Intrada Soundtrack Forum

September 5, 2000

The Best Years Of Our Lives
Hugo Friedhofer
London Philharmonic Orchestra Conducted by Frank Collura
Total Time = 46:11

It was 1946. When typical Hollywood scores came steeped in European musical tradition. When the cream of Hollywood’s composing crop came from countries elsewhere. THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES. The picture William Wyler pressured Alfred Newman to do. The score ace orchestrator Hugo Friedhofer used to prove once and for all what he could do in the driver’s seat.

Wyler didn’t want typical movie music. He wanted "Americana". Friedhofer gave it to him. More than a half century later Hollywood remains challenged to produce a better score.

Of numerous Oscars voted THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES, Hugo Friedhofer got one for his music. Rarely have those people gotten it so right.

Wyler’s movie was about three servicemen coming home from World War II. It was also about the mood of America immediately following the war. It was touching, sentimental, powerful. Typical for Wyler movies, performances were excellent. Playwrite Robert Sherwood nailed the script. Gregg Toland made it look great in black and white. And Hugo Friedhofer gift wrapped it.

No surprises today. Readers here know I love this score. The architecture of the music. The craft, composition, technique it has. I’m gonna praise the album too.

Friedhofer’s "Main Title" immediately establishes an American idiom with wide leaping intervals. Constantly changing harmonies move things quickly. Descending major chords triumphantly bring it to a close. In a single piece Friedhofer establishes key themes, bridges, identifies mood, military background, sentiment.

The major chords used during the main title appear again as Homer looks out from his plane into the clouds. It’s a chordal motif bridging material in the "Homecoming" music. Also used are the interval leaps from the main title, plus much new material. As the plane moves over Boone City the three servicemen watch from the nose. They’re seeing home. Friedhofer hits his stride with a new theme, catching the exhilaration of the moment, infusing his score with significant rhythm and bounce. As the scene shifts from plane to cab Friedhofer takes his new theme along, winds down as the cab reaches Homer’s street. Friedhofer now brings in two of the most important musical ideas. As the cab edges towards Homer’s house the score develops a pair of connected four-note phrases. You’ll hear them at key points throughout the score. Then fragments of the wide interval theme. Finally, Wilma appears.

Wonder if she’ll still love him, hooks and all? Friedhofer removes any doubt. But it’s not all warmth. Friedhofer captures the anxiety, the sentiment, and finally the despair on screen as Homer can’t yet put arms around his sweetheart. When the entire six minute piece draws to a moody conclusion you feel the music has gone on a true emotional journey. Starting in the plane, through clouds at sunrise, over the cityscape, across the ground, from suspense to excitement, from nostalgia to anxiety, from warmth to despair. It’s one incredible piece.

Careful architecture in the score reappears time and time again. When Al reaches home ("The Elevator, Boone City, Peggy") the music touches on fragments of the wide interval idea, the previous homecoming music, new music. Friedhofer manages to construct new ideas continually at various strategic points while maintaining earlier material. It happens again in the following cue, "Fred & Peggy", where some comical behavior warrants a jaunty, jazzier new melody for alto sax.

Highlights of the score are many. Standing out are the lengthy sequences involving Homer and Wilma. In one, Friedhofer captures Homer’s anger at his plight, his self-pity. As Homer goes to bed, with help from his father, Friedhofer uses his primary material in pretty tragic guise. Later, Wilma accompanies Homer to bed. Whether she can live with him, can help him release his pity, we’ve no doubt. It’s only for Homer to realize. When he does, Friedhofer is there. Wilma’s theme swells in violins but is developed further than before, soaring. And when it’s done, those four-note phrases from back when we first hit Homer’s street make a return. One of the most profound moments in scoring you’ll get.

On the heels of it find "The Citation, Graveyard & Bombers". In a great scene Fred Derry’s dad reads of his son’s bravery. Coplandesque music gives it significance. On screen Fred Derry walks towards the airplane graveyard, in total despair. His "best years" are now fully revealed. Music alone carries a flashback to war, carnage, combat, in graphic terms, without visual effects. The camera stays on Derry inside the useless bomber. Friedhofer does the work.

This disc was available originally on LP in 1979. The score was reconstructed by Tony Bremner for the Entr’acte label and producer John Lasher. A CD was issued in 1988 and has been out-of-print for some time.

