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Film Music Classics - Frankel: Curse Of The Werewolf, Etc
Naxos

Film Music Classics - Frankel: Curse Of The Werewolf, Etc

$19.99 Only 2 left

Details

Composer
FRANKEL
Artist
C. Davis, Royal Liverpool Po
Format
CD
Label
Naxos
Released
May 16, 2006
Catalog #
8557850
UPC
747313285020

About



FRANKEL The Curse of the Werewolf: Excerpts . So Long at the Fair Medley . The Net: Love Theme. The Prisoner: Excerpts ? Carl Davis, cond; Royal Liverpool PO ? NAXOS 8.557850 (74:40)


CD?s of film music have experienced a renaissance of late, with older scores being rediscovered and recorded in droves. This CD retrospective of Benjamin Frankel (1906?1973) demonstrates the composer?s European style and lineage. Frankel, along with early pioneers in the field, including Korngold, Hermann, Mayuzumi, and Copland, redirected the classical tradition, bypassing atonality. In film scores to this day, it is acceptable to be traditional, because composers such as Frankel set the tone. The likes of John Williams still follow the lead with current neo-Romantic film scoring?no tricks or mathematical formulas.


The music is just good?and original. Novelty is not always complex, but may be fresh in its return to simplicity and comprehension.


The CD title selection here is Curse of the Werewolf , a 1959 cult film classic. The music is appropriately narrative, with more urgency than creepiness. Without seeing the movie, you can guess what?s happening by the musical allusions. Yes, it?s necessarily programmatic. Surprisingly, for all its accessibility and familiarity?it?s composed in 12-tone row, proving that what is serial may be packaged like cereal. There is a booming brass opening, some ominous Shostakovichian passages, punctuated by nervous snares and distant hunting horns. Castanets take on morbid significance, followed by a lilting string theme, the calm before the storm or, in this case, perhaps, clean-shavenness before the big five o?clock shadow. Musical wild howls and fangs follow. Frankel scores 12-tone bird sounds throughout, giving the impression of nature always watching, waiting for the grim game to be played out. There are, in addition, spooky xylophone riffs, mysterious harp glissandos, juxtaposed with more themes of virginal innocence, eliciting a chuckle, if your mind wanders to Mel Brooks?s Young Frankenstein . Later, Frankel introduces a relentless ticking motif, as if time is building to a crescendo of madness. Then the xylophone returns, with a momentary tonic chord, and more bird song, string plucks, and timpani, with a repeat of the distant hunting horns. An ironic waltz theme is recapitulated, followed by a denouement with furious swells of strings, screeching trombones, and a brooding bass leading to a bipolar coda.


Whether you view the werewolf tale as a metaphor for the onset of puberty, a depiction of the battle between nature and predation, as a cautionary tale about the evil of testosterone, or as a veiled reference to unbridled sexuality?or even if you?re not into Freud at all?this is a campy CD, but not a knockout. The other selections in this box, So Long at the Fair Medley and excerpts from The Net and The Prisoner , are pedestrian but pleasant, with So Long at the Fair being superior, with its familiar two-step dance, as well as nostalgic themes of childhood.


It?s all good music, but I?m just not sure it deserves its own CD?I?d rather rent the movies, and have the benefit of score and picture. Indeed, Frankel also wrote the scores for The Seventh Veil , The Importance of Being Ernest , The Man in the White Suit , Night of the Iguana , and Battle of the Bulge . Perhaps I?ll check Netflix.


The Royal Liverpool PO does a fine job of performing the scores, with Carl Davis in fine conducting form.


