After Film Four's excellent series on film music, the BBC have produced two documentaries, each focusing on a score from two of Hollywood's greatest composers. The first covers Erich Wolfgang Korngold's music to Deception, notable for the cello concerto that Korngold fashioned from the one performed onscreen. Likewise, Miklos Rozsa adapted his music from Hitchcock's Spellbound (for which he won his first Oscar) and turned it into the Spellbound Concerto for piano and orchestra. To accompany the series, the BBC have produced this album featuring both concertos and three other suites from Hollywood's golden age. The disc opens with a vibrant account of Leonard Bernstein's (yes, the other Bernstein) Symphonic Suite from On the Waterfront, which mixes a few jazzy idioms with some astringent orchestral passages. Despite this being Bernstein's only film score, it is surprising what a debt composers such as Jerry Goldsmith owe to this score. It's certainly a surprisingly menacing and often modern work that, along with the music of Alex North, is a highlight in the early days of less romantic and melodramatic approach to scoring.

Deception is all about a cellist and the film culminates with a performance of the work which he is rehearsing throughout the film. Rather than go for something traditional, they asked Korngold to write an original work, a superlative idea. It's unfortunate that Korngold didn't work the material into a longer, full length concerto as there seems room for a work twice its length. Frederick Zlotkin gives a passionate account, all the more interesting as it was his and Leonard Slatkin's Mother (Slatkin being the Americanised version of Zlotkin) performed the cello part on the original score. The brief piece of Gershwin rather sticks out as being somewhat insubstantial alongside the more ambitious and longer suites elsewhere, but it has that wonderful laid back charm that couldn't be anything other than Gershwin. Rozsa's Spellbound concerto is one of his best known pieces, probably second only to that old warhorse, Parade of the Charioteers from Ben-Hur. It's more of a symphonic suite in concerto form than Korngold's more traditionally structured work, but makes for a fine presentation of the score's major themes - the glowing love theme a particular favourite - and receives a good work out from pianist Simon Mulligan.

As the title suggests, Franz Waxman's contribution is rather heavily based on the Wagner opera Tristan and Isolde. As the liner notes put it, "Wagner's (music) is fleshed out with Hollywood-esque violin and piano solos, turning the lush into the plush." If it weren't for the singing, I'd be a great Wagner fan, although I'm not as familiar with even the orchestral passages, but if I didn't know better, I'm not sure I'd know that it was anything but original Waxman. Mulligan returns on piano, this time joined by Stephen Bryant on violin, turning Wagner's music into a gushingly romantic double concerto. The BBC Symphony Orchestra under Slatkin provide fine accompaniment here and throughout the disc, even if they don't quite eclipse the work of their colleagues at the BBC Philharmonic and their film music albums on Chandos, conducted by Rumon Gamba. As this is a cover disc and not a regular release, you'll need to buy the October edition of BBC Music Magazine to obtain it. However, even at close to regular price this would be a good place to start discovering golden age film music, but for the cost of a magazine, worth anyone's investment.

Rating ~

1. On the Waterfront - Symphonic Suite (20:04)
   Leonard Bernstein
2. Deception - Cello Concerto (12:06)
   Erich Wolfgang Korngold
3. Shall We Dance - Promenade (3:18)
   George Gershwin
4. Spellbound - Concerto (12:57)
   Miklos Rozsa
5. Humoresque - Tristan & Isolde Fantasy (11:21)
   Franz Waxman

Total Time ~ 60:06