Classic Cinema Part 2
Complete track-listing at the foot of this review
rec. 1963-2006. ADD/DDD
SONY-BMG 88697 290382 [3 CDs: 72:00 + 60:00 + 66:00]
What is a ‘cinema classic’? Purists would probably cite Batteleship
Potemkin, Citizen Kane, The Searchers, Psycho, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Taxi
Driver, Apocalypse Now and Blade Runner, to name but a few. These
are works that either changed the way we looked at movies or helped define
the period in which they were made. Nowadays the term ‘cinema classic’ is
synonymous with ‘blockbuster’, which is probably why so many of
the latter crop up in this collection. Not all have particularly original soundtracks,
and some even make use of ‘bleeding chunks’ from the classical
repertoire. Such fall-backs are risky, but where the music is woven so skilfully
into the visual narrative - Johann and Richard Strauss in Kubrick’s 2001, for
instance - it’s often impossible to hear the music without instantly
recalling the film.
Sony have opted for the more elastic definition of ‘cinema classics’,
with music from fairly recent titles, such as Titanic and The Da
Vinci Code. These don’t sit at all comfortably with the likes of Brief
Encounter and The Gadfly, probably chosen for their classical music
content rather than their historical significance. I can understand a themed
collection - by genre, director or composer, say - but here it seems as if
Sony executives flicked their way through a copy of Halliwell’s, circling
entries at random. The truth is probably much more mundane, a cost-effective
compilation that allows Sony to plunder their back catalogue. Not a hanging
offence, of course, but it does strike me as a very lazy way to sell music.
It’s worth pointing out that most of these excerpts are not OSTs (official
soundtracks), but were recorded and released at a later date. Not surprisingly,
they depend on orchestras such as the City of Prague Philharmonic, the Philharmonia,
the Royal Philharmonic and the London Symphony Orchestra. Conductors are rarely
credited and the mix of venues and sound balances doesn’t make for a
seamless musical whole. Indeed, I sensed a fair amount of audio intervention,
presumably designed to create a somewhat exaggerated cinema acoustic. That’s
all very well at your local Odeon, but it’s rather fatiguing here. Grumbles
aside, some fine film composers are represented here, a number of their scores
genuinely interesting and enjoyable.
CD1
The Pirates of the Caribbean franchise is undoubtedly successful, not
least for Johnny Depp’s campy portrayal of pirate Jack Sparrow. The music
for all three films is by the German composer Hans Zimmer, who certainly knows
how to write a big, sweeping tune à la Korngold. There is plenty
of drive and energy in this excerpt from the latest in the series, Dead
Man’s Chest, the City of Prague Philharmonic doing the honours. This feels like
movie music, big, bold and designed to stretch the cinema’s sound system
to the max. And then it’s the turn of John Williams, probably the most
symphonic of modern film composers. He, too, wrote some splendid tunes for
that other successful franchise, the Superman movies. Here the Love
theme from the first film sounds lush but not overly sentimental.
All very different from David Arnold’s score for the remake of Casino
Royale, one of the more recent - and to my mind least successful - Bond
films. Now this is a franchise that has done well over the years - not least
for John Barry’s iconic scores and those sexy opening titles - but the
arrival of Daniel Craig as 007 has signalled a change of emphasis, echoed in
Arnold’s sober, somewhat austere score. Nothing laid back about Claudio
Abbado and the LSO’s rendition of Mussorgsky’s St John’s
Night on a Bare Mountain, used to grotesque effect in Disney’s Fantasia. It’s
fast and fizzy, but as recorded here it lacks weight and refinement. There’s
another classical entry on this disc, the Romance from The Gadfly, by
Shostakovich. This is one of the more random - and puzzling - selections here,
as most people are hardly likely to have since this old, Soviet-era flick at
their local multiplex..
Sandwiched between these two ‘classical’ pieces is Danny Elfman’s
haunting score for Tim Burton’s dark fable, Edward Scissorhands.
