Offering eighteen selections’ including many of the British standards such as “The Warsaw Concerto,” “Colonel Bogey March,” and “The White Cliffs of Dover,” Carl Davis has put together a fine nostalgic collection of material re-recorded for the BBC Concert Orchestra, Brighton Chorus, and several popular soloists. The exception is “Hymn To The Fallen,” the John Williams composition to the film Saving Private Ryan while written in the 1990’s was indeed about World War II so it is and isn’t part of the era.
As far as this reviewer is concerned the highlight of this CD was the Litolff “Concerto Symphonique No. 4, Op. 102 Scherzo,” performed by Melvin Tan. The world of music continues to fascinate me everyday as this is yet another composer/work I’m not familiar with. It is a technical delight of non stop scales some performed at a breakneck pace with a definite Mendlessohn flavor to the seven minute work. This seems to be the only work that has survived from Litolff. I can’t comment further on the performance comparing it to others; it sounds just fine to me.
Tan also performs the “Warsaw Concerto” in fine fashion. It is pure schmaltz but in this case it is a good thing and a composition always welcome to my ears.
“Colonel Bogey March” takes me back to my high school and college marching days blowing my trombone and trying to stay in step with everyone else. If I remember correctly there was a nice part written for the horns.
“Hymn to the Fallen” is a moving patriotic religious piece which begins with a Copland fanfare and is quite a moving work that is meant to bring a tear to your eye and does so.
Many of the other selections are just pure nostalgia and people who were involved will find that memories will come back to them. Songs such as “I’m Gonna Get Lit Up,” “London Pride,” and We’re Gonna Hang Out The Washing On The Siegfried Line” are examples. I actually quite enjoyed “Goodnight Children Everywhere,” performed nicely by Mary Carewe. Perhaps thinking of it as a lullaby and being a grandfather could have something to do with it.
This is a CD that you’re going to have to decide for yourself based on the information I’ve given you.
Track Listing:
1. Wish me luck as you wave me goodbye [02:47]
2. Warsaw Concerto [09:16]
3. Goodnight children everywhere [03:58]
4. Bless ’em all [02:40]
5. the white cliffs of Dover [02:41]
6. Dambusters [04:02]
7. We’re gonna hang out the washing on the Siegfried line [03:06]
8. London pride [04:21]
9. Litolff Scherzo [07:12]
10. Keep the homefires burning [04:20]
11. Lilli Marlene [02:11]
12. Colonel Bogey [04:17]
13. When they sound the last all clear [03:06]
14. There’ll always be an England [03:44]
15. When the lights go on again [03:19]
16. I’m gonna get lit up [03:10]
17. We’ll meet again [03:03]
18. Hymn to the fallen [06:37]
Total Time is 74:00
Great Movie Themes 2/Compilation of Film Composers
May 27, 2009
Naxos has just introduced “Great Movie Themes 2” as the second installment from Carl Davis conducting the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. He makes available movie themes in easy listening arrangements, appealing to a wider listening audience at an affordable price. In terms of audience appeal film music compilations, in some respects, are a no win situation for the record producer. Silva, who I’ve given the title of “King of the Compilations,” is always recycling material under different titles. The latest compilation offered Batman material, some of which had been released under a previous Tim Burton movie compilation. They try to save money. How many will say “Been there, done that already.” Some will question including choices such as “Deerhunter,” “The French Lieutenant’s Woman,” or two selections from “Superman” and omitting x, y, and z. Why are there 6 selections of John Williams’s material in the first two volumes and nothing from Thomas Newman? I’m glad that I don’t have the tough decisions to make as to what to include. One thing for sure is that the choices and styles of music are varied.
The “Pink Panther” is one of the more recognizable themes and Brian Gascoigne arranged it a little more on easy swing side as opposed to the raucous version Mancini arranged for concert orchestra. I’ve heard the Boston Pops perform this classic many times and it is quite the vibrant piece. The suite from “Mission Impossible” is nice as the 5 minutes consist of the two main themes from the highly successful television series intermixed as they are performed. Again, the arrangement by Mike Townend is more on the conservative side. The three choices of John William’s material from “Jurassic Park” and “Superman” are some of the more memorable themes John has written. I’m partial to the “Can You Read My Mind?” selection as I used to play this for my daughter daily for at least a year. If you enjoy schmaltz, the arrangements of “Love Story”, “Romeo and Juliet”, “English Patient”, and “Godfather” will be to your liking. They are arranged and performed to bring a tear to the dry eye. “Pirates of the Caribbean” is really lacking in the vibrancy necessary to truly capture this Klaus Badelt composition which is a loud rocking chanty.
The highlight for this reviewer was in the wonderful Christopher Palmer arrangement of the Stanley Myers Intro and Cavatina from “The Deerhunter.” The lonely distant trumpet, minor chords from the lower register strings, and then the beginning of that beautiful theme from the flutes and horns result in one of the prettiest themes ever written for the silver screen. The other interesting track of merit is the fine composition from Carl Davis for “The French Lieutenant’s Woman.” It’s not a great melody but the overall track is conveying the yearning love in a recital style. Well done!
For the casual listener to film music this CD would be a perfect addition to your collection. Nice conservative arrangements of classic melodies for the silver screen. The hard core collector would have to decide if “The Deerhunter” and French Lieutenant’s Woman” would warrant an $8.00 investment. Those two cues are awfully good but the rest is as I stated earlier “Been there, done that.”
Naxos CD# is 8.572111
Producer and Editor: Andrew Walton
Track Listing:
1.… Batman Theme (Elfman) 2:18
2.… The Pink Panther (Mancini) 3:54
3.… Mission Impossible Suite (Schifrin) 4:55
4.… Theme from Love Story (Lai) 4:35
5.… Theme from Jurassic Park (Williams) 5:40
6.… Romeo and Juliet (Rota) 3:40
7.… March From Superman (Williams) 4:18
8.… The English Patient (Yared) 5:41
9.… The Godfather (Rota) 4:00
10.. Love Theme from Superman (Williams) 5:06
11.. Pirates of the Caribbean (Badelt) 5:32
12.. Introduction and Cavatina from The Deerhunter 6:56
13.. The French Lieutenant’s Woman (Davis) 4:28
14.. Shakespeare in Love (Warbeck) 6:44
Total Time is 68:44
Film and Classical Music: Neglected Art 