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William F. Flani...'s Profile
Customer Reviews: 82
New Reviewer Rank: 10,506
Classic Reviewer Rank: 4,256
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Reviews Written by
William F. Flanigan Jr. (North Potomac, MD USA)
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Another Reference CD From Tribute Film Classics!, July 10, 2009
1. This release is--for want of even better words--a defining masterpiece! Like its predecessors from the Tribute Film Classics (TFC) label--such as Bernard Herrmann's MYSTERIOUS ISLAND and Max Steiner's THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE--it has no peers among modern recordings of classic film scores. And that goes for score restoration, conducting, and album production and presentation. Here we have Erich Wolfgang Korngold's unabridged composition for THE PRINCE AND THE PAUPER including the trailer music (Track 42) and the UK release end title (Track 43) which includes a bit of God Save The King.
2. Maestro William T. Stromberg, as is his custom, demonstrates yet again that Korngoldian tempi (and tempo-change) lightening can strike twice. Tracks 2, 3, 19, 33, 37, 38, and 42 are especially demanding for conductor and orchestra, but especially thrilling for the listener (just as the Korngold intended). Stromberg notes that Korngold "wrote some of the most demanding (film scores) for orchestra and conductor. You simply cannot be a `time-beater' when conducting his music..." You can say that again!
3. Pianist Irina Popova is featured on Tracks 37 and 38 (Seal #1 and Seal # 2, respectively). These are phenomenal single takes. Heretofore, I would have wagered that no one aside from Korngold himself (who was the pianist on all of his original sound-track scores) would be able to pull this off without digital-editing help! Recording engineer and editor Alexander Volkov delivers a spacious yet rich, multi-dimensional (no instrument is left behind), and just plain pleasuring sound from the Moscow Symphony Orchestra. The latter demonstrates yet again that their instrumentalists are global-class talents.
4. The CD booklet is a 32-page, glossy package. Comments by TFC's principals Anna Bonn, John W. Morgan, and Stromberg are, as usual, must reads. Ryan Brennan delivers a compact history of the evolution of things from book to screen. Curt Hardaway provides track capsulations of on-screen events, but no musical analysis.
5. TFC has become well known for the luxurious nature of its CD packages. This release is no exception. The album production and presentation is flat out stunning!
6. So what about Korngold's score now that we finally have all of it in one modern recording? Well, it surely is the most varied, light-hearted, and amusing of the composer's compositions for film. Mr. Morgan refers to it as "commedia dell'arte." To me it's more like a musical version of a large charm bracelet without a clasp. A string of individual musical gems (though some are a bit rough around the edges) that never quite achieves a unified whole to form a film symphony. Contrast this with, say, CAPTAIN BLOOD, THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD, THE SEA HAWK, etc. But for the casual listener, it's all to the good. The VERY good. (Serious listeners, you may have some work cut out for you!)
WILLIAM FLANIGAN, Ph.D.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
As An Upgrade, Worth the Trouble and Cost?, April 17, 2009
1. These comments only apply to Intel Socket 775 installations.
2. For an initial installation into a clear-sided enclosure, this device is acceptable. For an upgrade, it may not be worth the effort, and it is definitely not worth the cost. Noise reduction is not that much when compared with 20 dollar CPU fans (as determined by ear and meter for both push-pin and bolts-with-back-plate installation designs), and not at all noticeable if you are running six or more drives (which I am). So the main selling point is how it looks, which is pretty spectacular (wasted if your enclosure does not have a clear side or you can't live with an enclosure panel removed).
3. To read the instructions, you will need a magnifying glass! And they are misleading and incorrect when it comes to inserting the S-type clip into the base of the device. But this misinformation becomes obvious with a dry-run installation (highly recommended). Also, a very long, thin Philips screw driver will come in quite handy.
4. The "better" installation process is to first insert the S-type clip into the fan base, and then attach and fully tighten the fan to the clip support (the black-plastic thing with "legs"). Do this before attaching the clip support to the motherboard (MB) and the back plate (the black-plastic thing that goes behind the MB). Then insert the longer clip-support fixing bolts. Tighten the bolts alternately and carefully, since a fair amount of force will be exerted on the MB (and the processor).
5. If you have access to the back of the MB opposite to where the processor goes, the MB does not need to be removed. However, the MB will always have to be horizontal during the installation.
6. Once installed, the fan can be rotated in any direction using the thermal grease as a lubricant. Very cool indeed.
7. Be careful to position the wiring harness that delivers and controls power to the fan so that it does not end up caught in the cooling blades (or the fan blades).
