Customer Reviews

Great Composers: Elmer Bernstein (Film Score Compilation)

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Varese Sarabande has cheery picked from some of the finest (and most famous) film scores ever composed (and some of the best performances thereof yet recorded) in the second half of the last century. There are samples from sixteen film scores by Mr. Bernstein presented here (and since this is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg for this prolific, spectacularly-talented composer, let's hope there will be many more Bernstein compositions to come!). It's beyond great to have all 16 film scores represented on one CD, even though most/all of these tracks are available off other CDs (CD-burner freaks, you've been left at the gate, or, rather, the CD-R/W drive on this one!). It does get a bit confusing trying to figure out all the source material (there's Bernstein right off the film sound track, Bernstein conducting the Utah Symphony Orchestra, Bernstein conducting the Royal Scottish Orchestra, Mr. Joel McNeely conducting the Royal Scottish Orchestra, McNeely conducting Seattle Symphony orchestra, Mr. Cliff Eidelman conducting the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, and so it goes). But quit making your brain ache; just spin up this CD and let your ears do their thing. And what a wonderful thing those ears will do. Mr. Bernstein, a master of tonality (like Erich Wolfgang Korngold before him), is probably best enjoyed in spurts or in selective film-score "cues"--mainly his opening/closing credit cues, since his scores tend to sag and become less dramatic in between. This CD focuses on the composer's strengths: mostly those opening/closing credit cues you can't help hearing in your mind over and over again. Although the performances are (as previously noted) from many sources, I can't find fault with a single one. The same goes with the recording/mastering/re-mastering. All first rate. One question remains: why are you still reading this write up when you could be buying the CD to empower your ears!

You pop this CD in to your player and the glorios Magnificent Seven theme knocks you off your feet. I'd forgotten how good it was, an icon of testerone flowing unchecked. Then there is the touching innocent To Kill a Mockingbird theme. Starting with a simple music box theme, the music builds to a dramatic climax, as if all the emotion suddenly exploded. The Great Escape track is, I think, one of the very best march compositions of all time. With the tuba providing the baseline with its own melody, then the light brass, perky and upbeat, providing the second melody, this theme instantly evokes both the fatigue and robotic obedience required of prisoners and the brassy indomitable spirit characteristic of the RAF flyers. If you listen carefully you hear the deeper brass (French Horns) take up the theme and give it a more somber character, as yet another melody is sustained in the background. The Ten Commandments stands alone as a wonderful heroic piece. Buy the CD for any one track and you will be pleasantly surprised by the remainder.

As a big Bernstein fan, I was looking forward to this comp. But I couldn't even make it through one listen. I found it insipid, saccharine. The main idea behind this comp seems to be to stuff every recognizable theme Bernstein ever wrote into one set while cutting out all other sections including any variations or development. They've cut the meat out of the music and left only the fat. The playing is stiff, the tempos are rushed, the arrangements are terrible. Don't waste your time.

Fabulous recording. Puts you right in the saddle with the Duke, The Magnificent Seven or Charlton Heston's sandals! Power, scope, range, variety and total magnificence - this has it all. By far the best movie sound-track recording of all!