{"product_id":"sunset-boulevard-classic-fil","title":"SUNSET BOULEVARD - CLASSIC FIL","description":"\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cspan class=\"COMPOSER12\"\u003eWAXMAN \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12bi\"\u003eSunset Boulevard. Prince Valiant. Peyton Place. A Place in the Sun. The Bride of Frankenstein. To Have and Have Not. Mr. Skeffington. Objective, Burma! Rebecca. The Philadelphia Story. The Two Mrs. Carrolls. Old Acquaintance. Taras Bulba \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"BULLET12\"\u003e • \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003e Charles Gerhardt, cond; Natl PO \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"BULLET12\"\u003e • \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003e RCA 7017 (68:46) \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cspan\u003eIn my review of arkivmusic.com’s reissue of the RCA Erich Wolfgang Korngold \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eThe Sea Hawk \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003ealbum (\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eFanfare \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003e30:6), I expressed the hope that they would follow it with this Franz Waxman CD as originally conceived by Charles Gerhardt. Well, here it is. To briefly review, Gerhardt planned to consolidate the music of various composers in the RCA Classic Film Score Series when preparing them for CD. This required expanding and reediting the music in order to account for longer CD playing time. The remastered CDs would contain never-released selections, and when music from some films was initially included on different LPs, it was rearranged into longer suites designed to appear on albums devoted to individual composers. Gerhardt only accomplished his fully realized goal in \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eThe Sea Hawk \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003eand \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eSunset Boulevard \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003ealbums. They were the first two releases from the series to appear on CD. These Korngold and Waxman albums retain the truly sensational sound of the original LPs. Subsequently, RCA made the incomprehensible decision to reissue all of the Classic Film Score Series albums (including \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eThe Sea Hawk \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003eand \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eSunset Boulevard\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003e) exactly as they appeared on LP with shorter running times, no expanded suites, cheap looking covers, and drastically inferior Dolby-encoded sound. The far superior CD versions of \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eThe Sea Hawk\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003e, and now, \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eSunset Boulevard \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003ecan be identified by their original cover art and the notation that they are remastered by Gerhardt, but not in Dolby-encoded sound. Arkivmusic.com has fortunately chosen to reissue the Gerhardt-supervised versions. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cspan\u003eAs is the case with \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eThe Sea Hawk\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003e, this Waxman CD is required listening for anyone with any serious interest in film music. In addition to all the music contained on the original \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eSunset Boulevard \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003eLP, it includes excerpts from \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003ePeyton Place, To Have and Have Not, Mr. Skeffington, Objective, Burma!, and The Two Mrs. Carrolls\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003e. There is some unbelievable music here, including suites from Waxman’s back-to-back Oscar winning scores for \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eSunset Boulevard\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003e (1950) and \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eA Place in the Sun \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003e(1951). In \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003ePrince Valiant\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003e, Waxman out swashbuckles Korngold in terms of orchestral razzle-dazzle, and “The Creation of the Female Monster” from \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eThe Bride of Frankenstein\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003e defined an influential standard for spooky horror film music that has never been surpassed. The haunting and intoxicating music from \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eRebecca \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003ewill be difficult to get out of your mind once you have heard it. “The Ride to Dubno” from \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eTaras Bulba \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003eis a brilliant orchestral showpiece that should be a rousing encore for symphonic or Pops concerts. Everyone, of course, has his or her individual favorites. I would have preferred Gerhardt interpretations of music from \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eThe Nun’s Story \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003e(especially the imposing Main Title sequence) and Tony Palmer’s concise suite from \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eDr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003erather than the relatively lightweight selections from \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eTo Have and Have Not \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003eand \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eThe Philadelphia \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003eStory. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cspan\u003eConcerning Gerhardt’s performances, they are so consistently good that it is virtually inconceivable that anyone will ever conduct this music better. He is greatly aided by the sound, especially in \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eThe Sea Hawk \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003eand \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eSunset Boulevard \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003eCDs as compiled by Gerhardt. Engineered by Kenneth Wilkinson, they are representative of the fabled acoustics of London’s Kingsway hall (in my opinion, the finest of all recording venues). Along with \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eSunset Boulevard\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003e, ArkivMusic has now also reissued most of the other albums in the RCA Classic Film Score Series exactly as they were formulated in their previous RCA Dolby-encoded CD versions. Conspicuous by their absence are \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eCitizen Kane \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003e(Bernard Herrmann) and CDs containing music from John Williams’s \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eStar Wars \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003ecoupled with the best available interpretation of an extended suite from \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eClose Encounters of the Third Kind\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003e, and an amazing performance of excerpts from \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eReturn of the Jedi \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003ethat even manages to make the Ewok mumbo jumbo at the end sound musical. ArkivMusic plans to release them if and when they can get their hands on the original materials. The good news is that there is plenty of great music to be heard on all of these CDs by Korngold, Max Steiner (including the best version of music from \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eGone With The Wind\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003e), Alfred Newman, Miklós Rózsa, and David Raksin, among others. They all sound pretty good, but I cannot emphasize enough that there is no comparison to the sonic impact of the Gerhardt-supervised \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eSunset Boulevard \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003eand \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eThe Sea Hawk \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003eCDs, or the analog LPs. We still need someone to rearrange all of these recordings exactly as Gerhardt envisioned in their original non Dolby-encoded sound, or better yet, reissue the whole series on SACD. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cspan style=\"font-weight:bold\"\u003eFANFARE: Arthur Lintgen \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e","brand":"RCA","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":49606185287960,"sku":"078635701722","price":17.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0687\/4346\/3192\/files\/3624046-2420174.jpg?v=1777617844","url":"https:\/\/hbdirect.com\/products\/sunset-boulevard-classic-fil","provider":"HBDirect","version":"1.0","type":"link"}