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Posted: |
Jul 26, 2006 - 10:21 PM
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By: |
manderley
(Member)
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Farnon's music from CAPTAIN HORATIO HORNBLOWER is wonderful, and I think there are several cd recordings floating around with at least a few cues on each.
I've always like his score for SHALAKO, the Sean Connery-Brigitte Bardot western, which was at one time available on a stereo lp (from Philips, I think). I can even take the title song which is no better or worse than many others in this period.
I also have, on a Liberty Records stereo lp, his rollicking score for the final Bob Hope-Bing Crosby "road" picture, ROAD TO HONG KONG. (Dorothy Lamour even makes a singing appearance on one cue.)
Farnon scored, supervised, conducted (and sang for Scott Brady) on the Jane Russell-Jeanne Crain film from the mid'50s, GENTLEMEN MARRY BRUNETTES. You can hear this material on an old Coral lp (which I think may have been reissued on cd recently). The film, itself, airs on TCM occasionally, in a nice color, CinemaScope, stereo sound transfer. It's fun but hardly in the league of Russell's other "gentlemen" film with Marilyn Monroe, GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES.
Farnon was also known for writing "light classic" themes recorded as 78rpm records which were often played on the radio, and sometimes performed in the British concert hall particularly in the '40s-'60s. On early TV and radio many of these kinds of things became very ubiquitous when they were continually used almost as "stock music" and show themes.
I have one cd from a few years ago called "British Light Classics" which contains some of Farnon's work of this type, alongside cues by others like Sidney Torch and Stanley Black. There are probably half-a-dozen cds of British popular "light classic" music from the past floating around out there in the record stores for those who want to try them out.
Several of Farnon's themes for the 1948 Anna Neagle film he scored, ELIZABETH OF LADYMEAD, also became quite popular as "light classics".
A fine composer, very little recorded.
(Has there been or is there to be a cd on Farnon in the wonderful Chandos British Film Music series?)
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Where is this RPO disc available?
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Please give us a label and, if possible, the catalog number.
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Thanks; I've already got this one.
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But that's another thread. 