8. Bottom-line: Not for the faint of heart or the budget minded.
WILLIAM FLANIGAN
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
A Massive Musical Stimulus Package!, February 7, 2009
As they used to say in the early days of television: This is a really, really big shooow! Big (often overwhelming) score by Max Steiner; big (and definitive) score restoration and orchestration by John Morgan; big (and powerful) conducting by that dynamic maestro, William Stromberg; big (and enveloping) sound from the Moscow Symphony Orchestra and recording engineer Alexander Volkov with bugle overdubs by Doug Watson; big two-CD set executive produced by Anna Bonn for the Tribute Film Classics (TFC) label; and big, sumptuous CD booklet (it just barely fits into the CD jewel box). Plus music from the Warner Bros. one-reel (!) promotional trailer and a surprise Steiner bonus track. The TFC team NEVER does anything small, as many of you know and more will soon discover with this CD set.
All departments are top-of-the-line, A-list quality. Few (very few) modern recordings of classic film scores are wrap-around, pure pleasure to enjoy and re-enjoy indefinitely. Absolutely not the case here. Master music magicians Messrs. Morgan and Stromberg have been at this performance pinnacle for some time joining with Ms. Bonn to found TFC less than two years ago. This troika of creative genii and classic film-score lovers consistently turn out ear candy that other labels might as well give up trying to match (much less surpass). This is the 5th TFC release with more, we are told, to come (including the long-anticipated, definite recording of Erich Wolfgang Korngold's film symphony, THE PRINCE AND THE PAUPER).
As is de rigueur for TFC productions, every scrap of the composer's film score has been restored and presented here. There are 35 rousing (and tender) tracks for a total of nearly 100 musical minutes (the film itself is 116 minutes long). But Track 8 ("The Charge of the Light Brigade") on CD 2 practically denies description. Steiner matched the battle montage (shot by shot) with a musical battle of themes (leit motifs) and variations thereof. Just as Steiner did with his unusually large Warner Bros. orchestra over 70 years ago, Stromberg conducts at an accelerating pace (that seems to reach close to the speed of sound!) and leads a huge orchestra into its own charge. I have never experienced anything quite like it! Not only is it a stunning mini (9 min, 29 sec) masterpiece, but literally a stunner for the listener. Ms. Bonn understatedly notes that "(w)e knew going into this project that the Warner Bros. studio orchestra had played this music once before, so it would not be impossible to do it again ..." Indeed, Madam!
So fasten your seat belt (or grab onto the horn of your saddle) and enjoy.
WILLIAM FLANIGAN, PhD
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Outstanding product; outstanding service, January 17, 2009
I bought this weather radio on a gamble. Amazon's typical minimalist description for all things electronic told me zip. My gamble paid off handsomely. This tiny digital radio sequentially tunes into NOAA's seven weather channels and locks on to each as you move the radio around to get the best reception from these whimpy-powered stations. I am able to pick up signals that my other larger weather radios are clueless about. Runs on three AAA batteries or an AC-to-DC transformer (none are included). Great product and great vendor service. It seems like I had just clicked on the purchase button when the radio was on my door step! (Actually it took two business days to show up.)
WILLIAM FLANIGAN
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Charade - Anamorphic Widescreen Edition - Criterion Collection Spine #57 - Clearly the Best Of A Confusing Assortment, January 17, 2008
1. This is a typical Criterion release. Meticulously restored in both the video and audio domains. A beautiful visual (at front-projected 720p) and pretty good sound experience (aferall, it was released in 1963--still the Stone Age of most film sound tracks).
2. This release allows you to focus on the performances of performers (not the quality of the transfer). Curiously, Hepburn gets more great lines that Grant!
3. As compared with junk quality (even by bootleg standards) releases such as the one by A2ZCOS.com "Timeless Classics" in a "Remastered Edition, " we are dealing with truth and reality. The release by A2ZCOS.com (and other off-brands) are turn-offs, if not expensive jokes.
4. Off-brand dogs present video that is several notches below what you might expect from, say, a cell phone video copy from a hacked-up, dirty 16 mm version. Audio is several notches below cell-phone voice quality--all that is missing is cell-phone drop outs!
5. Bottom line: As with all things DVD, beware of off brands from unknown entities.
William Flanigan, Ph.D
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
Magic Music "Undeserved" By The Film!, December 24, 2007
1. Folks, this is flat-out BEAUTIFUL music. And it's another one-of-a-kind classic-film score restoration and recording masterpiece from the Messer. John Morgan and William Stromberg. (How do they keep doing this? Topping each of their previous CDs with yet a better one!)
