CAPTAIN BLOOD AND OTHER SWASHBUCKLERS

MIKLÓS RÓZSA, VICTOR YOUNG, ERICH WOLFGANG KORNGOLD and MAX STEINER

Rating:

Golden Age Review by Tom Kiefner: This companion work to Historical Romances has a definite emphasis on the "swashbuckling" type of film, as featured in the four selections this CD has to offer. Recorded during the same period as the Historical Romances it features selections from The King's Thief, Scaramouche, Captain Blood, and The Three Musketeers with arrangements/reconstructions by William Stromberg, John Morgan and the late, great Christopher Palmer. The first three mentioned are all available as separate, more complete works, but if you want any sort of suite of any kind from The Three Musketeers this recording is your only choice - at least at the time of writing (early 2006).

Palmer has reconstructed a wonderful, easy-to-listen-to suite from The Kings Thief, the 1955 film starring Edmund Purdom, David Niven, and George Sanders. Not one of Hollywood's more memorable efforts, it is very loosely based on the story of Captain Blood and how he managed to steal the crown jewels from the Tower of London. The suite is based on the basic themes from the picture. Rózsa always did a great deal of research when choosing the correct style of period music for his scores, and this is no exception. The rousing main theme, horn-driven and accentuated by strings, leads nicely to an extended minuet conjuring up visions of aristocratic dancing. The minuet leads to the love theme, played with delicacy by the oboe and strings, which leads back to another statement of the main theme ending the eight-minute work. The complete original soundtrack was released as part of a two-CD set, coupled with Knights of the Round Table, as part of the ever-growing Film Score Monthly series (FSMCD Vol. 6 No. 7).

‘Rousing’ and ‘romantic’ best describe the treatment that Victor Young gives to the 1952 star-laden picture Scaramouche starring Stewart Granger, Mel Ferrer, Janet Leigh, and Eleanor Parker. Bill Stromberg has constructed a pleasant eighteen-minute suite of 9 tracks of the major themes, with emphasis given to the main title melody. Young seemed to be quite at home in this genre of film, blending his stronger romantic tendencies with enough stirring music, coupled with period style to make it interesting. Known for his lovely romantic melodies, Scaramouche (clown) is no exception. The "Andre and Aline" love theme oozes forth the smooth silky strings. There are references to his infamous The Uninvited score, and if one listens carefully you can hear a quite similar introduction to the "Stella By Starlight" theme. The track "Why?" also has Victor's danger motif. This little motif is featured in so many of his scores it would be impossible to count. The track "Pavane" is reminiscent of the quieter romantic moments of Ernest Gold's On The Beach score. This score is also available as a complete package in the Film Score Monthly series (FSMCD Vol. 5 No. 13).

Released in 1935, Captain Blood vaulted Errol Flynn into almost instant stardom as the swashbuckling Peter Blood. Based on the 1922 Sabatini novel it also stars a very sinister Basil Rathbone and lovely Olivia de Havilland. The complete package of ingredients is present in this fine Korngold soundtrack. Fireworks, humorous tracks, a delicate heart-throbbing love theme, and plenty of pomp and circumstance are included in this musical adaptation. Because the score contains cues provided by orchestrator Milan Roder (Korngold’s collaborator before the time of Friedhofer) and several Liszt compositions, Korngold did not want to take complete credit for this "setting the standard" work, thus the word ‘adaptation’ was used. There is an original soundtrack to this film on Tsunami (TSU 0141), but this is a bootleg and for many reasons cannot be recommended. This John Morgan reconstruction is a good one and an excellent representation of the music from the film. If you are just looking for a recording of Captain Blood, the Gerhardt/National Philharmonic recording would be a better choice.

The treatment given to the 1935 version of one of the more filmed novels - The Three Musketeers, based on the Dumas tale - is far less exciting than the rousing soundtrack Max Steiner produced. Even though Steiner won an Oscar that year for The Informer you certainly cannot hear any lack of effort for this soundtrack. Filled with the wonderful melodies Steiner does so well, it has the trademark love theme, his danger motif, rousing marches, great sword fighting cues, all of the ingredients for a well done piece. According to the Tony Thomas liner notes, this is not a reconstruction but an arrangement of the score which John Morgan diligently studied. At 18+ minutes it gives one a decent representation of the music.

Upon repeated listens to this album, one finds many of the cues to be lacking in the vibrancy and vigour needed, especially noticeable on the Rózsa selection. - the overall excitement is missing! One could liken it to a recipe which is lacking the key spice which would otherwise turn it into an excellent dish. When that spice or ingredient is just not present, no matter how times it is eaten – or listened to - the dish is never quite as good as it could be. The Historical Romance CD, the companion to this one, has such a fine recording of Gunga Din that it puts it a step above this one. Still having said that, this is still something that can be recommended. First of all it is the only way to get The Three Musketeers, and that alone is worth the small investment in the Naxos release. Keep in mind that Naxos CDs are the very best value in our marketplace. If you really desire any one of the other three selections this compilation has to offer you can purchase the works in a more complete package. The original soundtracks are less wooden sounding, and if you are not familiar with this golden age music at all it will provide you with a wonderful introduction to Rózsa, Young, Korngold, and Steiner.

This CD is available for purchase online from HB Direct.

Track Listing: Running Time: 65 minutes 14 seconds

Naxos 8.557704 (1995)

Music composed by Miklós Rózsa, Victor Young, Erich Wolfgang Korngold and Max Steiner. Performed by The Brandenburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Potsdam. Conducted by Richard Kaufman. Score reconstructions by John Morgan, William Stromberg and Christopher Palmer. Recorded and mixed by Gert Puhlmann. Album produced by John W. Morgan and William T. Stromberg.

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