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Received it yesterday. What an amazingly fast-paced epic score, magnificently played by the Moscow Symphony Orchestra. Yet another triumph for Tribute!
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Posted: |
Feb 8, 2009 - 7:46 AM
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By: |
robertmro
(Member)
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Besides being a great score and a an extremely high quality recording, this is an historically important CD.
This score is a product of a long gone era.
In Steiner's career this score is sandwiched between "King Kong" and "Gone with the Wind", not just chronologically but musically also.
The film is also the product of another era. The story is about a hero who sacrifices himself for everything that he believes in, is a theme that you wouldn't see today.
Historical accuracy is completely irrelevant. If you want accuracy watch Tony Richard's 1968 version (also an excellent score). This one is strictly a romantic triangle with the lots off action thrown in and an epic climax.
There were a handful of composer's who could have handled this film but it unquestionable that Steiner's score is quintessential of this genre.
With all that aside, the music is a delight to listen to.
Now, I grew up on these films. Before I started high school, I could recognize the styles of Steiner, Korngold, Newman, Young, Waxman, Tiomkin, Rosza etc. Each had a unique and recognizable style.
The reason that I, like a lot of old timers, love this stuff, is because we grew up on it. What saddens me is that the new generations have little or no contact with this period of American films. With the passing of our generation these films will probably disappear into the same oblivion as all the great silent movies.
What Morgan, Stromberg, Bonn and Spaulding are doing is historical preservation in a form that can be appreciated by anyone.
Thanks yet again
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I don't think these films will disappear at all. My own film-music tastes have absolutely nothing to do with the era I grew up in, and with respect, if that was the only or even the main criterion the outlook would be indeed bleak. The music would then be tied up only with our own hormonal and nostalgic development, and not judged on its objective merits.
There are problems with the media, mostly TV, who insanely keep on pushing a very shortsighted apardheid of 'late night/early' segregated viewing, which means youth tend to be stuck with the late-night sex and violence fare. You never see an Errol Flynn movie at midnight, except on an obscure cable station.
But these things are cyclic. I do think that what Tribute and others are doing is very farsighted. It's a risk, but decades from now this music will be in demand as new recordings, and guess who producers will turn to for re-licenced stuff. I could have this all wrong, but I think it'll snowball.
You have to ask yourself if great music like this, and great films (many still hold up, and will continue to do so) can ever be lost given their quality. They'll be endlessly revisited by revisionists, changing fashions, new generations, cyclic swings etc..
BUT .... it has to be said, that the more those in influence or 'in the know' can cross boundaries and THEMSELVES show interest in other genres and generations, the more it'll be reciprocated. If we want the younger ones to take interest in this material, we need to acknowledge what quality is in THEIR generations' stuff.
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I got my copy today. Between reading the liner notes, and listening to the music on the two discs, don't expect my review any time soon.
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As long as you mention it, the production values on all 5 of these releases has been uniformly stellar. I love the gold trim motif.
A small suggestion. How about some rare Friedhofer, or Waxman? Perhaps some Silver Age material like Goldsmith?
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I know in my gut that you are right.
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But what does that say about Steiner? Really. Does he sell?
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Posted: |
Mar 15, 2009 - 4:56 AM
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By: |
antipodean
(Member)
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Hey, I love Friedhofer as much as anyone (who loves Friedhofer), but unfortunately we're in a decided minority. Sad, but true. Mr. Morgan would know better than I, as Naxos released a Friedhofer CD created by Morgan and Stromberg.
I actually have that one, on the original Marco Polo label. More Friedhofer (and Tiomkin) wouldn't come amiss at all for me on the Tribute label.
With so much of these otherwise obscure classic film scores, a great deal of the enjoyment is the opportunity to listen to all these wonderful works as restored and performed (in the composers' original intentions rather than as edited/adapted to suit the final cut) by two of the foremost specialists in the field.
The fact that the Tribute label has in its sophomore year already established a sterling reputation for its product, I think, also gives collectors more confidence that whatever the label's artistic direction is, it will not fail to satisfy.
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Steiner score were never my thing. I had the impression they all sounded alike and the muddy sound was hard to the ears.
But this cd set, wow! This changes everything. The themes, the melodies, the sharpness of the recording. This is music from a bygone era, but this way it might have a chance to remembered by future generations.
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