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Records Ltd.; review copyright (c) 2005 James Southall
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THE ESSENTIAL ELMER BERNSTEIN FILM MUSIC
COLLECTION Wonderful music by
one of film music's all time greats A review by JAMES SOUTHALL In what was a tragic year for film music fans, 2004 saw the
death of several great contributors to the genre, including the legendary Elmer
Bernstein. Part of the triumvirate that completely changed film music
during the 1950s by showing that not all films had to be scored with 19th
century romantic music for a full symphony orchestra (along with Alex North and
Leonard Rosenman), Bernstein went on to remain at the very top of the profession
for an incredible fifty years, scoring numerous classics along the way, working
in every genre of film, and winning new fans from each new generation who
discovered his music. For me his greatest gift was the timelessness of his
composition. For sure, some of his music for the more melodramatic
pictures on which he worked during the early stages of his career were very much
of the period, but the bulk of his output had a wonderful quality which would
make it just as relevant in a modern film as it was forty years ago. If
only anyone was actually making films as good as To Kill a Mockingbird or
The Magnificent Seven, there'd be no reason for the music to be any
different. Indeed, music from those two films opens this double CD
overview of the great composer's career, a tribute from Silva Screen Records and
producer James Fitzpatrick. Surely the bulk of the music is familiar to
all. On this set are some of the classics (from The Ten Commandments
of 1956 through to Far From Heaven of 2002 - stopping off at The
Comancheros, Ghostbusters, Heavy Metal, Johnny Staccato,
True Grit, Hollywood and the Stars, The Great Escape, The
Man with the Golden Arm, and Hawaii on the way) but also some
lesser-known (but by no means lesser!) music by Bernstein, including a few world
premiere recordings. An American Werewolf in London is a score that really
deserves a proper release, but for now it's good to have the five-minute track
"Metamorphosis" here, showing off a creepy side to Bernstein's writing
not often heard. The Sons of Katie Elder is one of his classic
western themes (though it is very similar to The Magnificent Seven!)
and a release of the whole score is long overdue. The composer's
"comedy phase" in which he was unfairly pigeonholed for some years
ended up seeing him work on some truly risible and desperate films, so it's easy
to forget the reason he was there in the first place, which were his wonderful
scores for films which were actually very good. Airplane is this
writer's favourite comedy film and Bernstein's absurdly straight-faced music
plays a big part in that; and there's a great suite here, beginning with his
interpolation of John Williams's Jaws theme and ending with probably the
most hilariously over-scored finale music in history. Wonderful
stuff. The Birdman of Alcatraz is one of the composer's best
unreleased scores and it's good to hear a piece here. Finally (and most
intriguingly) comes a piece from the composer's only Oscar-winner, which was
inexplicably Thoroughly Modern Millie. It's a nice waltz, upbeat
and cheerful, but not exactly classic Bernstein and it's a great pity he didn't
receive more formal recognition from his peers for his other, more deserving
works. The bulk of the music is performed by the City of Prague
Philharmonic and, as usual, some of their playing could politely be described as
"enthusiastic" rather than technically great, but much here is
performed notably better than some of their recordings, particularly the
newly-recorded material conducted by James Fitzpatrick (the album also includes
some "library" music from Silva, understandably enough); some pieces
are somewhat spoiled by poor playing, most notably The Man with the Golden
Arm which is taken from the otherwise-excellent "Jazz in Film"
album, but by and large things are good. Liner notes by Fitzpatrick and
David Wishart are excellent and rather touching, and include a number of
photographs of Bernstein. Needless to say, the music is wonderful, classic
material. This release is highly recommended to fans of the composer and
also serves as a great overview for those yet to discover the joys present in
his music. Bernstein was a remarkable composer and, by all accounts, a
wonderful gentleman and I fear his like won't be seen again in the world of film
music for a very long time, if ever. Let's treasure the great legacy he
left us.
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