SOUNDTRACKS FROM THE GOLDEN AGE OF MOVIES!

Charles Gerhardt/National Philharmonic Orchestra
Spellbound: The Classic Film Scores of Miklos Rozsa
Sony Masterworks
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Charles Gerhardt/National Philharmonic OrchestraC
Sunset Boulevard: The Classic Film Scores of Franz Waxman
Sony Masterworks
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Charles Gerhardt/National Philharmonic Orchestra
Now, Voyager: The Classic Film Scores of Max Steiner
Sony Masterworks
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Charles Gerhardt/National Philharmonic Orchestra
Classic Film Scores of Betty Davis
Sony Masterworks
www.sonymasterworks.com

Charles Gerhardt/National Philharmonic Orchestra
Citizen Kane: The Classic Film Scores of Bernard Herrmann
Sony Masterworks
www.sonymasterworks.com

David Raksin/New Philharmonic Orchestra
Laura: David Raskin Conducts His Great Film Scores
Sony Masterworks
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By George W. Harris

Sony Masterworks has reissued a series of remastered albums that
displays a collection of the best “legit”music to come out of the 20th
century. As in the days of Bach and Beethoveen, and even to this
present era, some of the greatest sounds were composed as commissioned
works for a specific project. Today, we have guys like John Williams
(the Beethoven of our time), and back when movies and morals were black
and white, people listened to the exciting and evocative music by way
of the silver screen. These 6 compact discs, all with original liner
notes, present the soundtracks to some famous as well as obscure
movies, and each one has moments that make the purchase essential.

Spellbound includes the intriguing Dream Sequence from that movie, as
well as intriguing material from The Lost Weekend and Double
Indemnity,The music here shows that there’s lots of happiness in
working hard. Maybe the most, as these scores create moods that entice
the visual stimulation. Lots of music from the 1947 psychological
thriller The Red House takes up a good portion here, with the music
creating fantastic aural environments.

Franz Waxman composed the scores for movies ranging from The
Philadelphia Story to Prince Valiant, which are gloriously represented
here. However, he’s most famous for the moody masterpiece Sunset
Boulevard, which makes you realize that back in the Golden Age, the
movies weren’t big, it’s just that today’s movies got small. With
music like this you don’t need dialogue, as these scores have faces.

Max Steiner is probably the most famous of the soundtrack composers, as
he’s done everything you ever saw on TCM. Here, besides some
melodramatic music with broad brushes on Now Voyager, there’s some
intense orchestrations on The Fountainhead and creative mood music from
The Big Sleep. I haven’t seen The Informer in years, but the music here
makes me want to give it another chance, as well as Johnny Belinda,
with music like this, you don’t need to ask for the stars, we have the
moon.

Fasten your seat belts, it’s going to be a bumpy ride for the Classic
Film Scores of Betty Davis, which included here are Dark Victory, All
About Eve, The Letter and Jezebel. Steiner, who does most of the music
here, captures Davis’ brooding moods and haunting demeanor to
perfection. Sweeping sonic scenes are thrown before you, with strings
and brass swirling like Davis’ temper. The fun part about music like
this is that it’s easy to use it as a backdrop to slip into your own
movie dialogue. I was driving my wife home from church, and with this
music as the score, I started telling her, “Darling, I’ve always loved
you. I always will. There will never be another. Please never leave
me.” And it fit perfectly. She DID think I was nuts, but so what?

I’ve seen very few of the movies represented here by Bernard Herrmann’s
disc, save Citizen Kane. But after listening to the scores here,
probably a month won’t go by when I won’t think of this music. Beneath
the 12-Mile Reef has some riveting music, particularly the peculiarly
named “The Octopus: Homecoming.” I’ve got to see this flick just to see
what that’s all about! The film The White Witch Doctor as some exotic
marimba and strings mixed together making this as varied as a triple
feature at The Essex Theatre on a Saturday Matinee.

Perhaps the disc with the most consistent mood is David Raskin’s
conducting his own material, which is made up of Laura, he Bad and the
Beautiful, and Forever Amber. How singularly beautiful this music
sounds, so ethereal and pensive. Five parts of The Bad and Forever
Amber mix serene panoramic vistas with thoughtful drama and melodrama.
This music will slowly creep into your mind as you go about the day,
making you realize that to give truth to a performance, there’s
nothing like love.