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EDITOR’s RECOMMENDATION November
2000
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Collection:
British Film Music Vol. 1
Sir Arnold BAX - Oliver Twist; Lord BERNERS - Nicholas Nickleby; Sir
Arthur BLISS - Men of two Worlds; Brian EASDALE - The Red Shoes; John IRELAND
- The Overlanders; Ralph VAUGHAN-WILLIAMS - Scott of the Antarctic; Charles
WILLIAMS - While I live;
The Philharmonia Orchestra
conducted by Muir Mathieson & Ernest Irving, (track 13, LSO, track 14,
The National Symphony Orchestra, tracks 20 & 21 Charles Williams Concert
Orchestra, conducted by Charles Williams)
Pearl GEMMCD 0100
[74:39]
Crotchet
Here is music from British films made between 1946-48, presented in recordings
made for issue of 78rpm records, originally released on Columbia, Decca or
HMV. It is a well-filled disc, though unusually the selections from Scott
of the Antarctic (1948) also appear in identical form in the simultaneously
issued Pearl GEM 0107, Vaughan-Williams Symphony No.6 - Film Music,
which I review this month on FMOTW. For my comments on these see that review.
That leaves music from six other films, all either classics or films with
notable scores by major composers, or both.
Brian Easdale's Red Shoes Ballet (1948) is particularly well-loved,
and while the ballet is presented here, so is the rather harder to find
'prelude'. A most welcome return to the catalogue, though the ballet can
be heard in all its magical glitter to far greater effect on the Silva Screen
re-recording Classic British Film Music (FILMCD 072), and it should
be noted that the complete original soundtrack to The Red Shoes
has recently been issued by the Sound Track Factory (SFCD33540).
Arnold Bax only wrote two film scores, Malta V.C., and Oliver
Twist. This later is represented by three tracks, the first an eight
minute arrangement of the film's main theme into a single movement movie
concerto featuring Harriet Cohen at the piano; an essential item for Bax
collectors. Unfortunately the surface noise is particularly intrusive, making
the 'Theme' something of an endurance test for those raised on spectacular
modern sound. Then comes a combination of the cues 'The Pickpocketing', 'The
Chase' and Fagin's Romp', all followed by the 'Finale'. The music finds the
composer caught somewhere between his concert style and the demands of the
screen, but it is still unmistakable Bax, full of pace, excitement and drama.
John Ireland's The Overlanders (1946) is a classic film score, here
arranged into a suite by the conductor Ernest Irving which lasts almost nine
minutes. This is robustly adventurous music, a vein continued through the
set-piece 'Bazara', another movie concerto in one movement, this time for
piano and chorus, from the film Men of Two Worlds (1946) scored by Arthur
Bliss. Rousing as this is, I can't help but feel that the composer is better
served by the re-recording on Bliss: Film Music (Marco Polo 8.223315).
Next comes Lord Berners score for Nicholas Nickleby (1947), a Dickens
film rather overshadowed by Oliver Twist in the history books, but one which
offers an idiomatic and very English score in the grand tradition. And finally,
Charles Williams music from While I Live (1947), a romantic melodrama
today remembered, if at all, for yet another of those 1940's movie piano
concertos, The Dream of Olwen, performed by Arthur Dulay. Endlessly
parodied, yet still highly effective, the track is actually preceded by a
cue of incidental music from the film which is much more rare.
For those who don't mind the thin and hissy sound, which is actually at least
average for the era, this disc will provide much pleasure. The music is
excellent, the recordings acceptable and the historic and nostalgic value
immeasurable.
Gary S. Dalkin
music;
sound