This reissue presents the meticulous recording in a new light. Remixing everything, producer Lasher has brought clarity to the lower strings, the lower brass. It adds impact. The recording remains on the bright side but significant detail now revealed makes all previous issues obsolete.

In terms of rerecordings this project was always one of the finest, most authentic. Quite simply, it’s a must have.

September 12, 2000

Adventures Of Don Juan
Composed and Conducted by Max Steiner
BYU FMA FMA-MS106
Total Time = 73:40

1948. The year ADVENTURES OF DON JUAN finally made it to screens.

It’s origin went back a decade. Errol Flynn was in those days a perfect swashbuckler. CAPTAIN BLOOD, ROBIN HOOD, SEA HAWK, PRINCE AND THE PAUPER, ELIZABETH AND ESSEX. With sword at the ready, Flynn stood in a league of his own. Not by accident, his swash and buckle always played over music by Erich Korngold. Steiner got the westerns. There were lots of those too. But the sweeping romances where Flynn saved fair ladies, foiled traitors, dueled through castle halls? They belonged to Korngold.

Until now.

Korngold was once attached to the project. The legendary exploits of lover Don Juan were considered at Warner Bros. following the success of their ROBIN HOOD in 1938. Troubles arose and years passed. Korngold eventually became ill, parted with Warner Bros. and bowed out. Max Steiner picked up the baton. But when Don Juan finally swashed through theaters Flynn’s star had tarnished. It never glowed again.

ADVENTURES OF DON JUAN wasn’t a match for earlier Flynn movies but it had stuff going for it. A spectacular duel between Don Juan and Duke de Lorca (Robert Douglas) climaxed a witty screenplay. Things looked sumptuous. And there was great music.

It’s music that has worn well. People might recall hearing it not once but twice in movies from the eighties: ZORRO, THE GAY BLADE and THE GOONIES.

Now it’s available in a 70-minute CD from Brigham Young University with almost the entire score represented. Acetate discs made during the original recording sessions have been cleaned, edited and newly-mastered for this presentation. Surface noise is minimal and audio quality is excellent. Booklet notes are outstanding, chronicling the production, the scoring, the individual cues. Color stills include scenes and the original one sheet.

It all starts with a burst of brass. A blazing fanfare of major chords heralding a rousing 17th century costumer set in Spain. Don Juan’s theme enters, a spirited romp combining athletics with a wink of the eye. Steiner instantly manages excitement and splendor, historical period, Spanish setting, and humor.

Later a theme associated with Don Juan’s romances weaves into the fabric.

A pageant in London gives Steiner a showcase for one of the grand highlights early on. Full orchestra, augmented by massive percussion and, according to authority John W. Morgan, baritones (a low, rather mellow horn appearing like a small tuba). The baritones aren’t audible in this early recording, blending somewhere between the trombones and the French horns, but the percussion certainly are. So are the fanfares in upper brass, swirls of woodwinds in and about. It all makes the "Processional" (final part of track 2) a spectacular moment indeed.

There’s an abundance of action, of course. Steiner was noted for writing busy music - lots of notes. His action music often consisted of racing octaves for strings and woodwinds. Often he’d toss trumpets into the same figures. The rest of the orchestra punctuated them, pounded around them. What resulted were dazzling displays that challenged musicians.

The number of action segments in DON JUAN are numerous. "Escape", "The Press Gang", "Juan Exposes Duke de Lorca", "Rescue From The Fortress", and an unrelenting showpiece entitled "Fighting For Freedom". In this last one numerous busy figures throughout the orchestra battle with allegro quotes of the Don Juan theme.

Melodies are present too. Love themes flow, rich with soaring strings and warm harmonies. A moving line associated with Queen Margaret stands out, as does the love theme. Both move the score away from romp and adventure, providing welcome richness into the portrait. The lengthy "Paragon Among Queens" stands out as a sumptuous example.

So does Don Juan get to kiss the girl? Does he discover treachery in the kingdom? Does he foil the baddie? Ponder these until you see the movie.

On his detour into castles and costumes did Steiner win the day?

Gee, listen to the music and find out.