A much younger Depp is suitably strange in the title role, the film’s
highly individual visual style nicely complemented by Elfman’s fairy-tale
score. No hint of fantasy in Nino Rota’s music for that other franchise, The
Godfather. The film has been much imitated - wittily so in Alan Parker’s
musical Bugsy Malone - but Coppola’s grim tale of Mafia mayhem
has never been bettered. Rota’s music, passionate and lyrical, is well
played by the Prague band; the recording isn’t bad either. There is passion
aplenty in Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, a rather superficial adaptation
of Louis de Bernières’ bestseller. Stephen Warbeck’s score,
represented here by ‘Pelagia’s Song’, is standard cinematic
fare, nothing more.
And so to another genuine classic, Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver, its
dark urban landscape superbly evoked in Bernard Herrmann’s mix of orchestral
menace - listen to that pounding bass drum - and a languid, bluesy sax. As
I write, Scorsese has been awarded a Lifetime Achievement BAFTA, an honour
he well deserves. Very different from the Boy’s Own heroics of 633
Squadron, for which Ron Goodwin penned a rousing Waltonian score, complete
with whooping horns. It’s a quintessential British film score of the
period, as thrilling as Elmer Bernstein’s for The Great Escape. All
very nostalgic and very well played by the Prague band.
Michael Kamen’s electro-acoustic score for Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves has
the backing of the Royal Philharmonic. The music is somewhat anodyne, the sort
of thing one hears in hairdressers and public places; an eminently missable
film, redeemed only by Alan Rickman’s supremely nasty Sheriff of Nottingham.
In another league altogether is the magical realism of Giuseppe Tornatore’s Cinema
Paradiso, with an elegant, wistful score by the ever reliable Ennio Morricone.
Now this really is a classic, a reflection on boyhood and homage to an old
Sicilian cinema and its feisty proprietor, played to perfection by the late
lamented Philippe Noiret. It’s charming, simple music that really does
bring back memories of this life-enhancing film.
Kenneth Branagh had some sizeable boots to fill with Henry V, and for
a ‘short-arsed, fat-faced Irishman’ - his words, not mine - he
gives a powerful performance as Shakespeare’s warrior king. As Olivier
realised this is one film that needs a Walton to do it justice; that said,
Patrick Doyle’s score is pretty impressive. This vocal extract, ‘Non
Nobis Domine’, is stirring, but this version is no match for the top-notch
OST with Simon Rattle and the CBSO. And moving from the sublime to the faintly
ridiculous, Saint-Saëns’ ‘Organ’ symphony, as used in
the adventures of Babe, the talking pig. It’s the vintage E. Power Biggs/Eugene
Ormandy recording from CBS - all very brisk and efficient. Quite why the piece
was chosen is a mystery to me, but perhaps Carnival of the Animals had
something to do with it. In Hollywood any explanation is entirely plausible.
CD2
The late Michael Crichton’s scientific fantasy Jurassic Park turned
out surprisingly well on film, not least for Steven Spielberg’s taut
direction and its remarkable special effects. Equally special is this excerpt
from John Williams’ panoramic score, with its (slightly shaky) horn calls
at the start. Thereafter the music has a Straussian amplitude that suits the
width of the screen and the height of its Cretaceous cast. (Somehow, Cretaceous
Park doesn’t have quite the same ring to it, does it?) Hearing this
glorious music confirms for me that Williams is the natural heir to the great
film composers of the past. Speaking of which, Alexandre Desplat’s music
for The Queen is another of those scores that harks back to the pomp
and circumstance of Walton and Elgar, but with a delicate, interior sub-theme
that captures the monarch’s private persona rather well.
One of Stephen King’s better adaptations for the screen, The Shawshank
Redemption boasts splendid performances from jailbirds Tim Robbins and
Morgan Freeman. The liberating sounds of this Act III aria from Mozart’s Marriage
of Figaro - taken from the old Karl Böhm recording - is most effectively
harnessed here. Delicious, creamy singing from Gundula Janowitz and Edith Mathis.