2. Classic-film composer Bernard Herrmann's usual style was to reach out and grab the listener by the forelock. But the music here is seemingly unlike anything previously written for the cinematic screen by Mr. Herrmann. More for concert halls of the future than for art-house movie theaters of the past. Although FAHRENHEIT 451 (1966) is a sci-fi film (or tries to be), Mr. Herrmann's score is far from and far above "typical" sci-fi music from yesteryear or today. It is a breath taking, haunting, and acoustically gorgeous, delicate creation as fully realized on this CD release. The music and the film reside in drastically different universes.
3. This recording is one of the two kick-off releases from a new CD label--Tribute Film Classics (the other release is Mr. Hermann's starling score for MYSTERIOUS ISLAND[1961]). Tribute's star line up is one of a kind: classic-film score Restoration/Arrangement Masters John Morgan and William Stromberg with Maestro Stromberg on the conducting podium for starters.
4. Once again, the conductor is at one with the orchestra (as is his custom). Orchestral performance is superb. It sounds like much rehearsal time (instrumentalist by instrumentalist) preceded the final product. Sound engineering and editing are also first rate.
5. The CD booklet is a special treat. It is extensive and contains at least one surprising revelation. Restoration Master John Morgan's "Recording Notes" kicks things off. As usual, Morgan's contribution makes for a fascinating albeit frustrating read. His description of having to stick together bits and pieces of paper containing Herrmann's original score sheets (the composer had cut the score up--literally--to rearrange and shorten cues for a suite) is fascinating; but Morgan's brief contribution is frustrating (please sir, more!). Kevin Scott's track descriptions are outstanding, but he does tend to wonder a bit off topic and into the academic realm now and then. Ray Bradbury reveals how he got Herrmann his scoring commission for the film shortly after the composer was canned by Alfred Hitchcock (for those only recently returned from a stay in a colony on Mars, Bradbury wrote "Fahrenheit 451" some 13 years earlier).
6. The CD also includes music from a THE TWILIGHT ZONE episode called "Walking Distance." A pleasant bonus.
7. This recording could very well result in not one, but three sell outs--the film-score CD, reprints of the story, and newly-pressed DVDs of the film!
William F. Flanigan, Jr., Ph.D.
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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
New Recording, New Label, New Pinnacle!, December 22, 2007
1. Folks, what we have here is a Bernard Herrmann "sampler" combined with and as a result of a fully-restored, over-the-top classic-film score from master music magicians Messrs. John Morgan and William Stromberg.
2. This MYSTERIOUS ISLAND (1961) re-recording is plain-and-simple overwhelming. Literally spine tingling or body shivering (depending on your constitution) filmatic music--all 61 tracks!
3. You will also find strong inducements for the hairs on the back of your neck to again stand at attention as a result of variations on and recycling of sensational scores (and proto-scores) Mr. Herrmann has woven into the musical fabric of MYSTERIOUS ISLAND. Easily recognizable are musical back-and-forth threads from his music for JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH (1959), NORTH BY NORTH WEST (1959), JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS (1963), and several others. Like just about all great (and prodigious) film composers from the so-called "Golden Age" of USA film production, Mr. Herrmann had a strong propensity to and talent for creating and recycling thematic variations.
4. This recording is one of the two kick-off releases from a new CD label--Tribute Film Classics (the other release is Mr. Hermann's exceptionally unique score for FAHRENHEIT 451[1966]). This label means business from the get-go. Both its débuts deliver a not-to-be surpassed, definitively restored and conducted classic film-score recording as well as superbly produced, pure listening pleasure to the maximum extent possible with the now nearly 30-year-old CD technical standard. Tribute's star line up is one of a kind: classic-film score Restoration/Arrangement Masters John Morgan and William Stromberg with Maestro Stromberg on the conducting podium for starters.
5. The music dramatically realized on this CD far exceeds and out distances any and all of its predecessors including versions recorded with the composer at the helm. (Film-score composers are not necessarily the best conducting conduits for their art form.) As is the case with all Morgan/Stromberg productions, the film score is definitive. It includes all the music composed by Mr. Herrmann for the film including what was cut from the final version as originally released as well as the correction of mistakes (due to miscopied notes) made in the original sound track plus a bit more.
6. The conductor is at one with his orchestra (his customary style). It sounds unlikely that much, if any, sight reading was involved. But, to the contrary, much rehearsal time seems to have been the norm. Engineering and editing are top of the line. Even thought we are limited to two sound channels, you feel you are in the middle of the orchestra and within elbow reach of individual instrumentalists when it's their turn to move to the forefront. Maestro Stromberg's unique physical arrangement of instruments and clusters of instruments adds much to this starling experience.
