Customer Reviews

Victory At Sea: Music From The Award Winning Television Series (1952 TV Series)

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3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

As a youngster in the 1950s, in those early days of television, I remember being much impressed with VICTORY AT SEA, a documentary series on America's ocean battles, primarily in the Pacific, during World War II. It was my first awareness of the wider conflict in which my father had served with the Army and my first exposure to the self-satisfied conviction that a Righteous America had saved the world almost single-handed. Decades later, I have a more balanced perspective, but the soundtrack for the series remains one of my favorites. Indeed, as I "matured" into my teenage years and acquired other musical favorites, it was the stirring score by Richard Rodgers which my parents would not ask me to block from their hearing by shutting the bedroom door.

The Rodgers composition may be the finest film soundtrack ever recorded - an absolutely perfect mating of the aural to the visual. This particular CD release is particularly nostalgic because it's the original performance by the RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Robert Russell Bennett, recorded a lifetime ago. Listening to it now, VICTORY AT SEA can return the listener to a time when a clear cut military triumph over a well defined enemy was still politically correct and possible.

I owned this music for years on LP. I was too young to see the series when it came out, but saw it in the seventies and fell in love with it. I searched out the soundtrack after seeing the series. Where in the mind of man does music this beautiful come from? As a classical listener I think this music will stand with anyone's. There is no need to see the series from which this was made to be captivated by Mr. Rogers's score. I agree with another reviewer, this is possibly the finest, most perfect mating of aural to visual, ever. This remains one of the few recordings that can stir my skeptical heart, anywhere and anytime. That it was written during a particularly difficult time in the life of Mr. Rogers makes it all the more miraculous. After enjoying the LP for many years, the transfer to CD brought new vibrance that I'd never heard on LP.

One caveat: as another reviewer has noted, this is not the complete score. I purchased this particular CD as a gift; I own the two-CD complete. I don't feel that its abridgment causes this CD to be downrated. If anything, it may stimulate the buyer to order the complete set, ...

If the original music from the "Victory At Sea" TV series and movie are what you are looking for then search no farther, you have found what you are looking for. This CD has exceeded my expectations for quality and IT IS the music from the soundtrack. I was expecting the sound quality to be somewhat flat but to my suprise the sound is quite brite, clean and crisp. Amazon.com's delivery of this CD was also quite good. The delivery was well inside the standard delivery time they advertise. I have ordered several times from this company and have not been disappointed yet. If you liked the Victory At Sea series, you will like this CD. Its a winner.

The Victory at Sea television series was one of the best WWII documentaries out there. Part of this is due to this incredible score by Richard Rogers. The Song of the High seas has the harp playing a rising and falling background, bringing to mind the swelling of the seas. The Pacific Boils Over evokes the images of Japanese Zeroes and torpedo planes approaching the unwary Pearl Harbor base. You can see the planes diving, the wreckage, the burning battleships just by listening to the soundtrack. The entire album is like this. Rogers has painted a musical picture of the WWII naval war.

The most memorable portion of the Victory at Sea music is the descriptive and haunting "Song of the High Seas" introduction. Rodgers was absolutely brillant in matching the music to the film footage of the series. His marches and many of the other themes can be easily hummed. I find myself doing it all the time. I believe the original music became available in 331/3 LPs. Three were issued. The first one was played by "Members of the NBC Symphony" conducted by Bennett. It was later reissued with the orchestra as the RCA Victor Symphony(assembled for special performances). There is a slight difference in the sound and tempo of "Song of the High Seas" between the two orchestras. Two more LPs followed, both performed by the RCA Symphony with sound effects(airplanes, artillery) added in the third LP. All of the music from the 3 LPs were then put together into the two CDS now available("blue" and "red" ones). The "green" one contains selections from both. I do not know if the entire score was ever performed in concert. I believe the "Symphonic Suite"(selection of the major themes) was arranged by Bennett and was done, so it could be performed at concerts. It is also included on the CDs. There was at one time a recording done by the Cincinnati Pops of Victory at Sea selections, but I have not listened to it. This is really fine music, Richard Rodgers, at his best and admirably performed by the RCA Victor Symphony.

I bought this CD based on the info provided stating that it was the sound track from the video. I missed the fact that is "selection" of tracks and that some have new arrangements. If you want the entire, unmodified Victory At Sea sound track, do not buy this CD.

I have a 2-audiotape set with 3 additional pieces that are sadly missing here. Magnetic North so well portrays the cold and harsh war in the Aleutian Islands as it was presented in the TV series. It always raises goose bumps at its haunting conclusion with strings emulating the artic winds. Mediterranean Mosaic and Mare Nostrum are 2 others that I would have preferred over the Symphonic Suite, which I have never heard on 2 different audio tape versions or a 33 1/3 vinyl set.

Amazon lists Richard Rodgers as both the composer and conductor. Of course, Robert Russell Bennett is the conductor. Amazon's correction form doesn't allow for an accurate correction suggestion. I haven't played my old records for a while, but the CD sounds as I remember them. Too bad it doesn't contain the full contents of the three records.

After reading the reviews and discovering that the CD is not the same as the original records that I still own, I do not plan on purchasing the CD until RCA releases what was/is a magnificent piece of work. Perhaps it is political corectness that is keeping them from releasing the "original" work "uncensored". Until such time as they give the present generation a look into one of the greatest recordings made, I will stay with my 33 1/3 rpm recordings, and transfer them to my computer myself...

THIS MUSIC IS THE PERFECT BRIDGE BETWEEN "CONTEMPORARY MODERN-DAY POPULAR" AND "TRADITIONAL CLASSICAL". IT IS RICHARD ROGER'S MASTERPIECE. THE MUSIC GIVES A WHOLE NEW MEANING TO THE WORDS "BEAUTIFUL" AND "POWERFUL". IT IS AS WONDERFUL NOW AS IT WAS WHEN IT WAS WRITTEN FIFTY YEARS AGO.
A PIECE OF TRIVIA; IT IS THE LONGEST SCORE EVER WRITTEN. IN IT'S ORIGIONAL FORM IT IS THIRTEEN HOURS LONG. IT WAS WRITTEN IN PARTS FOR TWENTY-SIX HALF HOUR TV SEGMENTS OF THE SAME NAMED SHOW.
IF YOU LOVE GREAT MUSIC, YOUR COLLECTION IS NOT COMPLETE WITHOUT "VICTORY AT SEA." IF THE PROGRAM EVER REPLAYS, DON'T MISS IT. IT WILL GIVE YOU AN EVEN GREATER UNDERSTANDING FOR THE DEPTH AND FEELING BEHIND THE MUSIC. THIS MUSIC WILL BUILD A FIRE INSIDE OF YOU. THIS IS TIMELESS STUFF.