Mammoth examination of brilliant career of Franz Waxman at MGM, with nods to Warner Bros. and RKO. All titles previously unreleased in their actual original soundtrack versions until this 4-CD set, mastered from array of studio vault elements, particularly 78rpm acetate reference discs from the 30's and 40's plus tape transfers made for internal studio purposes with one title appearing in vivid stereo from 3-channel masters. Audio restoration was done by both Joe Tarantino at Fantasy Studios, Chris Malone working ''down under'' with digital editing, assembly and mastering by Douglass Fake at Intrada. Most recordings betray their origin session dates and play in fine condition with surprisingly crisp audio. Many scores are near complete with every track available from the vaults included. This is everything that could be located over the many years the set has been in research and development, licensing and production. The moniker of this incredible Franz Waxman tribute comes from the highly famous 1937 MGM classic sea adventure, Rudyard Kipling's Captains Courageous, starring Spencer Tracy in an Academy Award-winning performance, with terrific support from legendary child star Freddie Bartholomew. The 43-minute Academy Award-nominated score is lavish, exciting and rife with the life of sailors at sea. World premiere release also includes never-before-heard alternates. Following on CD 1 are 34 minutes from MGM's famed 1941 production of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, featuring Spencer Tracy, Ingrid Bergman. A powerful main theme in minor with striking dips into major lends authority and immediate contrast to this magnificent score. Dramatic and sinister ideas further illuminate both good & evil sides of famed Robert Louis Stevenson creation. CD 2 opens with nearly 21 minutes from MGM's 1939 production of The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn, yet another literary triumph, now from Mark Twain, with Mickey Rooney shining as Finn. Waxman's flavorful and exciting musical backdrop for this folksy tale comes from session masters with crisp, dynamic audio. 34 minutes from MGM's 1938 treatment of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol follows. Waxman captures both warm and dark sides of this famed classic. 14 minutes of music survives from MGM's 1942 Spencer Tracy/Katherine Hepburn vehicle, Woman Of The Year. CD 3 premieres one of this set's highlights: 48 minutes from stereo session masters for MGM's 1959 WWII London-set film, Count Your Blessings, starring Deborah Kerr. Waxman creates a rich, lavish and dramatic score in his finest mode, with sweeping melody and outdoor travel music playing front and center. (Many feel this later 50's period is Waxman's most fertile, boasting one magnificent gem after another.) 15 minutes survive from MGM's 1936 romance, Love On The Run, with Clark Gable and Joan Crawford. And 6 powerful minutes (most of this brief score) play underneath the dramatic 1936 Sylvia Sidney, Spencer Tracy mob rule tale, Fury, from MGM. 18 minutes from Alfred Hitchcock's justifiably famous RKO thriller Suspicion opens CD 4. Starring Cary Grant, Joan Fontaine, Waxman's dramatic score was also an Academy Award nominee. Nearly 20 minutes (a fair portion) survives from MGM's early 1936 horror film, Devil Doll, starring Lionel Barrymore with Tod Browning directing. Waxman spotlights vivid atmosphere and macabre action. Closing this set is the entire score from Warner Bros. King Of The Roaring 20's, starring David Janssen as Arnold Rothstein, kingpin of the Jewish mafia in New York during the ''hell-bent, jazz-crazed era'' as proclaims the film's one sheet. Waxman plays to the wildly dramatic, then-contemporary jazz elements he loved to work with as well as a somber solo cello speaking for the racketeer's troubled relationship with his father. Not mere background jazz, this intense score highlights Waxman's powerful meld of brazen brass-led jazz with symphony orchestra. When all is said and done, Waxman closes this 1961 score with a powerhouse sequence of angry, fortissimo brass chords leading to a magnificent final coda in major! 40-page booklet designed by Kay Marshall with Joe Sikoryak includes authoritative notes by Frank K. DeWald, session dates, technical comments from Producer Douglass Fake with Roger Feigelson acting as executive producer plus solid production assistance from Lukas Kendall, Neil S. Bulk. Also included are scoring manuscripts and rare stills from John Waxman's private collection with beautiful full color reproductions from each film's original one sheet campaign. A dream-come-true set - courtesy Turner Entertainment & Warner Bros. Entertainment - that should make Franz Waxman fans delirious! Leonid Raab, Paul Marquardt lead team of orchestrators, Franz Waxman conducts. Intrada Special Collection 4-CD set available while quantities and interest remain!
