• Twilight Zone: The 40^th Anniversary Collection

• Studio Orchestra
• Silva Screen
• This Release 1999

The Twilight Zone is one of those classic television serials that I've honestly never seen. I don't really have any great idea exactly what it was about but it appears that Rod Sterling's show was designed to be an intelligent science fiction and fantasy serial. This sounds to me very much like a description of The Outer Limits but since I've never watched the original shows from that either, I can't really comment. One thing that prevailed in the 60's was the use of composers who either were or still now are, top names in film music. The Twilight Zone is no exception and with composers such as Bernard Herrmann and Jerry Goldsmith attached, the music couldn't fail to be inventive and suitable as well as entertaining enough to be worthy of a release on disc. It is a distinct irony that the one piece of music to outlive the show itself was Marius Constant's simple, yet highly effective main theme. This was only introduced in the second series, replacing Herrmann's original.

It is surprising that Bernard Herrmann's first series title doesn't really have all that much impact. It is perfectly suited; eerie and menacing, but just not terribly distinctive. I was not sure what to expect from his underscore; it is true that the orchestra was generally quite small, but on the other hand, Herrmann's tendancy was to write music that only focuses on certain members of the orchestra at a time. As a result, the music he composed could quite easily have come from one of his film scores. It is a kind of mixture of Fahrenheit 451, most notably in the frequent use of the echoing and hollow sound of a vibraphone, along with the textures he created for his outstanding score to The Day the Earth Stood Still, sans theremin of course. A suite from the first episode, Where is Everybody? is followed by The Outer Space Suite which was muic stored in the CBS library for use in later shows and continues in the use of a small ensemble featuring mainly strings, harp and a small amount of woodwind and percussion. The first disc rounds out with various alternates for the main title, which were ultimately rejected in favour of Constant's music as well as short suites from other of Herrmann's scores.

Jerry Goldsmith wrote quite a bit of television music in the 60's including The Loner (music from which can be found on the Film Score Monthly album which also features his score to Stagecoach for which his work on The Loner was good practise). He, along with John Williams, also worked on various Irwin Allen shows including Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea among others. The music presented here is certainly more along the experimental edge that Goldsmith used to tread and doesn't really revolve around themes but uses interesting orchestral ideas to build suspense, create tension and excitement. It has been noted that Goldsmith appears less adept at using a smaller ensemble than Herrmann, but his music here is just as effective as Herrmann's, even if it only has hints of the more recognisable style of Goldsmith's movie music writing.

The final two discs mix music by various composers including Nathan Van Cleave who gets a generous selection on the third. To be honest, there is little to distinguish his music compared to Herrmann's or Goldsmith's. It uses a few ideas from both composer along with what is essentially cliched sci-fi music; groaning orchestral passages along with wailing theremin and similar. I suppose it can only be labelled cliche in hindsight as this was of course the place where the cliches started. The various selections on disc four follow in a still similar vein, with perhaps the composers featured - notable Rosenman, Franz Waxman and Star Trek regular Fred Steiner - being more interesting than the music itself. That having been said, there is perhaps a little more variety due to the different compositional styles being employed.

Certainly a fascinating disc that proves that despite the limited budgets that a show at that time had, the music could still be more inspired that the either synth laden or bland orchestral bombast that often blights modern big budget television serial scoring. It would be difficult to find a more atmospheric collection of television music anywhere. That having been said, I don't honestly feel that this will be a collection I would return to very often. Despite the large number of different episodes featured and in the later discs, the numerous different composers, I would probably find it difficult to listen to one disc in a sitting, let alone all four. As an archival treasure it is something that almost should be preserved, but as pure entertainment I'd be hard pressed to say that I actually enjoyed much of the music.

The sound quality is reasonable considering the age; the instruments can certainly be heard clearly even though there is noticeable hiss in the earlier albums. The small ensemble size does certainly help with the fidelity. Fans of the show will certainly relish this beautifully presented set which features an insightful liner booklet and of course an extensive selection of music. Fans of Herrmann and Goldsmith will find much of interest, but more as an interesting archival source than as a pure listening experience. I have decided to leave this album unrated as I neither liked nor disliked the music, but it is at such a moderate price and is so well produced that it would be unfair to pin any kind of overall rating to the set as a whole.

Main Title voiceover by Rod Sterling