Light Music from the Silber Screen GLCD 5109 [JL]: Classical CD Reviews- April 2005 MusicWeb-International

Here is a collection of music from films all made around 1950 and recorded at the time. Those who are old enough to have been movie-goers in those days may find listening to this disc a wonderful nostalgic trip. In fact you would not necessarily need to have been to the cinema because some of the music from these films became very well known in its own right; through gramophone records and wireless. Also, there were large sales of some of the popular numbers in the form of sheet-music piano arrangements. It was a time when there were a lot more pianos in homes than there are today.

But this is not just for old nostalgics. What struck me was the quality and volume of talent that went into both composing and playing this music. OK, there is a fair amount of derivative and sometimes sentimental tosh, but even that is skilfully done. The best music is very good indeed and I found it immensely enjoyable.

An important feature of this collection, as explained in the booklet by David Ades who is responsible for it, is that there was not an intention to produce a “Best of ... CD”. There are plenty of such compilations around. Consequently there are many tracks here that are on CD for the first time. A positive example of this policy is the selection from the film The Glass Mountain. It was the music that made the picture famous rather than its content and the hit extract that everyone knew was The Legend of the Glass Mountain. On this disc we get the Song of the Glass Mountain, a worthier piece of music in my opinion. There are wonderfully evocative, beautifully orchestrated nature sounds and lyrical cor anglais and horn solos, splendidly rendered by Sidney Torch and his orchestra. Another result of the policy is that one of the biggest film music hits of the period, The Dream of Olwen from the 1947 film, While I live, is not included.

In addition to music that owes much to swing, big band and jazz, there is a fair selection of that popular sub-genre in film music; the piano concerto. The vogue was started by the most famous example of all, the Warsaw Concerto by Richard Addinsell from the 1941 movie, Dangerous Moonlight. Here, we get, among others, Andre Mathieu’s Quebec Concerto from Whispering City. Within this genre you can be pretty sure that you will be able to indulge in a good dose of pastiche Grieg, Rachmaninov or Liszt - or a combination of all three.

There should be something for everybody in this compilation of music that in many cases has deservedly outlived the films for which it was written. In the field of historical movie music the CD is a worthy addition.

John Leeman

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