fans with the first ever release of the composer's score for Black Sunday.  This was the last "new" Williams score pre-Star Wars fame and there are plenty of times in this score where one can hear indications of the final battle sequence from Star Wars.  But the surprise for many will be how this score hovers right on the edge of genius and standard dramatic scoring of the 1970s.  One wonders what a commercial LP might have done to fill out themes more (as the composer had a tendency of doing with his previous disaster scores).  As a 10,000 "limited" edition release most everyone who wants to hear and own this CD will get the chance to do so.  That's quite a gift with the way some labels seem to be keeping their inventory low by only printing 1000-2000 copies. 

This week music fans get a chance to decide how thin their wallets will get when Varese announces their latest club limited editions Monday followed on Tuesday by another set of Intrada limited releases.  Also out from Chandos is a new Bernard Herrmann release that will likely continue the great sonic spectaculars of classic film music from that label.  But you can't go wrong with any of these 5 releases recommended for this month!

June flew by with a number of great limited editions announced from Intrada, La-La Land, BSX, and even Varese.  Funny that new score releases just feel underwhelming at a time when we should just be getting really excited.  Here then are 5 releases which stood out a bit from a fairly large crowd this month.

The first of these was a surprising romantic score by Angelo Badalementi, The Edge of Love.  The score features a nice mixture of the composer's atmospheric style coupled with noir-ish and jazzy ballad sounds.  A few original songs also standout amidst the other period songs on this disc from Universal.

A surprisingly fun score from BSX was Mike Vickers music for Hammers updated Dracula franchise, Dracula A.D. 1972.  The mix of 1970s funky sounds with some classic Hammer horror and rock sounds of the 1970s all make for a delightful listen that turns out to work very well on CD.

I finally managed to acquire Film Score Monthly's re-issue and expansion of Goldsmith's Twilight Zone-The Movie.  This is easily a "Best of the Month" recommendation at any time allowing us to hear more of the score, recast in its orignial sequences.  It also manages to repeat the original LP release (issued on a hard-to-find CD).  The sound is amazing and regardless of which part of the film you like the most, there is much to admire here.  The disc is maxed out in its playing time making it one of FSM's best releases.

Tribute Film Classics continues to astonish and amaze with its scholarship and restoration releases.  This is no less true with their latest release of Korngold's The Prince and the Pauper.  I've reviewed this earlier in the month so refer you back to that entry for more reasons why this is simply worth adding to your listening library.

Finally, another FSM release, None But the Brave, allows us to hear an early John Williams dramatic score.  This Sinatra helmed project makes for an interesting viewing these days and the score is scarcely spotted though no less effective.  Strong thematic writing hints at later martial writing by the composer and there is some additional Asian-tinged material that would have an influence in his Flute Concerto written later in the decade.  Beautiful sound and a complete release of the score material with some fun bonuses make this a must have for completists and fans of the film.

21.  None But the Brave (Williams)                                                                           FSM