OK, so I'm a huge film score fan, and being a child of the 80's, I tend to enjoy the more modern stuff, yes, even Hans Zimmer. But I'm wanting to get into the golden age now and I don't know where to start. Actually, I don't even know if Golden age is the right term, I only have a few pre-80's scores and it's the ones you'd expect: Star Wars, Superman, and Jaws. So I guess pre-80's stuff?
I prefer re-recordings (if done well) to old-sounding originals, but originals are OK if that's the only option and it's a fantastic score. What suggestions would you have for somebody who's looking to get their feet wet with the golden age? (Or the Pre-80's age)
What a great idea for a topic - and I'm totally in the same boat!
A good start might be the Charles Gerhardt series of re-recordings, which were remastered and released on CD/streaming a couple years ago. I bought all of them (despite not having seen most of the movies), and the Rozsa might be my favorite.
And you can't go wrong with scores from Alfred Hitchcock films. My favorite is Bernard Herrmann's North by Northwest, which Intrada released earlier this year.
My Dad introduced me to the big orchestral scores of Herrmann (The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, some Hitchcock), Rozsa (Ben-Hur, King Of Kings, El Cid and Golden Voyage of Sinbad) and Elmer Bernstein (The Ten Commandments and his westerns). Waxman, Alfred Newman, Friedhofer are a composers I do not listen to, to me it is too bland. I like the big orchestral scores.
Alfred Newman's HOW THE WEST WAS WON, Franz Waxman's TARAS BULBA and Max Steiner's ROME ADVENTURE are the ones that got me started. The middle one needs the re-recording, HOW THE WEST WAS WON definitely the original tracks only.
Some other good-sounding scores from Golden age composers that I find myself constantly playing:
The Alamo (Dimitri Tiomkin) The Adventures of Robin Hood [any of the re-recordings] (Erich Wolfgang Korngold) Airport (Alfred Newman) Around the World In 80 Days (Victor Young)
Korngolds THE SEA HAWK namely the Varese re-rec...worked for me in the 80's. Also some Herrmann maybe North by Northwest. Have fun its a great era to discover! !!
For good compilations of gold and silver try Stanley Black "Film Spectacular" series. Unfortunately their hard to find on CD and some have been re-branded from vinyl to CD. But they exist.
you should really get this one. Nearly perfect introduction to some of Alfred Newman's finest. There is also great series on Chandos - featuring some lesser known composers as well as some bigger ones - including some more "modern" ones - Ron Goodwin and John Addison's discs are just fantastic. I still need to get Chandos's Sea Hawk and their Herrmann CDs... but those are safe bet.
at least a few scores that are must haves - as a child of 80s, probably much easier will be to start with some re-recordings that allow to enjoy these masterpieces in the best possible quality:
- Sea hawk (Tribute Film Classics - or Chandos) - Adventures of Robin Hood (Marco Polo) - King Kong (Marco Polo - for now) - Charge of the Light Brigate (Tribute) - Adventures of Don Juan (Tribute) - She (Tribute) - Vertigo (Varese) - Psycho (Varese) - Fahrenheit 451 (Tribute) - El Cid (Tadlow) - Spellbound (Intrada) - Quo Vadis (Prometheus) - Taras Bulba (Tadlow) - Legends of Hollywood - Waxman - all 4 volumes (Varese) - Rebecca (either Varese or Marco Polo) - Fall of the Roman Empire (Prometheus) - The Alamo (Prometheus) - Exodus (Tadlow)
here is a few others available as original recordings, but with excellent quality (at least as far as I remember): - Summer Place (BYU) - John Paul Jones (FSM) - How the West Was Won (Rhino?) - Ben Hur (FSM or Rhino 2CD) - 55 Days at Peking (LLL) - The Egyptian (Varese Club or Marco Polo re-recording) - The Robe (LLL) - The Agony and the Ecstasy (Varese Club or Goldsmith's re-recording)
My feeling is that you have to watch the great golden age films first because the music is part of a bigger experience. Most of the old timers here became acquainted with this music by growing up with these films. Certainly much of this music can stand on it's own but you wouldn't fully appreciate it without knowing the context. It will also be good for you in a cultural sense to know what before. Just like the way we still read classic litterateur and old plays.
You could start with directors like John Ford, Howard Hawks, Frank Capra, Alfred Hitchcock etc. Then the classic golden age films and different sounds of the major studios. This way you can find your own favorites.
I will leave it up to others to make lists for you. My only point is that you should approach the music the way it was meant to be heard first instead of a random sampling of someone else's favorites.