September 19, 2000

Time After Time
Composed and Conducted by Miklos Rozsa
Hot/Southern Cross SSCD 1014
Total Time = 39:00

Rozsa conducting the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Rozsa doing science fiction and fantasy. It’s a great combination.

Nicholas Meyer directed his first movie from his own script. It combined a favorite science fiction device, time travel, with fantasy ingredients. H.G. Wells meets Jack the Ripper in 19th century London. Wells invents a time machine. What if Jack finds it, escapes to the 20th century? What if Wells pursues Jack to present day San Francisco?

Adding a love story made the movie emotional. Putting the lovers in jeopardy made it gripping.

Malcolm McDowell got to play H.G. Wells. David Warner played Jack the Ripper. Meyer stated that symphonic music was his first consideration when it came time to score the movie. Rozsa was his ultimate choice.

Early in the forties Rozsa did a pair of movies filling a fantasy mold: THE THIEF OF BAGHDAD and JUNGLE BOOK. Decades later he did THE GOLDEN VOYAGE OF SINBAD. Just ahead of fantasy, Rozsa was known for costume pictures, film noir, dramas by Billy Wilder, a stint with Hitchcock. Legendary scores came out of all of these. But science fiction movies never dogged his trail. Eventually two projects within the genre carried Rozsa music: THE WORLD, THE FLESH AND THE DEVIL and THE POWER. Neither were landmarks of cinema.

TIME AFTER TIME is kind of unique in that it successfully marries several genres. Science fiction meets fantasy meets romance meets thriller. In equal parts.

Rozsa centered his opening music around a dramatic, muscular theme heard immediately following the Warner Bros. logo by Max Steiner. After this "Prelude" it’s used judiciously, associated with time travel and the machine itself. Hear it in "Vaporizing Equalizer; The Time Machine" and "Time Travel". And not a lot after that.

Rozsa favored smaller motifs for the first half of the score. There’s one for the Ripper, colored by that unsettling interval of the tritone. There’s a great one for scenes with the two adversaries, especially in an exciting "Pursuit", a highlight. There’s even a waltz for the time machine, featuring piano.

But it’s not until the score has passed midpoint that the rich, sumptuous "love theme" takes over. Heard during "Redwoods", Rozsa follows the blossoming love between Wells and Amy (Mary Steenburgen) with his own blossoming tune. Gentle oboe and winding clarinet weave the tune and countermelody for a moment, then give way to strings. Rozsa was gifted at introducing melody, something gentle, then opening it up with strings over layers of gorgeous harmony. Like he does here. It’s a credit to Rozsa that this theme, like the opening theme, are heard infrequently, yet stay memorable.

Since danger elements of the movie are ever-present, the music won’t stray far from unsettling motifs earlier established. "Frightened" and "Murder" make sure of that. "The Fifth Victim" brings in brief strains of the love theme but "The Last Victim" slices through with dissonant edge. Most of it works with the material associated with Wells pursuit of the Ripper.

A rich variant of the Ripper motif shows up during "Nocturnal Visitor", edging the story towards a close. Rozsa then brings his running and chasing elements of the score into an energetic, rhythmic action piece titled "Dangerous Drive". Much of the activity is based on the Ripper motif plus a neatly disguised variant on the earlier pursuit material.

Then Rozsa wraps it up. Like the satisfying conclusion to the story, Rozsa ends his musical journey. Not with a whimper but a bang. The music for Wells and the Ripper makes a final appearance. Rozsa works the love theme back into it. Then in a terrific turn, he gently plays the original opening theme in octaves against a flurry of woodwind activity. But just briefly. It’s soon a progression of rich harmonies, and a swelling of the love theme. Moving towards a splendid finish.

With a dazzle of soaring strings, trilling woodwinds and reaching brass, Rozsa lands on an affirmative major chord of triumph. Rozsa makes it clear you’ve gone on a fantastic journey, arriving somewhere safe, sound and satisfied.

September 26, 2000

Victory At Sea
Composed by Richard Rodgers
Conducted by Robert Russell Bennett
Q Records/Atlantic 92918-2
Total Time = 68:34

Fifties television music. A famous documentary series bringing viewers up close, in contact with the World at War for a second time. Not on land, nor in the air, but at sea. Mostly, anyway.

