This generously-filled
third volume of William Alwyn’s film
music kicks off with a 15-minute, six-movement
suite from the 1951 film, The Magic
Box produced for the Festival of
Britain celebrations of that year. It
celebrates the life and career of William
Friese-Greene (Robert Donat) an early
pioneer who perfected the art of colour
photography and the moving image. The
suite opens with an imposing Elgar/Walton-like
theme. The movements that follow chart
the relationship between Friese-Greene
and his sweetheart, Helena, first in
tender tones - reminiscent of Elgar
in salon, Salut d’amour mode
- then after marriage increasingly fractious
as the inventor becomes more and more
obsessive of his work. There is wit
in the form of a polka underscoring
Willie’s first attempts at portraiture,
then for ‘Willie Goes to London’ there
are more witty cameos as the Friese-Greenes
taste life in the capital. ‘Willie and
Edith introduces an attractive ‘Edwardian’
waltz and the final movement recalls
the pride of the opening. Gamba and
the BBC Philharmonic perform this charming
music with style and sensitivity to
its period.
Much in the same style
and era, there follows William Alwyn’s
glittering Waltz The Million Pound
Note (1953), based on the story
by Mark Twain and starring Gregory Peck.
The Cure For Love (1948) has
a softer mistily dream-like waltz for
piano and orchestra. Then from the ballroom
to the drill square and Alwyn’s stirring
march from The Way Ahead (1944)
which is not without sly, sardonic humour
surely pointing fun at square-bashing
and the rough life of army recruits.
Another war-time march from The True
Glory (1944-45) is stirring in the
fashion of Eric Coates and Bliss.
A further suite follows,
some nine minutes long, from Swiss
Family Robinson (1960) marking the
third collaboration between Alwyn and
Disney. The opening movement is a vivid
evocation of a vicious storm at sea
and the shipwreck of the Robinsons.
The other music is playful as the children
make acquaintance with all the animal
characters on the island, and wistful
and poignant with a sweetly sentimental
violin solo to illustrate harmonious
family life and the warmth between the
parents (John Mills and Dorothy McGuire)
A note of menace is
introduced in dark, bleak, grotesque
nightmare music Paul’s Last Ride from
The Rocking Horse Winner (1949)
in which a young boy rides his rocking
horse in unbridled frenzy to predict
the winner of the Derby. The 1941 film
Penn of Pennsylvania as
might be imagined drew a musical pastiche
of elegance and refinement the movement
titles reflecting after the Title Music:
‘Banqueting Scene’ in Baroque dignity
and splendour with a cheeky little gigue-like
aside, wistful and sentimental ‘Love
Music’ working up to a passionate climax,
The King’s Portrait’ is another witty
little Baroque cameo – gentle fun poked
at the Royal dignity. ‘Finale’ has pride
and pomp of a new state of America.
.
The Running Man
(1962) produced and directed by Carol
Reed was Alwyn’s last score. It starred
Laurence Harvey as a pilot who fakes
his own death to collect the insurance
money. The music, in four movements,
is dramatic and tense. ‘Glider Flight’
is evocative of the thrill and fun of
gliding on thermals - the music nicely
evoking twists and turns and lifts and
falls - over sunny landscapes. ‘Stella
and Stephen’ begins quietly with a Spanish-style
guitar strumming before a sudden chord
introduces disquiet on tremolando strings
and rasping trumpets, dark Spanish rhythms
pervading. ‘Spanish Gipsy Wedding’ is
delightful and relaxing Iberian music
in the style of Chabrier.
The most substantial
suite (17 minutes) is that for the 1955
film Geordie Much of the material
is derived from Scottish folk tunes
for this story of a young Scottish athlete
who triumphs at the Melbourne Olympic
Games. The Main Titles music moves from
broad march-like statements to a long
romantic melody. ‘Watching the Eagles’
is a vivid evocation of the magnificent
birds in flight against a Scottish landscape.
‘The Samson Way’ is Alwyn in comic mode
as the young Geordie (Paul Young) is
transformed from a weakly raw youth
into a robust young athlete (Bill Travers).’Father
and Son’ in more darkly dramatic mode,
and probably the most impressive movement
of the suite, with timpani to the fore
underscores a scene in which an injury
to an animal, in the highlands, leads
to the death of Geordie’s father. Sturdy
Scottish dance rhythms inform ‘The Hammer
Reel’ and finally ‘Geordie and Jean’
is lovely romantic music for the scenes
between Geordie and Jean. It’s some
of the most enchanting music penned
by Alwyn.
All the above music
is very pleasant and often quite charming.
It is played with due commitment. The
trouble is that thinking back over it
all I cannot remember one outstanding
theme, even the enchanting ‘Geordie
and Jean’ hardly presents anything novel.
This for me is the difficulty I have
with so much of the remainder of Alwyn’s
music (after the material included in
Chandos’s The Film Music of William
Alwyn Vols 1 and 2). It is to my ears,
despite being excellently crafted, too
derivative.
Workmanlike but not
up to the standard of the first
two volumes of film music by this composer.
Candidly, rather dull stuff.
Ian Lace
BBC Philharmonic Orchestra/Rumon Gamba 
