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Review of The Film Music of Jerry Goldsmith (Compilation)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... if you desire one of Jerry Goldsmith's last concert
arrangements of his works, including many more of his popular scores
from the 1990's.
Avoid it... if you expect to be impressed by the performances of either Rudy or The Russia House, both of which are lifeless and not resembling the best moments from either score.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
The Film Music of Jerry Goldsmith: (Compilation)
Not until the late 1990's did Jerry Goldsmith's conducting career really
begin to flourish, when he slowed his pace of composing new scores and
spent a larger portion of his time conducting recordings of his own (or
other classic composers') pieces for straight-to-album release. Tickets
to his concerts in the United States and United Kingdom, among other
places, were a hot item during this time, especially since "Goldsmith
Conducting Goldsmith" concerts never occurred as frequently as his fans
desired. Like John Williams, Goldsmith had arranged several of his best
known and favorite film score themes into suites that can be performed
by nearly any orchestra. While this excluded performances of his
powerful electronically-aided efforts from the 1980's (Hoosiers,
Under Fire, Legend, etc.), it also allowed originally
smaller-scale score recordings to be heard in performances with the full
force of groups such as the London Symphony Orchestra. Also to be
reckoned with in his concert works is the lack of noteworthy solo
performances from the original recordings. Safe to say, though, if you
had the privilege to attend a Goldsmith concert in the late 1990's or
early 2000's, you most likely found its contents to be nearly identical
to those of this 2001 Goldsmith compilation album from Telarc
International. Goldsmith was familiar with the London Symphony
Orchestra, and vice versa, and the 2000 recording heard on this album is
performed by the talented group without the presence of an audience.
Structurally, if Goldsmith chose to present a cue of less than three
minutes in length in its original form, he tended to include it as part
of a lengthy 20-minute suite (sometimes with other related scores). His
concert of choice changed significantly over the last 15 years of his
career, inspired by his original, most famous collection of arrangements
that became a popular "Suites and Themes" album pressed from a recording
with the Philharmonic Orchestra in the late 80's.
To encompass his scores of the 1990's, as well as those classics that gained more popularity since his original arrangements, he eventually dropped some pieces that were once concert staples. These included Masada, The Blue Max, Lionheart, and Gremlins, the last of which is a fabulous suite for concert and is sadly missing on this 2001 Telarc compilation. Three older scores have been added for the occasion, though, including Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Twilight Zone: The Movie, and, more curiously, The Boys from Brazil. Goldsmith's choices for additions from the 1990's are all strong, including Basic Instinct, Air Force One, The Russia House, Rudy, and the two more underrated entries, Forever Young and Sleeping with the Enemy. The occasional performance of The Shadow does not appear on this album, though. Nevertheless, this particular concert arrangement maintains a good balance of the composer's works from each distinct stage of his career. As usual, some of his works translate better into concert arrangements than others. Goldsmith's strength typically existed in his medleys. The motion picture medley he compiled through the years includes here an action packed performance of Air Force One, although the subdued Basic Instinct cue breaks up the awesome tandem of Papillon and The Wind and the Lion (which had always worked well back to back). The television medley is largely the same, except for the insertion of the Star Trek: Voyager theme in the middle (it melds surprisingly well with the other themes). The Man from U.N.C.L.E. remains a great piece to start off that suite. The two underrated scores of the 1990's for Goldsmith, Forever Young and Sleeping with the Enemy, are great additions for this compilation. The latter is especially underappreciated by even many devoted Goldsmith fans. The "Generals Suite" remains a tremendous finale to the presentation. The selection from Star Trek: The Motion Picture is awkwardly performed in a few places, and a suite from Star Trek: The Final Frontier has always proven to be a more energized and fun piece for concerts. The two most disappointing tracks on the album are from those modern selections which Goldsmith collectors love the most. For Rudy, the centerpiece of a previous Goldsmith concert in London, Goldsmith adapted the opening and finale cues into a suite that unfortunately does not include more than a hint of the secondary brass theme for the practice and game scenes (which is by far the more popular theme from that work). Finally, The Russia House simply can't float without a saxophone, a bass, and a prominent piano, no matter how large the size of the orchestra. As in most concert performances of the theme, it is strangled to near lifelessness here. Ironically, a few of these exact selections on this Telarc album have been better performed by Erich Kunzel and the Cincinnati Pops, which is the leader in film score recordings from that label. Kunzel's conducting of Twilight Zone: The Movie a number of years prior, for instance, is far more illustrious. On the whole, Goldsmith is one of those composers whose career included so many different sounds and styles that it is difficult to adapt many of his best scores into a form that would be useful or enjoyable to hear from a group like the LSO. In any case, compilations such as these still contain far more positive listening experiences than manglings, and they are generally highly recommended. Telarc has always experimented with providing some of the best sound quality on CD since their early recordings back in the 1980's. This particular album is available in both traditional CD format and the SACD format, which is the six channel mixing that those of you with DTS systems should consider investigating. If you have the equipment, SACD's can be simply spectacular (and they only exist for a handful of scores, including Schindler's List and Titanic), so it might be worth the extra $8 to $10 for the upgrade. The sound quality on the regular CD is still very good, as always, and this Telarc film music album, unlike most of their others, features no samples of sound effects. Novice fans of Goldsmith's works should definitely consider this collection, if not for the sole purpose of allowing you to hear snippets of many impressive Goldsmith scores that you likely do not own. Telarc's history of producing strong film music compilations continued with this solid entry. ****
TRACK LISTINGS:
Total Time: 69:47
NOTES & QUOTES:
The insert includes notes about Goldsmith's career, but little more
than technical information about the recording itself.
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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 The Film Music of Jerry Goldsmith are Copyright © 2001, Telarc International and cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 7/18/01 and last updated 11/9/08. |
