Customer Reviews

AURIC: La Belle et la Bete (Beauty and the Beast)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This very well might be the greatest cinematic score of them all. All the magic of Cocteau's visual elements is more than matched by the magic of this music. Even if I had no idea what was supposed to be happening on the screen during each musical segment, I would still play this CD over and over. But knowing the film as I do, my enjoyment is increased many times over. Since most copies of the film have somewhat poor sound-tracks, I am extremely grateful to Marco Polo for making this studio recreation available. And in case you are wondering about THAT OTHER recording, the Philip Glass score does not even come close! It is amusing on its own terms, but the Auric score is great music on ITS own terms. See if you can spot the influences on this composer. (Hint: listen to Ravel's "Daphnis et Chloe"!)

Getting right to the numbers. On a scale of five and rounding up, I'd rate the CD at 4-1/2 stars (five because it's the only modern recording of this marvelous film score; four for performance; and four for sound quality). The music conjures up in the mind's eye scenes from what is one of the most stunning films of the post-war 40's and, very likely, of all time. For sure, it's Jean Cocteau's finest cinematic poem. Like the film, the score as performed here seems magical, light as a souffle, haunting, emotional, and delicately beautiful--clearly, a tour de force for your ears! For film enthusiasts who love the film (like myself), your life will never be complete until you have this CD! For those who love films, but have not yet seen Cocteau's masterpiece, you might as well get the CD now because this task will go straight to the top of your "Things I Gotta Do Today" list immediately after you've seen the film. And for those who are familiar with Mr. Auric's scores (say, from Cocteau's The Blood of a Poet (1930) or William Wyler's Roman Holiday (1953)) or are just casual listeners to film music, you will not be disappointed by this recording.

This CD is great as it is and I accept it for what it is. For me, the only thing better would be to have the music taken directly off the master tapes or film print. When I buy and listen to soundtrack recording CDs of older films, I usually don't like re-recordings because they often sound too sterilized and contemporary. Which is why I like the recording quality of this CD. It actually sounds appropriate for the time period - AS IT SHOULD. I was surprised to discover it was recorded in 1994 because it manages to maintain the aura of Cocteau's film rather well. I don't know how other reviewers can rate the performances on this CD. Do they know the score inside and out? Can they do a better job? Was there perhaps a misplayed note somewhere? If so, I've been too busy reliving memories of the film (through the music) to notice or care. If you're a big fan of Jean Cocteau and/or the original Beauty And The Beast film, this CD is a must-have.

In the interest of preserving peace in our home, my mom gave me my own little black & white TV when I was nine, an act that some might consider a blow against Western Civilization. But I was a weird kid, and I didn't spend much time watching game shows. I was hooked on movies, so Bill Thompson's Channel 5 (in Phoenix, AZ) got a lot of my business. We also had a good local PBS station, and that's where I discovered Jean Cocteau's Beauty And The Beast. I accidentally tuned in during the scene where Beauty is running through the Beast's castle, a haunting, silent sequence that runs at a dreamlike pace. Then the Beast steps out of the shadows and confronts Beauty. She faints, and the music starts up again.

Any thought I had of changing the channel was forgotten.

When I started collecting albums, I searched for this soundtrack. My search lasted for 30 years, because Beauty And The Beast didn't have a soundtrack album. It wasn't until after the death of the composer, Georges Auric, that someone was going through his papers and found the score. Now I own two different recordings (this one and the NAXOS recording).

The score works both as a soundtrack and a classical suite. In turns it's haunting, romantic, heartbreaking, playful, transcendent, and triumphant. You'll like it even if you haven't seen Cocteau's film - and if you have seen it, hearing this music will evoke wonderful memories.

When I think of Georges Auric, I think of "Les Six". Les Six were a group of French composers (also Darius Milhaud, Artur Honegger and Eric Satie...) in Paris during the 1920s who, to put it simply, promoted French modernism. Auric is best remembered, however, for a film theme which was a monster hit in 1952 and remained popular for a decade thereafter: the "Theme from Moulin Rouge". I don't know any of his concert music which ever attained that kind of familiarity.

So, on to a different kind of "monster" hit. The composition in LA BELLE ET LA BETE is analogous to French post-romantic, impressionist ballet music and it's a very attractive score for the film. I've seen the film and I like both it and the music. This album, however, doesn't do the music justice. As with too many other re-recordings of film music in the MARCO POLO series, the sound often fades and practically disappears. Really, minutes can go by with very little getting to your ears. There are real problems with the encoding of the music on these discs. I myself have around fifteen of them and this is a problem on far too many of them, so I can only recommend them with reservation. I'm happy to have this, but I sure wish there were a stronger, brighter and more immediate sound.