Customer Reviews

The Essential Elmer Bernstein Film Music Collection

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This superb collection of Bernstein's film music only lacks the title theme from "Spies Like Us" to rate all 5 stars. I have been looking for soundtrack music from "Zulu Dawn" in general, and the "River Crossing" specifically, since 1987. That selection alone is worth the price of the 2 disc set.

The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, National Youth Jazz Orchestra, Daniel Caine Orchestra and Crouch End Festival Chorus (Choir Master: David Temple) performs the gems by composer ELMER BERNSTEIN...conducted by Paul Bateman, Daniel Caine, James Fitzpatrick and Nic Raine, this latest release "The Essential Elmer Bernstein Film Music Collection", has all the rhythmically dynamic and poetic scores ever conceived...Bernstein's music remains in your mind with haunting and forbidding themes that will stay with you the rest of your days...sought after Bernstein career selections and World Premier Debut Recordings give this package an A Plus!

Disc One...Bernstein has the ability to capture the moment from each cue within his scores, examples are in alphabetical order:
AGE OF INNOCENCE (End Titles)
AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON (World Premier Debut Recording)
BUCCANEER (Overture)
COMANCHEROS
GHOST BUSTERS
HEAVY METAL (Taarna's Theme)
HOLLYWOOD AND THE STARS
JOHNNY STACCATO (seldom recorded or heard)
MAGNIFICENT SEVEN
TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD
TRUE GRIT (Rooster Cogburn/A Warm Wrap-Up)
WALK ON THE WILD SIDE
ZULU DAWN (River Crossing)

Disc Two...music flows in the air and the tapestry is fine and the weave is just right...in alphabetical order:
AIRPLANE (World Premier Debut Recording)
BIRDMAN OF ALCATRAZ (Finale) (World Premier Debut Recording)
BRIDGE AT REMAGEN
FAR FROM HEAVEN
GREAT ESCAPE
HALLELUJAH TRAIL (Overture)
HAWAII (Overture)
MAN WITH THE GOLDEN ARM
SHOOTISTS (Main Title)
SONS OF KATIE ELDER
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS (Overture)
THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE (Sky-Hi) (World Premier Debut Recording)

Listen and recall the scores which have crossed our path...one has only to close their eyes and visualize the characters that came to life on the big screen...the music of Elmer Bernstein was a very large part of the cinema...sit back and soak up each passage and cue that prevails.

Silva Screen Records and James Fitzpatrick (producer), Rick Clark (NYJO tracks), Reynold da Silva (executive producer)...please stand up and take a bow for the well deserved rare gems you've given us...a tribute compilation dedicated to the memory of Elmer Bernstein (1922 to 2004)...this can only be one of the most sought after collections for any "film-score-buff"...speaking for myself and some of my movie music collector comrades...this is a keeper!

Total Time: 2-CD-Set ~ Silva America 1178 ~ (6/07/2005)

This is a great recording of some of the best film music ever. From the
great westerns to the Theme from Airplane to music he did for television,
Bernstein was one of the greatest.

It's great! It brings back memories of my dad. He loved John Wayne and the old cowboys of the Magnificent Seven. But it's nice just to listen and relax (it's not all cowboy music).

THis is a great couple of disks. All the movies I have seen in my life performed with great scoring and wonderful sound. Every track is performed superbly.

it's unfortunate that more tracks weren't able to be recorded as theree was a good 15-20 minutes of space remaining on both discs. Regardless, this is an excellent sampler, especially in conjunction with Varese's Bernstein sampler including rare stuff like the Black Cualdron.


With regards to this silva set, these recordings range back to 1994, with Sons of Katie Elder and True Grit being recorded for a John Wayne CD and Bridge At Remagen for a CD of classic War themes. The Great Escape was also recorded for that CD, but producer James Fitzpatrick opted to record a new arrangement (same with Magnificent Seven). In '97, The Buccaneer for included on a Swashbucklers disc, while Heavy Metal was on the popular 'Space and Beyond' compilation. In '98, the world premiere recording of Airplane first appeared on a DISASTERS film disc. So while it may technically be the world premiere RECORDING it certainly is not the world premiere CD RELEASE of that recording. Ghostbusters was included on Space 3: Beyond the Final Frontier, the second followup to the popular 'Space and Beyond'. Fast forward to 2002 and 4 recordings first appeared on WAY OUT WEST: ESSENTIAL WESTERN FILM MUSIC COLLECTION VOLUME TWO, those being The Comancheros, The Hallelujah Trail, The Scalphunters and The Shootist. Man With the Golden Arm and Walk on the Wild are from Silva's JAZZ IN FILM cd.


The remaining tracks were all newly recorded for this release. They are of course the strongest tracks, seeing as the City of Prague Philharmonic has improved over time. I do wonder though why they did not include the older arrangements of Great Escape and Mag. Seven as bonus tracks.

I also recommend the simultaneously released '40 years of Film Music: Jerry Goldsmith' for another great set honoring a late great film composer.

This is a collection of his film music scores, some of which have not been available anywhere. If you are a movie fan,or television fan, then you must have this.

I'll keep this short and to the point. I love Bernstein and his music. I don't care for some of the takes on his music by the City of Prague Philharmonic. It's at their discretion to find their own interpretation of his thematic material, but these interpretations are just not that impressive to me. Also, I am not fond of the recording of the material. Something about the sound of this recording comes across as phoned-in, and somewhat cheap. If you can find a copy, "Elmer Bernstein by Elmer Bernstein" with the man himself conducting the Royal Philharmonic is MUCH better. The problem is, it's difficult to locate (only one copy available on Amazon at the time I write this), and it's far from a complete sampling of his film scores and themes.

Although the main body of work is there, played by an amazing orchestra, it is not complete in that National Geographic, Stripes, and a few others weren't included. They are as popular as any track on the CD. It would only have added a few more minutes but it would be more complete by my standards. Otherwise, love it.

These CDs don't meet the standards that I expect from Elmer Bernstein's wonderful film music.
*It's just Boring*
The ensemble doesn't have the energy one would expect to play "The Magnificent Seven" and "The Man with the Golden Arm". I think the City of Prague and National Youth Jazz Orchestras were bargain orchestras used to make an inexpensive CD set of one of my favorite film composers. The conducting and arrangements were what made this an obviously bad album.