John Williams returns with cellist Yo-Yo Ma for the vaguely oriental score
to Seven Years in Tibet. From the opening harp swirl it’s clear
we are back in symphonic mode. It’s a pleasing mix, with Ma as eloquent
as ever. Unlike many of the other excerpts in this set this is the official
soundtrack, with the composer conducting.
One of Sir Michael Caine’s earlier films and a regular TV matinée, Zulu is
another of Ron Goodwin’s atmospheric scores. From its warlike timps to
swirling harp figures this suggests both both the impending battle and the
wide open veld. A solid historical adventure from the 1960s, with a
score to match. On to other battles, this time with the evil Voldemort in Harry
Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Patrick Doyle penned this refulgent excerpt
from this, the penultimate film in the present series. The ever-reliable RPO
is in fine form, as indeed it is in Dario Marinelli’s elegant, string-
and piano-led theme for Mrs Darcy in Pride and Prejudice. Again, this
is no match the Decca OST, the mercurial Jean Yves Thibaudet at the keyboard.
Far less appealing is Evelyn Chen’s performance of Rachmaninov’s Piano
Concerto No. 2 with the Philharmonia under Leonard Slatkin. That said, Brief
Encounter is one of David Lean’s most enduring pictures, with Celia
Johnson and Trevor Howard at their stoic, ever so British best. The music is
surely a distraction, and in this performance it’s simply horrible.
Back to the present - well, sort of - and if you can’t stomach the bizarre
tale of Civil War captain Tom Cruise sent to modernise the Japanese army, then
Hans Zimmer’s middle-of-the-road score for The Last Samurai might
make this tosh a little easier to endure. Some pretty spectacular Kodo-like
drumming, though, and the recording is better than some. Another war and it’s
Ron Goodwin again, in the music for Alistair McLean’s wartime pot-boiler, Where
Eagles Dare. Its martial drums and jaunty tunes are just right for this
tale of derring-do in the snowy wilderness below Schloss Adler. A genre classic;
indeed, as a youngster I loved every heart-stopping minute of it.
Franco Zeffirelli’s take on Romeo and Juliet was considered a
little risqué at the time, Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey pictured
on the LP in soft focus and sans clothes. Not vintage Rota, perhaps,
but this excerpt has a real sense of ardour that stands out in otherwise rather
soupy music. No complaints about Brian Gascoigne’s somewhat generic take
on John Barry’s Bond theme which, like the obligatory eye candy, helped
to define this long-running franchise. Suave, upbeat and ever so seductive
it’s certainly a classic tune. Not so the electro-acoustic arrangement
of Dolly Parton’s ‘I Will Always Love You’ from The Bodyguard. Its
sentimental country and western roots are unmistakable, but the very ubiquity
of this music - I used to hear it in the office canteen day after day - makes
it memorable fro all the wrong reasons.
But what better piece to end this disc than Jerry Goldsmith’s edgy, Western-style
score for Star Trek: The Motion Picture. The TV series is a true classic
but, at the risk of offending Trekkies the world over, I’m not so sure
the films will wear as well. As for Goldsmith, he was nothing if not prolific,
with a career going back to 1957. His Star Trek score was nominated
for an Academy Award, but I much prefer his music for Polanski’s Chinatown and
Peter Hyams’ Outland, a loose remake of High Noon set
in outer space. And I vividly recall his music for another McLean effort, the
bio-terror flick The Satan Bug. That’s the trouble with discs
like these, they usually trigger a trip down memory lane.
