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Review of Georges Delerue: The London Sessions (Compilations)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... if you have any remote curiosity about the career of Georges Delerue
(or even if you already own a few of his scores), because this set is a very strong
survey of his works in fantastic sound quality.
Avoid it... if you have no tolerance for flighty, whimsical romance themes and jazzy rhythms, a style that largely defined Delerue's career.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
Georges Delerue: The London Sessions:
(Compilations) The film music community suffered an enormous loss in
1992 when veteran composer Georges Delerue succumbed to a stroke and
left the world without its greatest contemporary French composer. With
what was a truly international career, Delerue embodied the purely
romantic side of film music, composing over thirty years for some of the
world's most dramatic and sensuous films. Collectors of Delerue's music
remain intensely loyal to his expansive body of work, even many years
after his death. He represented a niche in film music that still appeals
to the hopeless romantics at heart, a niche filled with lesser success
by Rachel Portman, George Fenton, and eventually a new, rising set of
French composers in the 2000's. The mass of Delerue's music is
optimistically rooted in the major-key, easily recognizable due to its
spirited heart and genuine caring, and it always, always, includes a
memorable melody and fluid sense of movement. He was arguably at the
height of his career in the dramatic genre in 1985 and 1986, when he
composed two of his most memorable scores, Crimes of the Heart
and Agnes of God, the latter of which gaining him an Academy
Award nomination. Earlier in his career, his scores tended to favor
light and fluffy tones, and it was one of these efforts, A Little
Romance, which brought Delerue an Academy Award in 1980. His efforts
of the 1960's and 1970's were sprightly and whimsically lofty, often
featuring flighty, jazzy performances by solo woodwind instruments. But
in the mid-1980's, Delerue's music became practiced in the style of John
Williams' larger, dramatically popular scores. The culmination of
Delerue's dramatic talents arguably arrived with 1986's Platoon,
for which he composed agonizing adagio that is equal to, if not better
than, Samuel Barber's famous piece that director Oliver Stone opted to
use in much of the film instead. This ridiculous and unnecessary move by
Stone likely robbed Delerue of another Academy Award.
Delerue died just as a storybook would have written his tale; before leaving the sound studio on the final day of recording Rich in Love in 1992, Delerue was struck by a fatal stroke. He spent his last few moments surrounded by his own incredible music, and with the assistance of compilations such as this crystal clear "Great Composers" album set originally arranged by Varèse Sarabande in 2001, he will not be soon forgotten. To discuss the grand merits of each and every score included on this product would cause an analysis to ramble on for pages about the numerous strengths of each entry, so this review is instead targeted specifically at the general merits of the re-recordings contained on this product. The majority of the recordings included here were conducted by Delerue himself in London in 1989. In what came to be known as "The London Sessions," Delerue recorded lengthy suites from many of his most sweeping scores for the specific purpose of summarizing his career on multiple compilations. Varèse Sarabande then released them as part of their limited Masters Film Music series on three CDs in 1990 and 1991. Arguably the highlight of the three products was the final installment, which included a lengthy suite from the much coveted Something Wicked This Way Comes, a rejected work that was unreleased at the time. Listeners should note that the arrangement from that score here is strikingly different in places, especially in its romanticism, when compared to the original recording for the film. No matter which of the three presentations was originally your favorite, however, all of them were fantastic tributes to the man at the height of his career. The composer only scored a few more films after the Masters Film Music series releases before his death, and the 2001 2-CD set addresses these last chapters with additional, fresh recordings. The three London Session albums from the early 1990's, themselves something of a collectible item at the time, were combined into the 2001 2-CD set, which contains nearly all the re-recordings that Delerue conducted for those prior albums. The additional, new selections included on the second CD of the 2001 "Great Composers" set are up to par with the older recordings, and while a bit of the excess material from the original CDs was cut down to size, including an extra cue from Her Alibi, nothing of extreme importance was left behind. The set also enhances several score suites that had previously been available only in reduced analog sound. Still, a few problems with this "Great Composers" set restrict it from the highest rating. First, the cues have been arranged (presumably by label producer Robert Townson) into a listening experience order whereas some might have preferred to hear a tribute to Delerue's career in chronological order. Also of curious note is the bizarre selection from House on Carroll Street, which doesn't have much to do with the film and ignores the score's overwhelming finale theme; this was both a problem on the original and new compilations. (It's the same recording). Representation of True Confessions, one of Delerue's most remarkable and rare choral scores, and The Black Stallion Returns, with its magnificently soaring title theme, is missing from the set, too. Nevertheless, Delerue's consistent ability to supply a memorably affable theme and simple tonalities to his music allows a fan of his later, dramatic scores to easily enjoy his earlier jazz works as well. If you ever need cheering up on a rainy afternoon, there is no better a composer than Georges Delerue to improve your mood, and this compilation is a great place to start. In 2018, with the 2001 product hopelessly out of print, Varèse reissued only the original contents of the Masters Film Music series in remastered sound on a re-organized, 1,000-copy CD Club pressing. This means that the final five tracks on the second CD of the 2001 set (and a short portion of Something Wicked This Way Comes) are not included on the 2018 compilation, which is a significant shame. As such, the 2001 compilation, with its more than acceptable sound quality, remains the best presentation of this kind from Varèse for Delerue. That said, the 2018 product rightfully expresses the label's long-standing commitment to the great composer. ****
TRACK LISTINGS:
1990 London Sessions: Volume One:
Total Time: 52:10
1990 London Sessions: Volume Two: Total Time: 51:42
1991 London Sessions: Volume Three: Total Time: 58:37
2001 Great Composers Album: Total Time: 153:47
2018 London Sessions Set: Total Time: 117:46
NOTES & QUOTES:
The inserts of all the albums include lengthy commentary by Robert Townson
about the composer and information regarding each score featured.
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The reviews and other textual content contained on the filmtracks.com site may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Christian Clemmensen at Filmtracks Publications. All artwork and sound clips from Georges Delerue: The London Sessions are Copyright © 1990, 1991, 2001, 2018, Varèse Sarabande (Volume One), Varèse Sarabande (Volume Two), Varèse Sarabande (Volume Three), Varèse Sarabande (Great Composers), Varèse Sarabande (Complete Sessions) and cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 3/26/01 and last updated 11/29/18. |
