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Posted: |
Jul 6, 2014 - 7:49 PM
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By: |
SchiffyM
(Member)
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At the very least it could have featured a "big" score or two tops (in suite form of course), and then filled out the rest with ones that haven't been re-recorded a zillion times.
"friedhofer" has already offered his own answer, so there's no point in me adding to it. But when has that ever stopped me?
What I find surprising is the notion that a "big" score will sell a film music compilation to some imagined masses, and thus the more obscure stuff that might appeal to us can come along for the ride. Like people who don't care about film music are going to say "Music from 'Psycho'? I don't care what else is on here, I'm in!" If they're interested at all (a big if), that suite or two or three won't be enough for most.
There's an assumption here that these "general interest" labels would be wise to adopt a "something for the masses, something for us" approach, and somehow get both audiences. In general, I don't think that's a way to sell CDs. They have a shot at selling this CD to people who read the entire track list and think "This seems like a good overview." I don't think music from "Stage Fright" or "Under Capricorn" or "Saboteur" could easily replace "North by Northwest" or "Rebecca" and the average CD buyer would be so blinded by "Vertigo" that they'd be just fine with it.
(Incidentally, I own three recordings of "The Paradine Case.")
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(Incidentally, I own three recordings of "The Paradine Case.")
And as with classical pieces, these scores (or their excerpts) are strong enough to support multiple recordings. For instance, I own five different recordings of parts of FAHRENHEIT 451 and none of them are superfluous.
I too would love to see of some of the neglected Hitchcock scores recorded, but if these recordings help propagate (and perpetuate) film music classics, then I'm on board.
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Thanks Friedhofer for the excellent answer. Of course the programming makes more sense when one takes into account that this was a live concert program and they had to bring people into the seats. The concert-going public has more limited tastes than the CD-buying public, judging from what regularly gets performed in classical concerts vs. what classical CDs are coming out regularly.
I still think one or two rarities could have been included without sacrificing sales and would have made the concert more intresting. Many people consider Notorious Hitchcock's best film (I may be one of them) and Roy Webb's score is wonderful in that. And the brief but wonderful contribution of your namesake to Hitch's Lifeboat would have been a really cool inclusion, don't you think?
Still, I'm glad a CD was made of the concert and I hope it sells very well!
Yavar
P.S. to Schiffy: it is common practice in planning classical concerts to pair something well known and popular with something a little more obscure. That way they get something that appeals to the masses and something that appeals to people who don't want to hear yet another Beethoven 5th. For example, I went to the Houston Symphony a couple years ago. I got my wife to go with me because they were playing Beethoven's 5th symphony, but what it was paired with was Rautavaara's new Percussion Concerto, which is what I really wanted to hear. The great thing is that while the audience clearly loved the Beethoven and was iffy about the Rautavaara, my wife ended up not caring about the Beethoven and the Rautavaara became one of her favorite concert hall works. (It was truly magnificent.)
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The tempo is too slow I'm afraid...
I rather like this track taken at a leisurely tempo. There are so many recordings of Scene d'Amour now that you can get it any way you'd like it.
The engineering seems good, too. I am quite interested in hearing the rest of the album.
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Posted: |
Aug 15, 2014 - 4:14 PM
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By: |
Jim Doherty
(Member)
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Well, it’s pretty much as I feared… the same old stuff. It’s conducted well enough, but the orchestra and recording techniques are not spectacular. You can easily find better performances of almost everything on this CD elsewhere. And don’t be fooled by the asterisks noting, “First recording in this version.” What this usually means is that Mauceri cut out a few bars here and there. For instance, in THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH Concert Overture (otherwise known as the Main Title), the only real difference is that Mauceri cuts off those last few bars (not heard in the film) that are found on the Bateman/Silva and Salonen/Sony recordings.
You can get a longer suite of STRANGERS ON A TRAIN, with more enthusiastic playing, on the old Ketchum/Varese CD; the REBECCA suite is passable, but does not hold a candle to the sumptuous Gerhardt/RCA recording.
The Bernard Herrmann selections are all pretty mundane. Once again, there is nothing here we haven’t heard before, and in much better recordings. The VERTIGO Prelude lacks the necessary bite at the proper moments, and the Scene d’amour lacks that feeling of yearning heard in Herrmann’s own Phase Four recording, and some others as well. The build-up to the climax sounds mechanical instead of emotional. Plus, due to the miking, many moments of the orchestration are lost in the clutter. The NORTH BY NORTHWEST Main Title fares much better. You can hear the details more clearly, and the performance is charged with energy. This is one of the two highlights on this CD.
The PSYCHO suite… once again, there are many more-inspired, jagged-edged performances elsewhere; this one really has nothing to recommend it above any other recordings out there.
Aside from the NORTH BY NORTHWEST selection mentioned above, the only other cut that stood out to me was Arthur Benjamin’s “Storm Clouds” cantata, adapted by Bernard Herrmann for the 1956 version of THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH. This new recording certainly hold its own against the fine Elmer Bernstein or Rumon Gambla renditions of this piece. On this new Mauceri recording, many details assert themselves and lead to a new appreciation of the piece.
What struck me most about this CD was that Franz Waxman’s score for REAR WINDOW should really be released in full. The four selections on this Mauceri CD will give you a vague idea of the flavor of the score, but if you want a better understanding of the score, I would suggest hearing the selections on the 1990 Pro Ate CD, “HITCHCOCK: MASTER OF MAYHEM,” conducted by Lalo Schifrin. He has a much better grasp of the jazz elements of the score.
There are now six tracks out there from REAR WINDOW. This current release has PRELUDE, LISA-INTERMEZZO, BALLET, and LISA-FINALE. The Schifrin/ProArte CD has PRELUDE, RHUMBA, BALLET, and FINALE. A Hip-O CD from 1999, “Alfred Hitchcock Presents Signatures in Suspense” (HIPD 64661) contained a cue from the original 1954 tracks, called JUKE BOX #6.
So. between these releases, we have PRELUDE. RHUMBA, LISA-INTERMEZZO, BALLET, JUKE BOX #6, BALLET. and LISA-FINALE.
I feel lucky we have that much, but I would like to see the complete original tracks come out one day.
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