CD3
Dan Brown’s best-selling book, The Da Vinci Code, is surprisingly
compulsive, which is more than I can say for the film. Given its Grail theme,
it’s no surprise that Robert Harvey’s score includes a sepulchral ‘Kyrie’,
the Crouch End Festival Chorus pressed into service once more. In a similar
vein is THE Patrick Cassidy aria ‘Vide Cor Meum’, used in both Hannibal (2001)
and Kingdom of Heaven (2005). It’s a rather anonymous piece, but
it’s reasonably well sung. Equally anodyne is the updated electro-acoustic
version of Michel Legrand’s classic score for the 1968 film The Thomas
Crown Affair. Call me old fashioned, but I still think the unlikely
pairing of Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway in the original is far preferable
to that of Pierce Brosnan and Rene Russo in the remake. That said, ‘Windmills
of Your Mind’ is still a very hummable tune.
Earlier I mentioned that occasionally classical music used in the movies becomes
inextricably bound up with the visual narrative. Regrettably, the lovely ‘Adagietto’ from
Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 5 will forever be linked with Dirk
Bogarde’s tortured portrayal of von Aschenbach in Visconti’s Death
in Venice. The version recorded here, Daniele Gatti’s with the RPO,
is a tad lugubrious for my liking, but at least it’s reasonably well
recorded. James Horner, who made his name with another doom-laden flick, Titanic, co-wrote
the overblown score for the swords and sandals epic Troy. This is standard
cinematic fare which, or so I’m reliably informed, falls way short of
the rejected score by Gabriel Yared (The English Patient, The Talented Mr
Ripley).
As the world of film music is male dominated, it’s a pleasure to hear
music from the sole female contributor on this set, Rachel Portman. Her score
for Jane Austen’s Emma is most enjoyable, mixing as it does Georgian
elegance with a soaring lyricism. James Horner returns with a snippet from
the testosterone-charged epic Braveheart. By the time this elegiac music
appears all the violence is done and Braveheart has been put to death. It’s
suitably lush but quite without feeling. Not a good example of the film composer’s
art and, if it were needed, more ammunition for those who feel Horner is somewhat
overrated.
John Barry is rather more successful with the main theme from Somewhere
in Time, one of Christopher Reeve’s less memorable pictures. Full
of genteel charm and feeling it’s warmly played by the Scottish
National Orchestra. And how like Miklós Rózsa’s Love theme
from Ben Hur it sounds, although the latter is much closer to Korngold
in terms of symphonic weight and sheer opulence. Very different from the rather
androgynous sound-world of Horner’s Troy. That said, there are
some good things in the latter’s imposing score for Titanic - a
Stygian bass drum beating like a giant propshaft below decks, for instance.
But then he spoils it all with some electro-acoustic mush that might have you
rushing for the lifeboats.
Classical music makes a brief return with The Sorcerer’s Apprentice from
Disney’s Fantasia. After seeing that sequence it’s hard
to dissociate Dukas’ piece from images of Mickey the magician. Happily,
the music is played here in a rather enjoyable performance by the Orchestre
Nationale de France under Leonard Slatkin. And we end with an arrangement of
Lalo Schifrin’s score for Mission Impossible, another of those
impossibly macho vehicles for Tom Cruise. From a martial, foot-tapping start
it soon becomes another of those rhythmically insistent electro-acoustic loops
that could pretty much go on forever. Fortunately, in this case it doesn’t.
There are some nuggets among the dross but you’ll have to look hard to
find them. Of the younger generation of film composers Danny Elfman and Patrick
Doyle are worth singling out; among the veterans are Ennio Morricone and John
Williams, both of whom have had long and prestigious careers at the magic factory.
But if I had to choose just one it would have to be John Williams, surely the
natural successor to Waxman, Korngold and the other Hollywood greats. Trouble
is, next to these giants the rest look like pygmies.
