Prince of Foxes CD

News flash by Lukas Kendall

Our second Golden Age Classics CD is now here, and it's an Alfred Newman score that has been desired by film music collectors for 50 years -- Prince of Foxes.

If Erich Wolfgang Korngold served as the supreme musical accompanist to Errol Flynn's swashbucklers at Warner Bros., Alfred Newman performed the same duties, and with equal zeal and skill, for the dashing Tyrone Power costume epics at 20th Century-Fox. Throughout the 1940s, Newman scored The Mark of Zorro, Son of Fury, The Black Swan, Prince of Foxes and Captain from Castile. And yet, except for Captain from Castile, these soaring, colorful scores from Fox's chief composer have been largely neglected.

In this second Golden Age Classics release from Film Score Monthly, that half-century of neglect is at last being addressed with the release of all surviving tracks from Prince of Foxes, and in bracing stereophonic sound. Regarded by many as Newman's masterpiece at Fox (acclaim for The Song of Bernadette and Captain from Castile notwithstanding) and long requested from the Fox archives, Prince of Foxes harks back to his epic score The Hunchback of Notre Dame, capturing the dawn of learning and spiritual renewal symbolized by the Renaissance, yet at the same time conjuring up the evil inherent in all tyrants.

Concerning a young soldier-of-fortune (Power) who joins up with black-hearted Cesare Borgia (Orson Welles) to do his wicked misdeeds, only to succumb to love and honor along the way, Prince of Foxes proved to be one of the studio's less successful box-office efforts in post-war America. And yet, there is much to recommend, including Newman's unusually visceral score, boasting a spirited heroic theme for the artist-turned-adventurer which the composer cleverly dissects in order to show the impulses and dilemmas churning within him. In addition, this often darkly atmospheric original soundtrack include several minutes of music trimmed from the film and heard here for the first time.

In addition to rare stills from Fox archives, Bill Whitaker's liner notes include a history of the film, a look at Newman's role overseeing Fox's remarkable music department, an analysis of the score and a definitive explanation of how stereo tracks for this and other Fox soundtracks came to be in the 1940s.

$19.95 plus shipping

Prince of Foxes

1. Prelude (1:33). 2. Romance on the Gondola (0:39). 3. Ferrara (0:29). 4. Royal Court (1:26). 5. Madonna (4:41). 6. Onward March (0:53). 7. The Chapel (1:22). 8. The Fortress (1:13). 9. Death Plot (1:05). 10. The Painting (2:18).

11. Madonna's Portrait (1:30). 12. Festival of Spring (1:57). 13. Attempted Assassination (1:06). 14. Into Battle (4:27). 15. Death of His Excellence (0:45). 16. The Truce (3:36). 17. The Duke's Offer (1:59). 18. The Duke's Entrance (0:48). 19. The Banquet (1:08). 20. Of Peasant Birth (3:13).

21. Madonna Imprisoned (1:35). 22. The Rescue (4:38). 23. Finale (1:11). 24. Song of Venice (2:34).

total time: 46:39

Album Produced by Nick Redman & Rick Victor

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Our CD of Prince of Foxes is still at manufacturing as of this writing but we expect to ship the discs around August 1st.

Regarding our CD of Monte Walsh, believe it or not, but that disc is also still at manufacturing. We expect to ship also the first week of August. Thank you so much for your patience.

Subscribers to our "Classics Charter Club" series who have asked for Golden Age Classics -- your disc will be shipped first! Go here for more info on our Club if you want to sign up.

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