Intrada Soundtrack Forum

2/7/2021

Our next new release, due later this month is actually an all-time favorite of mine, oft-discussed amongst my friends here and coming from my personal favorite era of movies and film scores. The composer, a multi-Oscar nominee, wrote a lot of fantastic scores but this one coming up is in my opinion his most exciting and memorable. Opinions may vary but this is mine so give it some weight. The main title cue is certainly one of the most riveting and powerful opening credit sequences that ever set a movie in motion. Watch it on screen, listen to it on your audio player, either way it’s an incredible piece of music. Needless to say, I’ll play this one often.

By the way, just an album worth spotlighting at the moment: Endless Night. This is a Bernard Herrmann score that I was previously familiar with only by name. I’d neither heard any of it nor seen the picture for which it was composed. An Agatha Christie story, Hayley Mills in the cast, the influence of Hitchcock in the air and Bernard Herrmann scoring for a modest ensemble of woodwinds (emphasis on clarinets), 4 horns (no other brass), strings, harp, percussion and Minimoog (synthesizer). Discovering new Herrmann music is one of the treats of the film music world. A major asset is the conducting of Fernando Velazquez, a prolific composer with whom I have a very large shelf-full of soundtracks that he’s composed over the years. He obtains a lot of nuance with the myriad orchestral colors. And credit an extremely detailed recording to assist in that detail, with the Basque National Orchestra in total command of the score. This CD is a wonderful treat from our friends at Quartet Records, under the very capable Jose M. Benitez. Bravo!