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Posted: |
Jul 1, 2004 - 11:24 AM
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By: |
Thor
(Member)
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Full of pathos - from the romantic to the terrifying, this is one of Williams' true gems, heavily inspired by classical English music (for which Williams has expressed his affection).
For the longest time, I couldn't stand the sound of a recorder, as I associated it with a bunch of kids in music class, wailing out dissonant recorder noises in order to "learn" the scale. However, Williams manages to make good use of it in this score, and it's actually quite lovely.
I always jump sky-high when the high-pitched strings and electronic noise stinger enters in "Thwarted Wedding", however.
My favourite track is "Restoration", which is a perfect example of Williams' trademark religious sound.
For several years, this was as hard-to-get as WITCHES OF EASTWICK and SPACECAMP. But then Silva thankfully rereleased it in 1999, so that more people could enjoy it. I'm also thankful that they preserved the LP presentation, but I wish they had had the means to improve the sound just a little bit.
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...yet something like Angela's Ashes sounds so off the mark and American it's intrusive?
If sounding like Ralph Vaughn Williams was suddenly considered "American"and not English, then you'd have a point. In the meantime, the score to "Angela's Ashes" remains one of the best things about the film.
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I wish this new CD never saw the light of day since it crashed the value of my 1988 Silva Screen CD.
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Alex Cremers
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Sell it? No, but it was fun to be able to say to people that this CD was worth a lotta dough. I guess I still can do that with my Spacecamp CD, that is, untill next week or so, when they are undoubtedly gonna re-release it in some super duper expanded version with superior sound.
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Alex Cremers
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Jane Eyre was my first Williams LP (back in 1970), as it was, I believe, the first LP to recognize his serious symphonic dramatic side, and the first time that his name appeared as "John" Williams, rather than "Johnny" Williams.
"Restoration" is certainly the highlight of the album, and Williams' orchestration brought a certain ecclesiastical/spiritual Vaughan Williams Thomas-Talis-Fantasia quality to it that wasn't as evident in the version heard in the actual film.
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While certainly not up to Herrmann's take on this tale, this was the first thing that I heard from Williams that really impressed me that there might be more "under the surface" than his previous work had lead me to believe, and soon that hunch was to be proven correct.
I also think LeGrand's contemporary (with Williams') take on Bronte material, WUTHERING HEIGHTS, is even more striking and haunting, and showed a side of LeGrand that we rarely get to see.
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As I recall, I first became aware of Williams' orchestral talents with THE REIVERS, in 1969. I got that lp, then was struck by the skill of JANE EYRE, when I first saw it on TV in 1971 or so. (Leonard Maltin dates it at '71 in his movie guide. I remember watching it with my then-girlfriend-later-wife-now-ex-wife, and we liked it so much that it became our favorite album to listen to together. Our other favorite movie, THE GHOST AND MRS.MUIR had yet to see lp release, and CD's were still a figment of someone's imagination.)
The score on lp and CD is quite different from that of the film. I'd still like to get an album of the combined cues from both. The film's score is leaner, and less romanticized than the album's rendidtion. Or maybe that's just my memory. The film seems to have gone into the public domain, as it can now be obtained in those bins of $6.99 DVD's, with superfical packaging. It's OK, though it hasn't nearly the drama of the best version, from the late 40's, with Orson Welles, full of atmosphere and film-noir lighting, not to mention one of Bernard Herrmann's best romantic scores.
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