In Varese's valiant attempt to keep up with Silva Screen in the re-recorded compilation stakes, they have produced this superb album of music from films of some of Shakespeare's most famous outings. Not all is music written for films, the two Alex North selections are from music he wrote for stage productions, The Tempest by Eidelman is tone poem based on the story and an independent work in its own right and Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet is from his famous ballet. Almost all of the music is by classic composers of the past, although the current crop of composers are superbly represented by the stunningly talented Patrick Doyle as well as Mr Eidelman himself who as well as being an excellent conductor, is no slouch when it comes to composing. His contribution is an excellent tone poem. Starting with thunderous brass as well as bursts of percussion that moves into a slightly calmer string passage. The central part is an elongated fanfare with the brass showing off splendidly. The climax is subdued and brooding with a coda to round the piece off. There is about one hint that this is the composer that gave us Star Trek 6: The Undiscovered Country, but this is most assuredly all Eidelman. Patrick Doyle provides music from two of him most memorable scores. The wonderful Overture from Much Ado About Nothing is sensationally performed and at a slightly more moderate tempo than the recording on the recent Cinema's Classic Romances and is in fact closer to the tempo of the original recording. The track from Henry V combines a couple of sections from the film, although you could be forgiven into thinking they were the same cue, so well does it flow together. This selection combines the darker moments of the play more so than if the jubilant Non Nobis Domine had been included, although I wouldn't be complaining if it had been included.
William Walton's Henry V is more upbeat than Doyle's on the whole with the imposing prologue, full of fanfares and choral passages. The much revered score is certainly as good as it has been made out to be. The other, longer effort from Walton is his long and imposing prelude from Richard III which seems to share a lot of style common with Henry V, with yet more typical Walton fanfares, although no choral sections this time. The three fanfares from Alex North's stage music from Richard III are, I feel a slightly strange choice. Surely a fanfare and another track would have been suitable. Still, they are most impressive brass numbers. The first one starts suspiciously like his fanfare from his rejected score to 2001, but evolves very differently. Two very different takes on the Romeo and Juliet story are appearing here. The first is a suite of Nino Rota's music that was apparently especially arranged for this album. While it is a good arrangement, I would have liked a little more of the superb main theme, only appears briefly at the end. Prokofiev's take on the material from his ballet delights us with two selections. The first one is the sprightly, almost semi-comical music for Juliet, although there are some slower and more restrained sections that appear occasionally. However, the innocence of youth sound that the music has is never lost. The Montagues and the Capulets on the other hand is a mammoth, albeit brief track. Starting with grinding brass chords and the theme played on strings this is a memorable piece of music that you might recognise after hearing it. The funeral music from Julius Caesar by Rosza is fairly typical Rosza, a lumbering processional marked with occasional brass flourishes, although never breaking the regal sombreness of the occasion. Shostakovich's music for Hamlet starts with joyful dance music, but moves into slightly darker territory for the duel, which is appropriately balletic and exciting for depicting the fight between Hamlet and Laertes.
This CD, like the Classic Romances one on Silva Screen is strange due to its lack of anything by the big players of modern film music, Williams, Horner and so on. Even the classic composers aren't some of the most well known (apart from Rozsa of course). It just goes to show what great music there is out there from someone just a bit different. The inclusion of Prokofiev and Shostakovich was an excellent one as their music is not only very fitting , but excellent as well, a good introduction to something a little bit more classical. A mention must go to the superb sound quality. On Silva's recordings, the sound can be horribly harsh, whereas this is warm and rich without sacrificing clarity in any way at all. Congratulations to Cliff Eidelman and all the musicians for a stunning selection.
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Total Time - 69:50