7. The CD booklet is extensive. It even lists all the instruments that made up the orchestra. Although a bit overloaded with recollections, it springs to life with John Morgan's "Recording Notes" (Morgan's writings on score restorations are always a treat, but always too short!) and Kevin Scott's outstanding track by track analysis (although we could live with a bit less academic stretching between Herrmann and classic-music composers going back centuries).
8. The closest you will likely get to the composer musically--even if you're a relative!
William F. Flanigan, Jr., Ph.D.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
OSTs Reanimated In The Extreme, December 14, 2007
1. This is (and will likely remain) the definitive original sound track (OST) of KINGS ROW. The music here is from the "uncut" version of the film as originally previewed. There's more of Korngold's film symphony in this CD set than in the film as finally released (and recently available on DVD).
2. The OST of KINGS ROW has never sounded better with this restoration when compared with the straight-up analog bits and pieces of the score on other recordings currently in circulation (such as: ERICH WOLFGANG KORNGOLD - THE WARNER BROS. YEARS MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK ANTHOLOGY, Rhino (Turner) R272243, 1996, CD 2; and WARNER BROS. 75 YEARS OF FILM MUSIC; Rhino R2 75287, 1998, CD 1). That said, this attempt to work "digital-domain magic" on a priceless historical object is only partially successful.
3. Instrument clusters and even individual instruments can be clearly heard with no obvious distortion. But listening in either the digital (adds noise) or analog (recommended) playback mode is a challenge for your ears. Background noise is ever present and constantly fluctuating. It's particularly annoying leading into a track, during "quiet" musical passages within a track, and at the end of one. Surely, this close-to-painful distraction could have been rendered moot with more sophisticated computer algorithm(s)! The listener is left with two counter-measure extremes: keep the volume low or aspirin.
3. THE SEA WOLF OST is one of Korngold's shortest film scores. Its abbreviation was intentional. The absence of film music can often be as powerful an emotional atmospheric as it's presence. Korngold's conducting from almost 70 years ago easily surpasses (make that steam rollers) modern recordings such as THE SEA WOLF: FILM MUSIC OF ERICH WOLFGANG KORNGOLD, Chandos CHAN 10336. Digital restoration is plus/minus ditto as for KINGS ROW. But for THE SEA WOLF, there is already another restoration currently in circulation (THE SEA WOLF, Tsunami TSU 0144, 2003), and a close comparison between the two is especially revealing. Where the current restoration excels and stumbles, its predecessor is just the opposite. With the Tsunami release, no aspirin is needed even at high-volume playback levels.
4. The CD booklet is so extensive it barely fits into the CD jewel case. Its creator is Mr. Brendan Carroll, Korngold's undisputed definitive biographer. Carroll expansively (as is his style) describes the circumstances of how KINGS ROW came to be and why it eventually ended up as a Warners release as well as provides an insightful, bar-by-bar description of each track. The same holds for THE SEA WOLF.
5. Suspiciously missing from the bulging booklet for this CD set is a description of the digital restoration process employed for these OSTs. With any OST restoration, I immediately search for information on how the restoration was achieved, and what computer algorithm(s)--almost always proprietary-- were employed. This release only supplies the name of digital engineer and the company hired to make the restoration. Production folks listen up: Lack of restoration transparency is NOT appropriate (or acceptable) for OSTs!
William F. Flanigan, Jr., Ph.D.
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
Rather Dull Compellation From 30 Years Ago, December 5, 2007
1. According to the CD booklet, all tracks were recorded in 1978 sessions. Further, these tracks save one have previously been released--somewhere. So let's start with the one that is apparently being released here for the first time.
2. Surprisingly, it's the suite from Eric Wolfgang Korngold's masterful film score, THE SEA HAWK (Track 14). Hey, there are only 20 other extant modern recordings of this suite (or bits and pieces of it), so what's one more or less. This recording, however, is slightly above average. Pokey, but full bodied and loaded with nuances curtsey of what used to be the London Symphony Orchestra and it's superb technical team of many years ago. Overall, not bad at all.
3. As for the rest of the samples on this compellation disc (all are film-score remnents; "rarities" seem to be among the missing), Copland's THE RED PONY (track 1) has seen, er heard better days. Williams' Star Wars (tracks 2 and 3) is rendered pathetic. Rozas's TRIBUTE TO A BAD MAN (track 5) and THAT HAMILTON WOMAN (track 12) turn out OK, but how could any recording of Rozas' film music not sound great?! Bliss' THINGS TO COME sounds fine. And Gould's own WINDJAMMER (track 13) is passable (however, another recent recordings does a better job--Erich Kunzel's MASTERS AND COMMANDERS, track 17 [Telarc CD-80682]).
