Britten’s score for
Love from a Stranger was lost
but has been expertly re-constructed
by Colin Matthews working from Britten’s
sketches as well as from the original
soundtrack. As might be expected, this
is a fairly traditional film score,
although there are many fine things
in it, but really very little that might
be described as vintage Britten. It
is of course superbly done and the scoring
for standard orchestral forces is quite
assured. It may have been effective
on the screen, although – as usual (alas!)
– the edited score was heavily cut (some
sections were bluntly omitted). It is
good to be able to hear it in such a
fine edition.
One would hardly think
of Roberto Gerhard as a film composer;
and, in fact, he composed only two such
scores: Secret People (1952)
and This Sporting Life (1963
directed by Lindsay Anderson), heard
here in David Matthews’ edition. This
substantial score’s ill-fated history
is not uncommon in film music’s history.
Anderson hardly knew any of Gerhard’s
music before asking him to compose the
score for his film. He was eventually
somewhat disappointed by what turned
out to be a rather modern score, probably
better suited to a science fiction movie
than to a working class drama set in
Yorkshire. The main title [track 7]
is a good example of what may have caused
dismay to Anderson. This is Gerhard
at his best, hard-edged, ominously menacing,
sparse and dissonant. In fact, if you
know any of his late major works (The
Plague, the Third and Fourth
Symphonies, and the superb Concerto
for Orchestra), you will have
a fair idea of what his score for This
Sporting Life sounds like. I do
not know how the music fits – or not
– with the screenplay; but one thing
I am completely sure of is that this
score is Gerhard at his best. It is
thus not surprising that he re-worked
some of the material in his orchestral
work Epithalamion of 1966.
Lutyens, as Gerhard
in his mature works, heavily relied
on serial techniques in her concert
works, composed in a fairly advanced
idiom which – more than once – estranged
her from audiences and critics as well.
Such serial music was nevertheless put
to good use in many Hammer ‘B movies’,
in much the same way as in some film
scores by Frankel, Williamson and Searle.
Just think of how impressive and effective
the main title of The Abominable
Snowman by Searle may still sound,
as pure music. Lutyens’ score for The
Skull has all the ingredients that
are generally associated with horror
films of the 1960s: eerie string chords,
shrieking woodwinds, ominous brass,
pounding and/or rattling percussion,
the whole coloured by ‘Gothic’ organ
chords, to great effect.
Gerhard’s and Lutyens’
uncompromising scores perfectly illustrate
one of the paradoxes of modern music.
When heard in the context of a film,
such an advanced idiom is easily taken
in by audiences that otherwise would
have been frankly hostile in the concert
hall. The main title of Jerry Goldsmith’s
fine score for The Planet of the
Apes is another telling piece of
evidence of this paradoxical state of
affairs.
Richard Rodney Bennett’s
film scores are generally much better
known for their lyricism, nostalgia
and accessibility, although his substantial
score for The Return of the Soldier
is a more serious affair. It is a very
fine score, stylistically half-way between
the serial Bennett and the more consonant
Bennett - if I can put it like that.
Many of the cues recorded here are rather
more astringent than in some more popular
film scores by this gifted and versatile
composer. Other cues are in Bennett’s
more popular vein. The whole score,
however, is a most welcome addition
to his discography; and is a perfect
complement to the earlier Chandos release
(CHAN 9867). Incidentally, the last
track is conducted by Martyn Brabbins.
I have never seen any
of these films, so I cannot comment
on how the music relates – or not –
to the screenplays and the finished
films. However these scores stand remarkably
well on their purely musical merits
and repay repeated hearings, which –
I think – says much for their intrinsic
musical qualities.
This is a most desirable
release, not only for film buffs, but
also for those who want to explore some
byways of British contemporary music
represented here by Gerhard and Lutyens.
Hubert Culot
BBC Symphony Orchestra/Jac van Steen