“The Greatest Film Scores of DIMITRI TIOMKIN” – London Symphony Orchestra & London Voices/ Richard Kaufman & soloists – LSO Live

by | Aug 20, 2012 | SACD & Other Hi-Res Reviews

“The Greatest Film Scores of DIMITRI TIOMKIN” – London Symphony Orchestra & London Voices/ Richard Kaufman/ vocalists: Whitney Claire Kaufman, Andrew Playfoot [TrackList follows] – LSO Live multichannel SACDLSO0720, 77:05 [Distr. by Harmonia mundi] ****:
Dimitri Tiomkin, who died in 1979, was one of the most highly-regarded Hollywood film composers—best known for his many scores for Hollywood westerns plus his work for Alfred Hitchcock films. He was also a songwriter. I hadn’t realized how many non-western movies Tiomkin did the scores for.  Included here are such entries as Cyrano de Bergerac, The Old Man and the Sea, The Fall of the Roman Empire, Dial M for Murder, Circus World and Land of the Pharaohs. 
The music was all taken from the original film scores and adapted and arranged by Patrick Russ and Christopher Palmer, except for two of the tunes. The scores are presented and performed as though they were any music by well-known composers, and the rich instrumentation and expert playing of the London Symphony musicians makes for quite a more involving listening situation than the often cut-rate film music recordings, or even the smaller-size orchestras of the original films (often fattened up by excessive reverb and effects). If the original score called for, say, harpsichord, ocarinas, mandolins and lutes—as did the Overture to Cyrano de Bergerac—the London Symphony has those, and it adds considerably to the hi-res surround listening.
Conductor Richard Kaufman was formerly in the Music Department of MGM in Hollywood, and has been Music Director of the LA Civic Light Opera. He is Principal Pops Conductor for the Pacific Symphony of Orange County and Pops Conductor Laureate of the Dallas Symphony. Five of the 16 tracks have one or both of the vocalists on them. Each of the tracks has a paragraph in the note booklet with background to the music heard, and there are even some movie posters reproduced. The High Noon selection is probably the most familiar, but it is good to hear some of the others which are much less familiar.  The disc is packed, with close to the 80-minute limit of exciting five-channel hi-res sound.
TrackList:
Cyrano de Bergerac – Overture
The Alamo – Suite
The Old Man and the Sea – Theme, Cubana and Finale
The Four Poster – Overture
Giant – Suite
The Fall of the Roman Empire – The Fall of Love
High Noon – Do Not Forsake Me
Rawhide – Theme
The High and the Mighty – Suite
Hitchcock Suite – Dial ‘M’ for Murder & Strangers on a Train
Wild is the Wind – Theme
The Sundowners – Theme
Circus World – The John ‘Duke’ Wayne March
Land of the Pharaohs – Theme and Pharaoh’s Procession
Friendly Persuasion – The Fair, Thee I Love

—John Sunier

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