C. Davis: The Great Gatsby

Carl Davis: Last Train to Tomorrow

The Beatles for Orchestra

Carl Davis has distinguished himself in many musical fields. His scores for the great silent films including for Abel Gance’s Napoleon are prominent as also is that for Lon Chaney’s The Phantom of the Opera. He puts himself on the line in writing such music and has carried this off with considerable success often in live events he conducts to accompany modern day showings of these films. His work for British film music is a feature of his concerts and dates back to that mini-series of unhackneyed concerts on BBC Radio 3 in March 1995. There have also been ballets including one, A Simple Man based on the life of L.S. Lowry. He assisted Sir Paul McCartney in the production of his Liverpool Oratorio. His TV scores are numerous, are magnificently memorable and include the whoopingly ebullient one for the BBC’s much repeated Pride and Prejudice with Jennifer Ehle. It’s hinted at in the Goodnight Mr Tom music (tr. 3). Going further back I still very fondly recall his pastoral-poignant music for Hardy’s The Mayor of Casterbridge (BBC, 1972) with Alan Bates as Michael Henchard.

The World at War piece with acrid tragedy gives the sense of a great remorseless wave, bitter and with little consolation. The echoes threaded through the music are Czech and Russian. There is a complete CD dedicated to The World at War – it’s on CDC006. The four movement suite from the music for Jack Gold’s Goodnight Mr Tom is more gently wistful, at times disturbing but also rather pastoral-joyful. The music for Echoes That Remain naturally has strata of Jewish exoticism among the violence. One of the finest inventions is the Spring Cemetery movement with harp ostinato and flute descant. The final Remember is heavy with the sound-world of the Dvorák Cello Concerto leavened with just a hint of Bloch. These moods carry over into the Ann Frank Remembered suite with a Sibelian elegy as the centre of the sequence. The Death of Ann Frank is handled with great sensitivity and the music carries the redolence of the orthodox chant of Rimsky’s Russian Easter Festival. The Rhapsody on themes from The Snow Goose recalls the 36 piece orchestral score for the film featuring Jenny Agutter and Richard Harris. The invention is overwhelmingly romantic – think in terms of the best of John Barry but more so. It is gloriously done here as indeed are all the tracks.

The documentation is good.

-- Rob Barnett, MusicWeb International

In this premiere recording of the Ballade for cello and orchestra, we see a mature work of contemporary composer Carl Davis performed by the recipient of the commission alongside the commissioning body - cellist Jonathan Aasgaard and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, respectively. Davis based the haunting Ballade "on the brief synopsis Faure had used for his Poeme d'un jour: A couple meet, swear eternal love and part."

There have been many compilations of World War II songs and speeches, but there is only one World at War, the classic and still unsurpassed documentary television series that not only occasionally tapped into the vast recorded archive of popular songs of the era, but was elevated to an even higher dramatic plane by superior production values, inspired writing, stirring narration (Laurence Olivier), and by profoundly affecting original music by Carl Davis. Just the theme music alone--dark, foreboding, near-Sibelian in the way its relatively spare melodic idea is masterfully turned into something big and dynamic and unforgettable--is an exemplary study in musical representation. How do you embody the theme of "war"--the monumental, earth-shattering World War II--in music? Just listen to this.

Davis also includes some extended musical selections from several episodes--an 11-minute "suite" from France Falls; music from Episode 11, Red Star (about the siege of Leningrad), followed by a 1940s performance of a song by the Red Army Choir; a selection titled Turkey Shoot, describing "the flight patterns from an aircraft carrier in the Pacific and the long wait for the return of the plane and crew"; and a poignant meditation "Freed Prisoners/Missing People" that reworks the show's theme for chamber ensemble--as well as shorter pieces from the original score.

It's interesting hearing the music out of context--you notice more readily the variety of styles and influences, from '30s and '40s jazz to Stravinsky, Shostakovich, and I would even say there's a nod to Britten here and there. Much of the music is scored for symphony orchestra (but, according to Davis, absent flutes, trumpets, and harp) and the rest is for chamber ensemble. For this project, Davis recorded his score anew, with the City of Prague Philharmonic, and no one should have any objection to the fresh and vibrant performances and full-bodied sound.

The rest of the disc consists of very short excerpts from a few familiar speeches--from Chamberlain, Churchill, Montgomery, and Eisenhower--and an interesting mix of original World War II songs, remastered by Gareth Williams. These include Gracie Fields' "Wish Me Luck as You Wave Me Goodbye" (a rousing performance recorded in 1939 with the British Expeditionary Force "somewhere in France"), Noel Coward's "London Pride" from 1941, Irving Berlin's surprisingly frank exhortation to new recruits about Army life, "This is the Army, Mr. Jones", and the classic, inevitable "Lili Marlene", sung by Lale Anderson in 1939.