Dan Morgan
Complete track-listing
CD1
Hans ZIMMER (b. 1957)
Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest - Jack Sparrow (2006)
[6:18]
John WILLIAMS (b. 1932)
Superman: The Movie - Love theme (1978) [5:07]
David ARNOLD (b. 1962)
Casino Royale - Vesper (2006) [1:50]
Modest MUSSORGSKY (1839-1881)
Fantasia - St. John's Night On The Bare Mountain (1940) [11:58]
Danny ELFMAN (b. 1953)
Edward Scissorhands - Main title (1990) [5:35]
Dmitri SHOSTAKOVICH (1906-1975)
The Gadfly - Romance (1955) [6:30]
Nino ROTA (1911-1979)
The Godfather - Love theme (1972) [2:50]
Steven WARBECK (b. 1953)
Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Pelagia's Song (2001) [4:00]
Bernard HERRMANN (1911-1975)
Taxi Driver - Main theme (1976) [7:33]
Ron GOODWIN (1925-2003)
633 Squadron - Main theme (1963) [3:04]
Michael KAMEN (1948-2003)
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves - Everything I Do (I Do It For You) (1991)
[4:02]
Ennio MORRICONE (b. 1928)
Cinema Paradiso - Main theme (1988) [3:37]
Patrick DOYLE (b. 1953)
Henry V - Non Nobis Domine (1989) [3:51]
Camille SAINT-SAENS (1835-1921)
Babe - Maestoso and Allegro from Symphony No. 3 in C minor, Op. 78 ‘Organ’ (1995) [7:20]
CD2
John WILLIAMS (b. 1932)
Jurassic Park - Main theme (1993) [5:39]
Alexandre DESPLAT (b. 1961)
The Queen (2006) [3:57]
Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART (1756-1791)
The Shawshank Redemption - Letter duet from The Marriage of
Figaro (1994) [3:36]
John WILLIAMS (b. 1932)
Seven Years in Tibet - Main theme (1997) [7:15]
John BARRY (b. 1933)
Zulu - Main theme (1964) [2:31]
Patrick DOYLE (b. 1953)
Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire - Harry In Winter (2005) [3:03]
Dario MARINELLI (b. 1963)
Pride And Prejudice - Mrs Darcy (2005) [4:02]
Sergey RACHMANINOV (1873-1943)
Brief Encounter - Moderato from Piano Concerto No.2 (1945) [11:07]
Hans ZIMMER (b. 1957)
The Last Samurai - Safe Passage/The Way of the Sword (2003) [3:03]
Ron GOODWIN (1925-2003)
Where Eagles Dare - Main theme (1968) [3:03]
Nino ROTA (1911-1979)
Romeo and Juliet - Love theme (1968) [3:13]
John BARRY (b. 1933)
James Bond: Licence To Kill - Main theme (arrangement) [3:19]
Dolly PARTON (b. 1946)
The Bodyguard - I Will Always Love You (arrangement) (1992) [4:40]
Jerry GOLDSMITH (1929-2004)
Star Trek: The Motion Picture - The Enterprise (1979) [6:12]
CD3
Richard HARVEY (b. 1953)
The Da Vinci Code - Kyrie For The Magdalene (2006) [3:59]
Patrick CASSIDY (b. 1956)
Hannibal - Vide Cor Meum (2001) [3:06]
Michel LEGRAND (b. 1932)
The Thomas Crown Affair - Windmills of Your Mind (1968) [3:18]
Gustav MAHLER (1860-1911)
Death in Venice - Adagietto from Symphony No. 5 (1971)
[10:16]
James HORNER (b. 1953)
Troy - Remember (2004) [6:12]
Rachel PORTMAN (b. 1960)
Emma - The Wedding/End titles (1996) [4:21]
James HORNER (b.1953)
Braveheart - End titles (1995) [7:48}
John BARRY (b. 1933)
Somewhere In Time - Theme (1980) [3:44]
Miklós RÓZSA (1907-1995)
Ben Hur - Love theme (1959) [4:39]
James HORNER (b. 1953)
Titanic - Main theme (1997) [7:08]
Paul DUKAS (1865-1935)
Fantasia - The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (1940) [11:50]
Lalo SCHIFRIN (b. 1932)
Mission Impossible - Main theme (arrangement) (1996) [4:40]