Waxman: Joshua

Rodney Gilfry (Performer), Franz Waxman (Composer), James Sedares (Conductor), Ann Hallenberg (Performer), Prague Philharmonic Orchestra (Orchestra), Patrick Poole (Performer), Peter Buchi (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Rodney Gilfry, Ann Hallenberg, Patrick Poole, Peter Buchi
• Orchestra: Prague Philharmonic Orchestra
• Conductor: James Sedares
• Composer: Franz Waxman
• Audio CD (September 12, 2006)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Deutsche Grammophon
• ASIN: B000FVRAAW
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #479,729 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Joshua is the world-premiere recording of a dramatic oratorio based on the biblical figure by Academy Award® winning Franz Waxman. Waxman belongs to a group of Jewish composers who immigrated to the US before WWII. Working in Hollywood, he wrote soundtracks for Liliom, Sunset Boulevard, Rebecca, and A Place in the Sun, among others. Waxman would have celebrated his 100th birthday this year. Conductor James Sedares leads the Prague Philharmonia and Prague Philharmonic Chorus, along with vocalists Rodney Gilfry (baritone), Peter Buchi (tenor), and Ann Hallenberg (mezzo-soprano). Acclaimed German actor Maximilian Schell joins the cast as the narrator. In celebration of the 100th year of Franz Waxman’s birth, several projects are underway: Turner Classics Movies will run a tribute in December and The Museum of Modern Art will host a 23-picture retrospective and round table in December and January (this will be the first time a composer is honored by the Film Study Center).

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not a masterpiece, but a fine work well worth hearing, April 23, 2011

By 

G.D. (Norway) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Waxman: Joshua (Audio CD)

Franz Waxman was already an experienced film composer when he arrived in Hollywood, escaping from the Third Reich, and he had background in various kinds of popular music that certainly helped him become one of the most notable, inventive and skilled film composers of all time. His concert music has not been entirely neglected, but focus has mainly (though with exceptions, such as the song cycle The Song of Terezin) been on his lighter works. The oratorio Joshua was written in memory of his wife and is a substantial work. Stylistically, well, we have a Hollywood composer writing music for a Biblical epic in 1959. The style is more or less what you would suspect from that and despite its qualities one wonders whether Waxman would have produced something more interesting and original if he had completed his opera "Mr. Jekyll", which he laid aside to compose Joshua and never got around to finishing.

Joshua is in many ways an impressive score; it does involve a fair share of epic grandeur, but Waxman avoids any hint of banality - in fact, he is most impressive in the more subtle passages (though the style is that of a Biblical epic, it is interesting how understated the music in general is). The music is melodic, lacking any really memorable tunes but containing many notable passages. It is hardly a masterpiece, however, and even the best parts have been done better by e.g. Prokofiev. It is nevertheless very much worth hearing, and it receives a splendid performance here; the singers are strong, as is the chorus, and contrary to the other reviewer I found Schell to be an eminently satisfying orator. The Prague Philharmonia turns in an idiomatic, impressive, colorful and spirited performance under James Sedares and the sound quality is fine. Do hear it, if you have the chance, but don't expect a forgotten masterpiece.

3 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Black Forest Ham, July 20, 2008

By 

J. Shaver (Hot Springs, VA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Waxman: Joshua (Audio CD)

I bought this because I like Waxman's film music and because it featured Rodney Gilfry. There are some nice choruses and singing from the soloists. Also there are moments (to be expected) of Waxman's film scores. But the work is totally sabotaged by the narrator, Maximillian Schell. His reading is excrutiatingly bad! It is horribly overdone and makes one's stomach churn. I have never heard anyone ham so much--not even Barrymore when he was drunk as a skunk. Schell's delivery is even too awful to be a parody. And to think that this man won an Academy Award. They should make him give it back.