Credits included producer Henry Salomon, narrator Alexander Scourby, music by Richard Rodgers, orchestrations by Robert Russell Bennett, playing by the NBC Orchestra.

Everything about it was considered class. Loudly applauded was the music heard weekly. A strong, soaring horn theme in unison over rolling waves of strings and woodwinds started it off. New tunes popped up throughout. Battle music, defeat music, marches, victory celebrations, music for work, for play. Every facet of naval combat got attention. Many tunes became standards for marching bands, pops concerts. Lyricists got into the act. And record albums happened.

Four of them.

First off the press, RCA released mono material recorded by the NBC Orchestra. Cues were especially developed by orchestrator Robert Russell Bennett into suites. The record hit bullseye. RCA kept it around for awhile then recorded a second volume. This time conductor Bennett led the RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra, bringing stereo technology with him. Results were superb. All new movements with then state-of-the-art sound. What followed was sort of novel.

RCA recorded the first volume again, now in stereo, using RCA Victor musicians. More superb results, inspiring a volume three. Yet more new music, authentic sound effects, concluding with a lengthy "Symphonic Scenario" Bennett prepared, incorporating highlights from the entire series, specially arranged as a single, monumental piece.

Richard Rodgers was established, of course. He’d sneeze and tunes would come out. Broadway numbers that became standards prove this.

Less recognized was Robert Russell Bennett. He was in the background, but part of the musical scene Rodgers made famous. Though unnoticed (like team members Hart or Hammerstein) he was brilliant at orchestrating. He also composed. People familiar with concert band music know his "Symphonic Songs For Band" and "Suite Of Old American Dances". They’re basic college band repertoire, challenging for young bands but true war-horses for mature players.

VICTORY AT SEA finally made visible the team of Rodgers and Bennett. On screen both got their moment of glory in the credits.

Music from all three stereo volumes have long been available on two RCA CDs. Now major highlights have been compiled in stunning sound as one disc presented by The History Channel, with Q Records and Atlantic sharing label credit. Given the age of the sessions involved, results are impressive. Stereo images are wide, dynamic range is strong. Especially noteworthy are instrumental details. Muted brass passages, delicate woodwind solos, xylophone, wood blocks, snare drum with loosened snares, you name it. They’re all crisp, easy to spot.

The actual compositions, of course, take front and center. This new issue places the main theme, "Song of the High Seas" in second position, opening instead with a spectacular suite that brought the series to a close. Big surprise here, the piece is titled "Victory at Sea". To a whirlwind of woodwind trills, harp glissandos and ringing triangle, brass fanfares kick the six-minute piece into gear. Soon the anthem heraldinging final victory emerges. It’s memorable, richly harmonized. Then comes the most famous foot stomper of the entire tv series, "Guadalcanal March", deliberately paced in 6/8 meter. When it’s done the tuneful, lyrical "Beneath the Southern Cross" melody comes up. The piece concludes with a powerful reiteration of the anthem.

French horns sing a "Song of the High Seas", signature tune for the entire program. Also used here are a theme for trombones and tuba, identified with German U-boats, and a haunting solo trumpet line associated with death and debris.

All the pieces introduce new material, sometimes referring to earlier ideas. Everything becomes a mosaic of strongly melodic, frequently powerful stuff.

A standout device throughout is compositional material bridging the numerous themes. From brief transitions in mood or color, to elaborate, extended ideas, they add detail and variety to the higher profile tunes. Nearly every piece moves from a primary melody into rich, varied secondary ideas. Together, melodies and bridges form an engrossing finished work of substantial weight.

Now, with all the praise comes one heck of a "what’s up?"

Someone missed the boat on cue titles. Most of them are wrong. This sticks out when many tunes have become familiar in various arrangements, live concerts, other recordings. Bennett’s own "Symphonic Scenario", scored for concert band, subtitled the numerous themes. Numerous other compilations of Rodger’s music have included the themes with proper titles.

There are correct titles listed here on the new packaging. They’re just assigned to the wrong tracks.

When you’re ready to enjoy that famous "Guadalcanal March", play "Theme of the Fast Carriers" instead. Looking for "Beneath the Southern Cross"? Hit "Fire on the Waters" instead. Kind of annoying.

Best bet. Just play from start to finish. You’ll find it rewarding.