Rawsthorne - Film Music
A cracking addition to the budding Chandos Movies label, and essential listening for film- and British-music fans alike
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Alan Rawsthorne
Genre:
Orchestral
Label: Chandos
Magazine Review Date: 6/2000
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 73
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: CHAN9749
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
(The) Captive Heart, Movement: ~ |
Alan Rawsthorne, Composer
Alan Rawsthorne, Composer BBC Philharmonic Orchestra Rumon Gamba, Conductor |
West of Zanzibar |
Alan Rawsthorne, Composer
Alan Rawsthorne, Composer BBC Philharmonic Orchestra Rumon Gamba, Conductor |
(The) Cruel Sea, Movement: Main Titles |
Alan Rawsthorne, Composer
Alan Rawsthorne, Composer BBC Philharmonic Orchestra Rumon Gamba, Conductor |
(The) Cruel Sea, Movement: Nocturne |
Alan Rawsthorne, Composer
Alan Rawsthorne, Composer BBC Philharmonic Orchestra Rumon Gamba, Conductor |
Where No Vultures Fly, Movement: Introduction |
Alan Rawsthorne, Composer
Alan Rawsthorne, Composer BBC Philharmonic Orchestra Rumon Gamba, Conductor |
Where No Vultures Fly, Movement: Main Titles and Opening Scene |
Alan Rawsthorne, Composer
Alan Rawsthorne, Composer BBC Philharmonic Orchestra Rumon Gamba, Conductor |
Where No Vultures Fly, Movement: Surveying the Game |
Alan Rawsthorne, Composer
Alan Rawsthorne, Composer BBC Philharmonic Orchestra Rumon Gamba, Conductor |
Uncle Silas, Movement: Main Titles and Opening Scene |
Alan Rawsthorne, Composer
Alan Rawsthorne, Composer BBC Philharmonic Orchestra Rumon Gamba, Conductor |
Uncle Silas, Movement: Valse caprice |
Alan Rawsthorne, Composer
Alan Rawsthorne, Composer BBC Philharmonic Orchestra Rumon Gamba, Conductor |
Uncle Silas, Movement: End Titles |
Alan Rawsthorne, Composer
Alan Rawsthorne, Composer BBC Philharmonic Orchestra Rumon Gamba, Conductor |
Lease of Life |
Alan Rawsthorne, Composer
Alan Rawsthorne, Composer BBC Philharmonic Orchestra Rumon Gamba, Conductor |
(The) Dancing Fleece |
Alan Rawsthorne, Composer
Alan Rawsthorne, Composer BBC Philharmonic Orchestra Rumon Gamba, Conductor |
Burma Victory |
Alan Rawsthorne, Composer
Alan Rawsthorne, Composer BBC Philharmonic Orchestra Rumon Gamba, Conductor |
Saraband for Dead Lovers |
Alan Rawsthorne, Composer
Alan Rawsthorne, Composer BBC Philharmonic Orchestra Rumon Gamba, Conductor |
Author:
Incapable of shoddy craftsmanship and truly a 'composer's composer', Alan Rawsthorne (1905-71) brought a professional integrity, great clarity of expression and unerring economy of thought to every field of music in which he worked, not least the 27 film scores he penned between 1937 and 1964. Listening to this handsome new anthology, Hans Keller's shrewd observation (quoted by John Belcher in his excellent annotation) is penetratingly apt: 'Rawsthorne always wrote music in the first place, and film music, equally conscientiously and clearly, in the second.'
There are selections from nine scores in all, the arranging and orchestrating duties being shared by the indefatigable Philip Lane and Gerard Schurmann (who worked closely with the composer on many of the original ventures). The Cruel Sea (1953) remains the best-known offering here, its evocative, slumbering power and noble defiance as eloquent as ever. Bernard Herrmann (who, let's face it, knew a thing or two about the genre) rated Uncle Silas (1947) one of the greatest film scores he had ever encountered, a verdict I wholeheartedly endorse (just try the delightfully flirtatious 'Valse caprice'). Fascinatingly, the charming 'Three Dances' from The Dancing Fleece (a Crown Film Unit production promoting British wool) can now almost be viewed as a 'trial run' for Madame Chrysantheme, the one-act ballet Rawsthorne wrote in 1955 for Sadlers Wells. The first track is an extended (18-minute) suite from the 1946 POW drama, The Captive Heart, and there are also generous excerpts from Where No Vultures Fly (chosen for the Royal Film Premiere in 1951) and the documentary Burma Victory (full of decidedly superior, stirring invention). Keller was especially complimentary about Lease of Life (1954), a Robert Donat vehicle for which Rawsthorne supplied a 'rich miniature score' lasting about 13-and-a-half minutes, and the collection concludes with a flourish in the shape of the superbly swaggering 'Prelude and Carnival' from Saraband for Dead Lovers (1948).
Drawing playing of panache and infectious enthusiasm from the BBC Philharmonic, Rumon Gamba confirms the auspicious impression left by his sparkling concert of film music by Georges Auric with this same band (12/99). Lustrous, spectacularly wide-ranging sound, too, in the finest Chandos tradition. Not to be missed! <Andrew Achenbach
There are selections from nine scores in all, the arranging and orchestrating duties being shared by the indefatigable Philip Lane and Gerard Schurmann (who worked closely with the composer on many of the original ventures). The Cruel Sea (1953) remains the best-known offering here, its evocative, slumbering power and noble defiance as eloquent as ever. Bernard Herrmann (who, let's face it, knew a thing or two about the genre) rated Uncle Silas (1947) one of the greatest film scores he had ever encountered, a verdict I wholeheartedly endorse (just try the delightfully flirtatious 'Valse caprice'). Fascinatingly, the charming 'Three Dances' from The Dancing Fleece (a Crown Film Unit production promoting British wool) can now almost be viewed as a 'trial run' for Madame Chrysantheme, the one-act ballet Rawsthorne wrote in 1955 for Sadlers Wells. The first track is an extended (18-minute) suite from the 1946 POW drama, The Captive Heart, and there are also generous excerpts from Where No Vultures Fly (chosen for the Royal Film Premiere in 1951) and the documentary Burma Victory (full of decidedly superior, stirring invention). Keller was especially complimentary about Lease of Life (1954), a Robert Donat vehicle for which Rawsthorne supplied a 'rich miniature score' lasting about 13-and-a-half minutes, and the collection concludes with a flourish in the shape of the superbly swaggering 'Prelude and Carnival' from Saraband for Dead Lovers (1948).
Drawing playing of panache and infectious enthusiasm from the BBC Philharmonic, Rumon Gamba confirms the auspicious impression left by his sparkling concert of film music by Georges Auric with this same band (12/99). Lustrous, spectacularly wide-ranging sound, too, in the finest Chandos tradition. Not to be missed! <
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