FANFARE: David Wolman

Tracklist 25 tracks

  1. 1 I. Prelude 01:48
    Track
    1
    Title
    I. Prelude
    Duration
    01:48
    Composer
    Benjamin Frankel
    Ensemble
    Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
    Conductor
    Carl Davis
  2. 2 II. The Beggar 01:57
    Track
    2
    Title
    II. The Beggar
    Duration
    01:57
    Composer
    Benjamin Frankel
    Ensemble
    Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
    Conductor
    Carl Davis
  3. 3 III. Servant Girl and Beggar 02:14
    Track
    3
    Title
    III. Servant Girl and Beggar
    Duration
    02:14
    Composer
    Benjamin Frankel
    Ensemble
    Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
    Conductor
    Carl Davis
  4. 4 IV. Revenge and Escape 02:57
    Track
    4
    Title
    IV. Revenge and Escape
    Duration
    02:57
    Composer
    Benjamin Frankel
    Ensemble
    Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
    Conductor
    Carl Davis
  5. 5 V. Baptism 03:42
    Track
    5
    Title
    V. Baptism
    Duration
    03:42
    Composer
    Benjamin Frankel
    Ensemble
    Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
    Conductor
    Carl Davis
  6. 6 VI. Pastoral 01:51
    Track
    6
    Title
    VI. Pastoral
    Duration
    01:51
    Composer
    Benjamin Frankel
    Ensemble
    Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
    Conductor
    Carl Davis
  7. 7 VII. Leon’s Assignation 01:48
    Track
    7
    Title
    VII. Leon’s Assignation
    Duration
    01:48
    Composer
    Benjamin Frankel
    Ensemble
    Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
    Conductor
    Carl Davis
  8. 8 VIII. A Deadly Transformation 02:21
    Track
    8
    Title
    VIII. A Deadly Transformation
    Duration
    02:21
    Composer
    Benjamin Frankel
    Ensemble
    Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
    Conductor
    Carl Davis
  9. 9 IX. Leon Confronts the Horror 03:26
    Track
    9
    Title
    IX. Leon Confronts the Horror
    Duration
    03:26
    Composer
    Benjamin Frankel
    Ensemble
    Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
    Conductor
    Carl Davis
  10. 10 X. Leon Imprisoned 01:57
    Track
    10
    Title
    X. Leon Imprisoned
    Duration
    01:57
    Composer
    Benjamin Frankel
    Ensemble
    Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
    Conductor
    Carl Davis
  11. 11 XI. Final Transformation 03:19
    Track
    11
    Title
    XI. Final Transformation
    Duration
    03:19
    Composer
    Benjamin Frankel
    Ensemble
    Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
    Conductor
    Carl Davis
  12. 12 XII. Finale 06:45
    Track
    12
    Title
    XII. Finale
    Duration
    06:45
    Composer
    Benjamin Frankel
    Ensemble
    Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
    Conductor
    Carl Davis
  13. 13 Introduction - Sea Prelude - Carriage and Pair - Long Forgotten Melody - Carriage and Pair 06:21
    Track
    13
    Title
    Introduction - Sea Prelude - Carriage and Pair - Long Forgotten Melody - Carriage and Pair
    Duration
    06:21
    Composer
    Benjamin Frankel
    Ensemble
    Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
    Conductor
    Carl Davis
  14. 14 The Net: Love Theme 03:05
    Track
    14
    Title
    The Net: Love Theme
    Duration
    03:05
    Composer
    Benjamin Frankel
    Ensemble
    Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
    Conductor
    Carl Davis
  15. 15 I. Prelude 01:27
    Track
    15
    Title
    I. Prelude
    Duration
    01:27
    Composer
    Benjamin Frankel
    Ensemble
    Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
    Conductor
    Carl Davis
  16. 16 II. The Prison 02:53
    Track
    16
    Title
    II. The Prison
    Duration
    02:53
    Composer
    Benjamin Frankel
    Ensemble
    Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
    Conductor
    Carl Davis
  17. 17 III. Cat and Mouse 02:51
    Track
    17
    Title
    III. Cat and Mouse
    Duration
    02:51
    Composer
    Benjamin Frankel
    Ensemble
    Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
    Conductor
    Carl Davis
  18. 18 IV. Cardinal and Interrogator 03:06
    Track
    18
    Title
    IV. Cardinal and Interrogator
    Duration
    03:06
    Composer
    Benjamin Frankel
    Ensemble
    Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
    Conductor
    Carl Davis
  19. 19 V. Mind Games 01:52
    Track
    19
    Title
    V. Mind Games
    Duration
    01:52
    Composer
    Benjamin Frankel
    Ensemble
    Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
    Conductor
    Carl Davis
  20. 20 VI. Civil Unrest 03:16
    Track
    20
    Title
    VI. Civil Unrest
    Duration
    03:16
    Composer
    Benjamin Frankel
    Ensemble
    Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
    Conductor
    Carl Davis
  21. 21 VII. Solitary Confinement 06:30
    Track
    21
    Title
    VII. Solitary Confinement
    Duration
    06:30
    Composer
    Benjamin Frankel
    Ensemble
    Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
    Conductor
    Carl Davis
  22. 22 VIII. The Dark 01:48
    Track
    22
    Title
    VIII. The Dark
    Duration
    01:48
    Composer
    Benjamin Frankel
    Ensemble
    Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
    Conductor
    Carl Davis
  23. 23 IX. The Confession 03:32
    Track
    23
    Title
    IX. The Confession
    Duration
    03:32
    Composer
    Benjamin Frankel
    Ensemble
    Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
    Conductor
    Carl Davis
  24. 24 X. Last Meal 01:51
    Track
    24
    Title
    X. Last Meal
    Duration
    01:51
    Composer
    Benjamin Frankel
    Ensemble
    Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
    Conductor
    Carl Davis
  25. 25 XI. Finale 01:23
    Track
    25
    Title
    XI. Finale
    Duration
    01:23
    Composer
    Benjamin Frankel
    Ensemble
    Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
    Conductor
    Carl Davis