In 2009 Davis began his own label, Carl Davis Collection, which will offer previously recorded and new productions of his work in various genres, including ballet and film (his score for the film Napoleon is among the upcoming releases). Although this current recording will appeal primarily to existing fans of The World at War series, there is much to enjoy for anyone interested in an era that still fascinates and captivates and compels us to never forget.

--David Vernier, ClassicsToday.com

In 1920 Harold Lloyd created no less than five short films (two-reelers) which included An Eastern Westerner and High and Dizzy. His leading lady, Mildred Davis, was soon to become Mrs Lloyd. The two films could not be more contrasting: An Eastern Westerner opens in New York with Harold as a dissipated young man enraging his parents who banish him to their ranch in an unnamed outlaw-ridden territory. High and Dizzy couldn't be more urban, moving from a doctor’s office to a very grand hotel but running through this film is a very serious theme. The heroine is a sleep-walker and at the film’s climax, places both herself and Harold in great danger.

Even the orchestrations are different. An Eastern Westerner was composed in 2000 as a curtain-raiser to Harold Lloyd’s thrill feature, Safety Last, for an orchestra resembling the Paul Whiteman Jazz Band. Even when imitating Western themes, I used the orchestra to emphasize Harold’s split personality. High and Dizzy, composed in 2012, has a more classical line-up utilizing a beautiful aria from Bellini’s opera ‘La Sonnambula’ (The Sleepwalker). Following silent film tradition I borrowed copiously from the masters including Rossini’s ‘William Tell Overture’ and Wagner’s ‘The Ride of the Valkyries’ as well as the most iconic Western song of all ‘Home on the Range’ which both opens and closes the film. - Carl Davis

Aladdin was commissioned by Scottish Ballet, who gave the premiere at The Edinburgh Festival Theatre on 20th December 2000. Sometime in the mid-1990s came the dream phone call- Robert Cohan, American choreographer and founder of the London Contemporary Dance Company asking if Carl Davis would be interested in composing a score for a full length ballet on the subject of Aladdin, for what is the traditional Nutcracker slot, Autumn and Winter. The commission was from Scottish Ballet, then traditionally managed by the distinguished Russian ballerina, Galina Samsova. Born in New York in 1936, Carl Davis moved to London in 1960 and found himself at the heart of England’s theatre, television and film world. Davis is also a composer of symphonic works, a writer for ballet and a notable Conductor. Following on from Thames Television’s Hollywood series, he created a score for Abel Gance’s epic 1927 film Napoleon, a performance so unique it stimulated a global revival of silent film performances with live orchestra. Davis has written scores for over fifty silent films ranging from Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd, Buster Keaton to DW Griffiths and King Vidor. In 2009 Carl created his own record label, the Carl Davis Collection, which features 27 discs on international and digital release.

Davis, C.: Understudy (The)

Carl Conducts … Classical Festival Favourites

Carl Davis writes: "Buster Keaton's subjects ranged from the Stone Age to the American Civil War of the 1860s, as well as the present day, meaning the 1920s. Part of the fun of the show has been to include as a curtain raiser, Buster's 1920-21 shorts, which reveal much about his development as a filmmaker. Some of these are considered to be masterpieces in their own right. This recording consists of highlights from the original soundtracks." (CDC)

Up In Lights

The Carl Davis Collection presents Heroines in Music, a disc dedicated to the strong female characters depicted in Davis's film scores in newly arranged concert suites.

March 1989 saw a seismic change in the world's perception of Charlie Chaplin's work in the cinema with the first live screenings of his masterpiece 'City Lights' in London at the Dominion Theatre. I had painstakingly transcribed Charlie's original score recorded in 1930 and early 1931, for performances with orchestra. Within days requests were being made for performances in such diverse locations as Los Angeles, New York, Atlanta, Liverpool and Edinburgh. Many more followed and other conductors took up the mantle. After a year or so of continuing demand I suggested to my colleagues at Photoplay that they asked the Chaplin Estate if we could continue the exercise. Eventually 'The Gold Rush' (in it's 1925 cut) and 'The Kid' followed. But 'City Lights' was special - who can ever forget the final scene, musically worthy of Puccini. As I begin over 20 years later another round of performances I look forward to conducting music that, like the film, plunges from the heights of irresistible comedy to extreme pathos. Charlie, you taught US all. Carl Davis, February 2012 Carl Davis Collection presents the original score of City Lights, re-recorded by Carl Davis. City Lights is Charles Chaplin's most perfect film, it was released at the time that 'talkies' were taking off but Chaplin decided that it was to be a silent film as the Tramp had communicated with a worldwide audience through mime and besides what voice would he give the Tramp, his own native London, the Bronx or of California. Chaplin decided as it was his first picture with synchronized sound to compose the musical score himself, with the music being delegated to a team of arrangers. 'I did not write it down' Chaplin said in an excess of modesty, 'I la-laed it... it is all simple music to keep with my character... '

Composer and conductor Carl Davis has created moving film and television scores and exciting concert works. The ballet in two acts, The Lady of the Camellias is based on the same story that inspired Verdi's opera La Traviata.