4. The CD booklet based on "original notes by Malcolm Walker, expanded by Tom Null" is less than minimalistic. One might reasonably ask where's the "expansion" unless the original notes were on the back of a solitary postage stamp!
5. Bottom line: Pass on this one unless you are addicted to thumb nail-sized old movie posters.
William F. Flanigan, Jr., Ph.D.
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18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
Over Straining To Be Different!, November 12, 2007
1. This recording is, well, certainly different. But then again, it has to be! There are (by my count) almost 20 other truncated, small-ensemble extant modern recordings and at least two versions of the original sound track in circulation. Then there is the Morgan/Stromberg definitive, blockbuster recording of THE SEA HAWK(TSH) released earlier this year (ERICH WOLFGANG KORNGOLD: THE SEA HAWK [1940]AND DECEPTION [1946], NAXOS 8.570110-11).
2. The strain to be different is palpable throughout starting immediately with the Main Title (track 1). Disconcerting at first, it rapidly degenerates into being just plain annoying (and increasingly artificial) as the tracks go by. Conducting and orchestral performance are uneven from track to track and within a track. Some tracks come close to reflecting the energy resident in Korngold's score (e.g., tracks 1, 2, 6, 18, 23, and 27). Others are tempo deprived--and often sound under rehearsed (e.g., tracks 11 and 29). Sometimes the tempo changes back and forth within a single track for the same theme to be, well, apparently different (e.g., track 12). Then there are tracks that are severely truncated internally and/or end in mid score (e.g., tracks 3, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 17, 19, 20, 23, 24, 26, 27, 28, 29, and 30)--see below.
3. Part of the problem (a major part) with the CD is the lack of score restoration. This version of TSH is less than 80 minutes in duration. Korngold's score runs for over 100 minutes of screen time. Morgan/Stromberg's fully-restored recording runs to over 114 minutes. So we are hearing only about 70 percent of the complete score. This is masked by using mini-suites where attempts are made to blend each track into the next. But to even the casual listener, this legerdemain is painfully obvious.
4. Most of the rest of the problem seems to reside with the conductor and his support group. TSH is a passionate (perhaps the most passionate) Korngold film symphony. Passion is only sporadically present in this recording. Much too often it seems sufficient to just "cover the bases" in workman-like fashion, and trust that the sound engineers and editor can make up the difference (they don't). "Cold and rather sterile" quickly comes to mind.
5. That said, for once the words to "Happy Sailing," the coral version of the main title (track 27), are understandable. Apparently, it takes Englishmen to clearly enunciate what is meant to be the musical words of English sailors. It's been tried by Americans in the original sound track and by Russians in the Morgan/Stromberg recording with equally dismal results. Congratulations to the Manchester (male voices) Chamber Choir!
6. Sound engineering, recording, and editing are acceptable, but far from outstanding. The orchestra sounds small (and a little lost) in the recording hall with edited coverage uneven from track to track. The appearance of individual instrument voices (as well as sub-groups of instruments) is an intra-track, hit-and-miss affair. The latter is a shame, since the conductor appears to be stressing the prominence of particular instruments and instrument clusters to lend (literally) notes of distinction to counter a limited score (and a rather pedestrian arrangement).
7. The CD booklet is also a mixed bag. Track numbers are disassociated from track titles. This helps to gloss over missing portions of the score. Tracks are lumped into mini-suites, as noted above, with durations from 4:12 (one track) to 22:04 (eight tracks). Mr. Brendan Carroll (Korngold's definitive biographer) manages to inject some freshness and new Korngoldian tidbits into yet another of his track-by-track music analyses of TSH (two so far this year alone). But like the recording, Carroll's contribution is much too brief.
8. Kudos to the Chandos label for releasing modern recordings of Korngold's film scores, and, especially, ones that are infrequently recorded like THE SEA WOLF (CHAN 10336). Brickbats for attempting to re-invent (for about the 20th time!) the proverbial wheel (and a rather flat one at that) with this recording.
9. Bottom Line: Too little, too languid, too late!
William Flanigan, Ph.D.
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(North Potomac, MD USA)
![THE PRINCE AND THE PAUPER (Complete Re-recording!) [Soundtrack]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41%2BKSEJVCfL._SL110_.jpg)
