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Not a collection, but the Razor's edge (Screen archives pressing) is a great score with a lot of source music and great cues and almost sounds like a collection in itself. A huge quality cd.
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As far as Newman compilations, there's this one: http://www4.screenarchives.com/title_detail.cfm/ID/14224/WUTHERING-HEIGHTS-A-TRIBUTE-TO-ALFRED-NEWMAN/ Mind you, I do not have this album and can not pass judgement on it, though Newman is one of those composers where I much prefer original recordings to re-recordings. However, I will say that I have heard the Prince of Foxes suite on that album online (definitely recommend the FSM release of that one if you don't already have it) and can say it's pretty decent.
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Posted: |
May 16, 2017 - 5:54 AM
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By: |
Jim Doherty
(Member)
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The Silva Screen collection: A nice line-up of cues, but the performances are rather lackluster. The Koch recording by Richard Kaufman (now reissued on another label), WUTHERING HEIGHTS, A TRIBUTE TO ALFRED NEWMAN is quite good, especially the PRINCE OF FOXES suite. The only disappointment is THE PRISONER OF ZENDA suite, as Christopher Palmer's arrangements cheapen the overall feel of the score and rob the finale of its original, breathtaking impact. The "back in the day" recordings you mentioned were available on a Varese CD Club limited edition CD back in 1992 (THE FILM MUSIC OF ALFRED NEWMAN, VCL 9201.11). This is an EXCELLENT collection of cues from Newman scores, conducted by Newman himself back in the late 1940s and early 1950s for various releases on the Mercury label. It has a total of 15 tracks, including six selections from CAPTAIN FROM CASTILE. The performances are excellent. The only drawback is that Varese drenched the original mono recordings in a ton of artificial reverb. I have all of the original Mercury recordings on LP (and even 78s!), and the "in-your-face" impact of those mono originals blows away the emasculated sound of the Varese CD. Putting aside my opinion of the sound quality, I repeat that this is a great collection. If you can find one at a reasonable price, by all means, get it. Contents of the Varese CD: 1-6 Captain from Castile 7. All About Eve 8. Pinky 9. Wuthering Heights 10. A Royal Scandal 11. The Song of Bernadette 12. The Razor's Edge 13. How Green Was My Valley? 14. A Letter to Three Wives 15. Street Scene
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The Varese film music collection is great, but these are old recordings ofcourse. The Silva has more cues and a more clear sound, but, as was said, the performance is so so.
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I agree with Joan, I think the Silva Collection is a fine one, and the performances seem creditable to me. You can hear the whole album on Spotify to see if it's worthwhile. https://open.spotify.com/album/745efzbotmVrUAmLSaELvu I'm surprised to find I actually own many of the albums mentioned so far, didn't think that I had that much Newman. Very interested in the out of print Varese collection.
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"Page Cook of Films In Review was another who disliked the Gerhardt/Newman album." You'll notice that the liner notes for that album were written by: Page Cook. Back when the Newman LP was new, the late George Korngold, who of course produced all the Gerhardt RCA albums, told me that Cook had begged, pleaded and beseeched them to be allowed to write the notes -- anyone who read his FIR column knew that he adored Newman -- and they relented and gave him the assignment. I'm not sure, Korngold may have said that Cook heard the album tapes and loved them, but I'm certain of this: According to the producer, the essay that Cook sent them was embarrassing in its veneration of Newman, (if memory serves, Korngold referred to it as "slobbering and worshipping at the feet of Alfred Newman"), was completely unusable, and hence had to be severely edited and reworked by RCA. And that, according to Korngold, was why Cook in his column gave the LP that lousy review.
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Thanks for the collection link, Preston - I've been picking up others in this series of "Legendary Hollywood" albums so this is a good addition. And great points on all the re-recordings - I just recently added the one with Hunchback et al and it really is excellent.
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I've had that album ever since you first came out with it, of course, but I looked it up last night at SAE, and I noticed that they refer to you as "the legendary Ray Faiola." You've certainly always been legendary wth me, Ray. I think from now on I'll consider Ray as your middle name, and start addressing you as Thelegendary Faiola. *** "Thanks for the collection link, Preston - I've been picking up others in this series of 'Legendary Hollywood' albums so this is a good addition." This thread got me rummaging through the Newman albums available at Amazon late last night. There are probably other items there which will be of interest to those who don't already own them. I had to give up and go to bed after viewing 10 pages and there were still 13 more to be perused...
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