I have also more or less just started adding Golden Age scores to my collection and the door opener for me definitely was Tadlow and their rousing re-recording of Franz Waxman's TARAS BULBA. This went straight into my soundtrack Top Ten. What a score... I'm not sure if this one "qualifies" as a Golden Age score but I guess Waxman definitely is a Golden Age composer.
It's possibly the same with Bronislau Kaper's MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY. FSM's 3CD set is a total winner. Absolutely marvelous music, great presentation.
BEN-HUR has always been a favorite so I bought Tadlow's EL CID and love it. Still have to get QUO VADIS and Intrada's THE RED HOUSE is on my wishlist as well. After that I will definitely look for some more Rózsa. I also plan to get Tadlow's THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE which would be my first Tiomkin.
At the moment I have two scores on heavy (!) rotation: Erich Wolfgang Korngold's THE PRINCE AND THE PAUPER and Max Steiner's ADVENTURES OF DON JUAN. I cannot describe how much I enjoy these... and the overall packages from Tribute Film Classics. Perfect. Their Herrmann twofer THE KENTUCKIAN / WILLIAMSBURG will be one of my next purchases.
General Kael, maybe just click through those websites, listen to the samples and see what moves you:
For beginners, I suggest trying out some compilations and going from there. Of course, there will be composers that you will not connect with. I've never really connected with Korngold's music, but you'll never know what you will like. Here are some really good compilations:
Miklós Rósza: Ben Hur, The Essential Miklós Rósza Collection
Bernard Herrmann: Film Scores (Elmer Bernstein)
Victor Young: Shane, A Tribute To Victor Young
How The West Was Won, Classic Western Film Scores I or (Round Up)
For score recommendations, the pre-1980's list might become overwhelming, especially when you start to look at Silver Age composers like John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith, and Ennio Morricone.
For Golden Age re-recordings, there's ton's of great stuff out there like:
My Dad introduced me to the big orchestral scores of Herrmann (The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, some Hitchcock), Rozsa (Ben-Hur, King Of Kings, El Cid and Golden Voyage of Sinbad) and Elmer Bernstein (The Ten Commandments and his westerns).
Glad to hear you like those excellent composers, Kim...
Waxman, Alfred Newman, Friedhofer are a composers I do not listen to, to me it is too bland. I like the big orchestral scores.
Morricone already covered a Newman "big orchestral score" with How the West Was Won. Not sure how anyone could possibly call that bland. Here are a few others for you to try out for free, from my favorite Alfred Newman score (and favorite Golden Age score), Captain from Castile:
Best action track, De Vargas Family Escape:
New performance at USC of the Conquest march (which weirdly became their football fight song):
My feeling is that you have to watch the great golden age films first because the music is part of a bigger experience. Most of the old timers here became acquainted with this music by growing up with these films. Certainly much of this music can stand on it's own but you wouldn't fully appreciate it without knowing the context. It will also be good for you in a cultural sense to know what before. Just like the way we still read classic litterateur and old plays.
You could start with directors like John Ford, Howard Hawks, Frank Capra, Alfred Hitchcock etc. Then the classic golden age films and different sounds of the major studios. This way you can find your own favorites.
I will leave it up to others to make lists for you. My only point is that you should approach the music the way it was meant to be heard first instead of a random sampling of someone else's favorites.
My feeling is that you have to watch the great golden age films first because the music is part of a bigger experience. Most of the old timers here became acquainted with this music by growing up with these films. Certainly much of this music can stand on it's own but you wouldn't fully appreciate it without knowing the context. It will also be good for you in a cultural sense to know what before. Just like the way we still read classic litterateur and old plays.
You could start with directors like John Ford, Howard Hawks, Frank Capra, Alfred Hitchcock etc. Then the classic golden age films and different sounds of the major studios. This way you can find your own favorites.
I will leave it up to others to make lists for you. My only point is that you should approach the music the way it was meant to be heard first instead of a random sampling of someone else's favorites.
Absolutely agree with this. In fact I wish I'd written it!
I will leave it up to others to make lists for you. My only point is that you should approach the music the way it was meant to be heard first instead of a random sampling of someone else's favorites.
A truly valid point, but I'm simply not as interested in viewing golden age films as I am in listening to their film scores. Mainly because I can explore new film scores while I do other productive things. To try and take on an entirely new "age" of movies would require too much dedicated time.
But what a treasure trove of suggestions I've received so far. I will digest each and every suggestion listed here, but so far I've fallen in love with How The West Was Won and Tadlow's El Cid. How did I get so far into film music while completely neglecting such gems? Keep the golden-age suggestions coming. It turns out that one man's treasure is... another man's treasure!