Disc 1
Captains Courageous (1937)
01. Main Title (1:36) 02. In The Night/The One I Love Best 90:46) 03. Here Comes Cushman (2:03) 04. Back On The Boat (0:40) 05. Bad Boy (1:15) 06. After The Song/Fishing Montage (Retake) (4:00) 07. Cushman Sailing/Anchor Up (Retake)/Sailing Along (4:22) 08. Manuel Overboard (3:03) 09. Manuel Drowns (2:48) 10. Manuel's Death/Back In Gloucester (2:28) 11. Harvey's Father (2:48) 12. In The Church (2:02) 13. In The Dory (1:54) 14. Rock Of Ages/End Title (1:51) 15. Exit Music (2:29)
Score Time: 34:15
The Extras
16. After the Song/Fishing Montage (Original) (4:00) 17. Cushman Sailing (Alternate)/Anchor Up (Alternate)/ Sailing Along (4:51)
Extras Time: 8:54
Total Time: 43:18
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941)
18. Main Title (1:18) 19. First Experiment/First Failure/In The Laboratory (3:57) 20. Ivy's Room – Parts 1 & 2 (2:41) 21. Work Montage/Albert Hall/Mr. Higgins Died (3:03) 22. Walk Through The Park And A Letter To Miss B (1:49) 23. Unexpected Visitor (1:56) 24. Sex Montage (Daniele Amfitheatrof) (0:57) 25. See Me Dance The Polka (George Grossmith) (3:07) 26. Ivy Alone (Daniele Amfitheatrof) (0:32) 27. Piano Improvisation (1:34) 28. The Museum (2:11) 29. Grande Valse Brillante, Op. 34 No. 2 In A Minor (Frédéric Chopin) (0:57) 30. Farewell, Beatrice – Parts 1 & 2 (0:31) 31. Hyde's Escape/Trapped (5:36) 32. Finale (0:46)
Score Time: 31:12
The Extra
33. Ivy's Room – Parts 1 & 2 (Alternate) (2:40) Total Time: 34:21
Disc 2
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1939)
01. Main Title (1:25) 02. The Letter (1:16) 03. Huck Is Leaving (1:01) 04. On The Island/First Adventure (4:16) 05. At Night (2:42) 06. The Chase (2:40) 07. The River Queen (2:09) 08. Jim In Danger/Jim Is Safe (3:37) 09. End Title (1:29)
Total Time: 20:43
A Christmas Carol (1938)
10. Main Title (Felix Mendelsohn-David Snell) (1:12) 11. Threadneedle Street/Fred And Bob (4:36) 12. Fred's Speech (David Snell) (0:45) 13. Closing Time (0:32) 14. Bottle Of Wine/Street Fight/The Goose Walk/Bob Comes Home (3:54) 15. God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen (Traditional) (1:17) 16. Marley/Marley's Ghost (3:19) 17. Marley Is Back/Marley's Warning (3:21) 18. First Spirit/Spirit's Flight & Young Scrooge/Young Scrooge (5:21) 19. Before Awakening (David Snell) (0:44) 20. Magic Horn (1:26) 21. Montage/Third Spirit (2:26) 22. Tiny Tim (0:32) 23. Graveyard (1:29) 24. Christmas Morning (Franz Waxman-Georges Bizet) (2:00) 25. End Title (Alternate) (David Snell) (0:49)
Total Time: 34:06
Woman of the Year (1942)
