Customer Reviews

Adolph Deutsch: The Maltese Falcon and other Film scores

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In the shadow of the big film score trio of the 1930s and 40s, Steiner, Korngold, and Waxman; there were other distinguished film composers such as Adolph Deutsch. Thanks to this now budget priced reissue on Naxos, we are given a varied program example of his film score output from 1941-44. John Morgan again as in most of these projects has reconstructed and quilted together suites to preserve talent that would go down in obscurity. Deutsch was a contract composer at Warner a good part of his career, where the five selections on this disc are drawn. Oddly Deusch had a popular music background, but was not given any musical assignments. He was however thrown a comedy or two, one which was the Jack Benny, Ann Sheridan farce "George
Washington Slept Here". Through whimsical dressed up folk themes, we see the mishaps of a couple struggling to get a supposed historical farmhouse up to par. Nice to have a comedy score for a change! We get two Bogart scores, ofcourse "Maltese
Falcon" and "High Sierra". In Maltese the music is subtle and mysterious using economy of instruments; yes, because the studio was on a budget. "High Sierra" also was budget restricted, but Deutsch still managed a melody Steinerish score depicting the great natural locations of California's Sierra Mountains. In the "Mask of Dimitrios" we get a tension filled mood score as Peter Lorre pursues a deadman walking. "Norhtern Pursuit" a WWII
espionage thriller gets a big orchestra illustrating icy Canada and patriotic themes as well as Nazi darkness. The bars of V victory from Beethoven's fifth end the film abruptly. Mosfilm Studios does another good job with the recording, full and spacious.

This is a very commanding and intriguing score. Composer Adolph Deutsch did a tremendous job scoring this one. Conductor William T. Stromberg and the Moscow Symphony Orchestra once again come through with an excellent recording intrinsically representing Adolph Deutsch's perspective.