Captain Blood and Other Swashbucklers

by Brandenburg Philharmonic

Overview

Although officially titled Captain Blood on its spine, this CD offers a lot more than just that Erich Wolfgang Korngold score (which takes up just under 20 minutes here). Indeed, one of the unexpected delights comes during the opening with the presentation of Miklos Rozsa's mostly overlooked and unknown score for The King's Thief (1955), an adventure film set during the reign of Charles II, which is one of the most unabashedly rousing pieces of music ever to come from the composer, with rich horn and brass parts ornamenting the entire seven-and-a-half-minute suite. Victor Young's music from Scaramouche, which follows, is a bit more romantic in character, with long, lush violin parts to carry much of its length. Then comes Korngold's score, a breakthrough work for the composer that, in one fell swoop, established him at Warner Bros. and in Hollywood after a lifetime spent in the opera houses and concert halls of Vienna -- opening with a bold drum roll and a fanfare on the brass, horns, and strings which, once heard, is never forgotten, the music distilled down the essence of the heroic plot line in seemingly effortless fashion, and makes for 19 delightful minutes of listening here. And Max Steiner's music for The Three Musketeers (1935) closes this CD with a nearly 19-minute suite, which contains some of the finer adventure scoring of its era by the man who practically invented the technique of scoring the sound film -- if Steiner lacks Korngold's refinement and inventiveness, he makes up for it with a panache born of the opera house and the operetta stage, and a boldness in orchestration that surprised and delighted filmgoers in 1935 and still pleases the ear today. The Brandenburg Philharmonic, based in Potsdam, plays beautifully throughout, and conductor Richard Kaufman captures the essential nuances of the diverse composers represented here, and the annotation is reasonably thorough as well. ~ Bruce Eder

Product Details

Release Date:	02/22/2005
Label:	Naxos
UPC:	0747313270422
Rank:	134442

Tracks

1. The King's Thief, film score~Highlights
2. Scaramouche, film (1952)~Main Title
3. Scaramouche, film (1952)~Vanished Merchant
4. Scaramouche, film (1952)~The Tomb, Andr¿¿ and Aline
5. Scaramouche, film (1952)~Why?
6. Scaramouche, film (1952)~Pavane
7. Scaramouche, film (1952)~Andr¿¿ Escapes
8. Scaramouche, film (1952)~The Big Apple
9. Scaramouche, film (1952)~The Magic Box-Roses and Naploeon
10. Scaramouche, film (1952)~End Cast
11. Captain Blood, film score~Main Title
12. Captain Blood, film score~Slaves-Arabella and Blood
13. Captain Blood, film score~Tortuga
14. Captain Blood, film score~Port Royal-Island of Magra-English and Pirate Ships
15. Captain Blood, film score~Pirates' Flag
16. Captain Blood, film score~Finale
17. The Three Musketeers, film score (1935)~To Paris-Fencing demonstration
18. The Three Musketeers, film score (1935)~Love Theme
19. The Three Musketeers, film score (1935)~Fight behind Palace
20. The Three Musketeers, film score (1935)~Night Time-Pigeons
21. The Three Musketeers, film score (1935)~Carriage Ride
22. The Three Musketeers, film score (1935)~Finale

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Brandenburg Philharmonic   Primary Artist,Orchestra
Richard Kaufman   Primary Artist,Conductor
Manfred Rosenberg   Conductor
Joern Potratz   Director

Technical Credits

Erich Wolfgang Korngold   Composer
Miklos Rozsa   Composer
Max Steiner   Composer
William T. Stromberg   Reconstruction,Score Reconstruction
Christopher Palmer   Reconstruction,Score Reconstruction
Victor Young   Composer
Ron Hoares   Design
Hermann Leppich   Sound Assistant
Geert Puhlmann   Engineer
John Morgan   Arranger,Score Reconstruction,Liner Notes
Klaus P. Hanusa   Executive Producer
Anne Klasen   Digital Editing
John Russell Morgan   Arranger,Reconstruction
Klaus Bischke   Producer,Digital Editing
Tony Thomas   Liner Notes