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| CD Reviews: Bernard Herrmann Compilation and Fitzwilly |
| Posted By: Ian D. Thomas, Darren MacDonald on February 20, 2005 - 10:00 PM |
CD Reviews: Bernard Herrmann Compilation and Fitzwilly
Bernard Herrmann Film Scores: From
Citizen Kane to Taxi Driver ****
BERNARD HERRMANN
Milan M2-36095
11 tracks - 69:57
With the recent passing of Elmer Bernstein, the good folks at Milan
have seen fit to re-release a wonderful recording of theirs from 1992
which features Mr. Bernstein conducting several suites from many of
Bernard Herrmann's scores. While it may seem like they're trying to
cash in on his name (which appears much larger on the new artwork),
let's give them the benefit of a doubt and concentrate on the album
itself.
Many of you may already be familiar with this collection, which was
available between 1993 and 2000. We'll get to the sonic differences
between the old and new, but first let's begin with the music for those
who don't already own it.
Beginning with Herrmann's first score, Citizen Kane, we take a journey
through the career of one of Hollywood's most revered composers. The
short, but deliciously twisted "Devil's Concerto" from The Devil and Daniel Webster
showcases the composer's musical humor. We're also treated to
impressive renditions of cues from the five Hitchcock collaborations,
as well as two films he did with Francois Truffaut. Finally, Herrmann's
ominous score from Scorcese's Taxi
Driver closes the musical portion of the album.
Musical portion? Yes, included as a coda to the album's music tracks is
a four- and-a-half-minute speech given by Herrmann on film music. This
final track was recorded during the early 1970s and lets us take a peek
into the mind of the man himself. Hear in his own words what he thinks
about the use of music in films!
But let's not forget Elmer Bernstein's contribution, which seems to be
the basis for this re-release. Throughout the ample running time, he
masterfully guides the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra through all the
many styles on hand, capturing the right moods appropriate for each
film's score. While picky listeners may argue that his tempos sometimes
shift a little compared to the original soundtracks, it's the spirit of
the music that he maintains. Who cares if it's the right tempo if it
feels wrong? Rest assured, Elmer knew what he was doing. Herrmann's
dark, yet beautiful writing comes through in all its enticing glory.
Compared to the original release, which has the exact same tracks, the
new edition sports a remastering job that raises some questions.
Overall, it's significantly louder. The sound of the recording venue's
reverb and even the quietest musical notes are more easily heard, but
at the sacrifice of the overall excitement the music. The string tone
is silkier compared to the original, but the dynamic control of the
orchestra is out of Mr. Bernstein's hands and into those of the
mastering engineer. Make no mistake, this remastering did more damage
than good.
Despite my criticisms about the remastering, I am still glad that this
recording is back in circulation. If you already own the original, my
advice is to hang on to it. But if you don't, try and find the original
or at least get this re-release. Either way, no decent film score
collection should be without this important title.
-- Ian D. Thomas
Fitzwilly/The Long Goodbye (1967/1973)
***
JOHN WILLIAMS
Varèse Sarabande CD Club VCL 0804 1030
18 tracks - 55:20
Fitzwilly comes from John
Williams' 1960s period of screwball comedy scoring (a proud time for
him I'm sure) and actually represents some of the best work he wrote in
the genre. As per usual for John Williams' comedies, the work is
largely big band/jazz-based, adding a touch of class to the
proceedings. Classical touches such as harpsichord also serve to
reference the upper class society that the film's characters inhabit.
The film's main theme, introduced in the "Main Title," is catchy and
light, yet indicative of what the maestro would provide in later years
for more serious fare. The theme also gets wonderful treatment in "The
Gimbels Robbery," a mini tour de force from Williams. The cue starts
low and lightly suspenseful, steadily building in intensity as a
march-like rhythm takes over with the main theme and then ends in a
flourish.
Fitzwilly also contains the
origin of the most overt case of self-plagiarism in the John Williams
canon. The love theme, "Make Me Rainbows" (which has very corny lyrics
but is quite lovely in instrumental form), would later become,
virtually unchanged note for note, "Moonlight" from Sabrina. Although the tune is the
same, the orchestrations are still significantly different -- I guess
Mr. Williams just liked the theme too much to be wasted on this
forgettable film.
The disc features the exact same tracks as were on the original LP, and
not having seen the film, I can't say if there's much unreleased
material from Fitzwilly.
However, The Long Goodbye was
very sparsely spotted, one of Johnny's shortest scores, and I can say
this is surely the entire score, or very close to it. Williams scored
this Robert Altman revision of the Philip Marlowe tale (in which we get
to see young and buff Arnold Schwarzenegger in his briefs, before he
would be in charge of one of the world's largest economies) almost
entirely with variations of the song "The Long Goodbye," a la David
Raksin's Laura.
The music serves almost entirely as source music, and mostly in a very
classy jazz-vein. The mournful and melancholy song "The Long Goodbye"
is presented in seven versions on the disc, thrice with vocals and four
times as instrumental versions. The disc is re-mastered to high
quality, stereo sound, and will probably be of most interest to John
Williams completists. -- Darren MacDonald
MailBag@filmscoremonthly.com
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Today in Film Score History:
April 20 |
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| Andre Previn begins recording his score for The Sun Comes Up (1948) |
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| Bebe Barron died (2008) |
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| Bruce Broughton begins recording his score for The Monster Squad (1987) |
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| David Raksin begins recording his score for Kind Lady (1951) |
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| Dennis McCarthy records his score for the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode “The Die Is Cast” (1995) |
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| Herschel Burke Gilbert born (1918) |
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| Johnny Douglas died (2003) |
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| Miklos Rozsa records his score to Valley of the Kings (1954) |
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| Richard LaSalle records his score for The New Adventures of Wonder Woman episode “The Man Who Could Not Die” (1979) |
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