26. Main Title (1:18) 27. Fantaisie Impromptu In C-Sharp Minor, Op. 66 (Frédéric Chopin) (2:44) 28. Football In Chicago (0:31) 29. Meet Miss Harding (Alternate)/The Hat (0:50) 30. Breakfast Scene (1:44) 31. After Banquet (0:52) 32. After The Banquet (0:29) 33. Arrival At Ellen's (3:20) 34. Before Wedding (1:04) 35. Lohengrin – Wedding March (Richard Wagner) (0:43) 36. End Title (0:34)
Total Time: 14:21
Disc 3
Count Your Blessings (1959)
01. Main Title (2:29) 02. Dinner Date (0:32) 03. London Tour (2:29) 04. Honeymoon (3:27) 05. The Carpet (0:31) 06. The Duke (1:04) 07. Charles Is Back (3:08) 08. Sigi/Sigi Can't Sleep (5:20) 09. Good Morning (0:45) 10. Biarritz (1:50) 11. The Measles (2:04) 12. Sigi's New Room (1:09) 13. The Long Carpet (1:04) 14. The Other Place (0:51) 15. The Visit (0:51) 16. Outing With The Duke/The Duke's Wife (4:24) 17. The Museum (0:43) 18. Revolt (0:46) 19. Paris Tour With Sigi (2:08) 20. Man To Man Talk (0:18) 21. Sigi Runs Away (4:52) 22. End Title (0:19)
Score Time: 41:13
The Extras
23. Should I (Nacio Herb Brown & Arthur Freed) (2:25) 24. Liebestraum No. 3 In A-Flat Major (Franz Liszt) (1:34) 25. Swan Lake Ballet Act I – Excerpts (Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky) (3:21) Extras Time: 7:22
Total Time: 48:41
Love on the Run (1936)
26. Main Title/Running Bride (2:05) 27. Ox Cart/Newspaper Montage (1:07) 28. The Castle (1:36) 29. The Statue (1:22) 30. The Ghost/Sally Alone (2:26) 31. Love Scene/Nice (2:11) 32. Gone (3:02) 33. Gone (Continued) And End Title (1:29)
Total Time: 15:39
Fury (1936)
34. Opening Title Music (1:51) 35. Chatter Music (2:29) 36. At Joe's Home (0:23) 37. Ghosts (1:03) 38. End Title And Cast (0:38)
Total Time: 6:38
Disc 4
Suspicion (1941)
01. Main Title (1:00) 02. Honeymoon Montage (0:45) 03. Melbeck's Office (3:22) 04. Looking For Johnnie (2:36) 05. Lina Alone (4:27) 06. Morning Mail (3:19) 07. Too Fast (1:12) 08. Finale (1:02)
Total Time: 18:00
The Devil-Doll (1936)
09. Main Title (1:37) 10. Little Dog/Big Dog (1:07) 11. Laschna (2:40) 12. Buying Flowers (1:00) 13. First Victim/Revenge (1:04) 14. Nightmare/Jewel Thief (5:30) 15. In The Restaurant (1:43) 16. Lorraine And Her Father/Finale (4:36)
Total Time: 19:32
King of the Roaring 20's –The Story of Arnold Rothstein (1961)
17. Opening Scene And Main Title (2:51) 18. Young Arnold (1:38) 19. Rothstein And Burke (1:30) 20. Three Times Raided (1:29) 21. Rector's Restaurant (4:42) 22. Goodnight, Carolyn (1:03) 23. Visit With Papa (2:15) 24. Goodbye, Papa (1:13) 25. Champagne (0:55) 26. Interrupted Romance (2:01) 27. That Feels Good (1:52) 28. Doublecross (0:54) 29. Down And Out/Burke's Death (4:27) 30. It's Midnight (3:32) 31. Montage (0:45) 32. No Dice (0:56) 33. Speakeasy Charleston 3 (1:05) 34. The Last Deal (1:07) 35. The Last Walk (1:15) 36. Hospital Scene And End (1:57)
Total Time: 37:55
Total Discs Time: 4:43:01 |
