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Chandos

The Film Music Of Ron Goodwin / Gamba, BBC Philharmonic

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Details

Composer
GOODWIN, RON
Artist
Gamba, Bbc Po
Format
CD
Label
Chandos
Released
Nov 01, 2004
Catalog #
CHAN 10262
UPC
095115126226

About

Now that Chandos, in its extensive and irreplaceable film music series, has dealt with composers from Vaughan Williams to Nino Rota who first made their reputations in the classical concert field, with Ron Goodwin (1925–2003), they pay tribute to a musician who, in the early 1950s, quickly emerged from the pop music world with such fetching instrumental novelties as Swingin’ Sweethearts (known as Lingering Lovers in England) and similar cute numbers that became briefly ubiquitous on both sides of the Atlantic. (Incidentally Chandos should have provided some background commentary on Goodwin’s evolution in the accompanying booklet.)

This program offers a wide-ranging cross section of Goodwin’s work on several successful films as well as a few obscure but very appealing themes from minor films. Opening with the main theme to a 1963 war adventure—633 Squadron—we recognize Goodwin’s knack for taking very simple motifs of a generically fanfare-like or tocsin-like nature—sometimes celebratory, at others minatory—and turning them into striking variants that stick firmly in the memory. The main theme from the top-drawer World War II thriller—Where Eagles Dare—is another excellent example of this exceptional skill of creating an imposing charge of tension and foreboding through a monothematic manipulation of a basic percussion-lanced idea. Operation Crossbow and Force Ten from Navarone also fall into this category.

But Goodwin had another puckish side to his chameleon-like personality: an ability to throw together a mélange of thematic snippets drawn from all kinds of easily recognizable and pigeonholed ethnic and nationalistic sources—as in the rollicking roundelays from Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines and Monte Carlo or Bust. The Miss Marple theme exemplifies Goodwin’s ability to establish and enhance a uniquely quirky character in just a few measures similar to the late John Addison’s inimitable theme for Murder She Wrote. Some of Goodwin’s themes have such unusual appeal that they can be adapted to other collective uses, as in the case of the main theme from The Trap, a lesser film noir, which later became known as “The London Marathon Theme.” Goodwin’s facility with more lyrically romantic material is evident in Lancelot and Guinevere, Of Human Bondage, and Beauty and the Beast, while a suite from Clash of Loyalties exploits more-exotic terrain quite colorfully.

Finally, we have here for the first time anywhere some lovely and sensually expressive melodies, such as the main themes from Deadly Stranger, Whirlpool, and Submarine X-1. About the only examples here that come across as somewhat derivatively generic are the London Theme from Hitchcock’s Frenzy and the suite from Battle of Britain, for which the too-slow-writing William Walton was preparing a truly exciting score but was replaced at the last minute by the more facile Goodwin.

This inherently positive, cheerful, and good-humored music reflects the beloved Goodwin’s own personality and is given a rousing and thrilling send-off by Rumon Gamba and the BBC Philharmonic. A real treat for all lovers of “light.”

Paul A. Snook, FANFARE

Tracklist 23 tracks

  1. 1 633 Squadron: Main Theme 03:00
    Track
    1
    Title
    633 Squadron: Main Theme
    Duration
    03:00
    Composer
    Ron Goodwin
    Ensemble
    BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
    Conductor
    Rumon Gamba
  2. 2 Frenzy: Main Theme 02:14
    Track
    2
    Title
    Frenzy: Main Theme
    Duration
    02:14
    Composer
    Ron Goodwin
    Ensemble
    BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
    Conductor
    Rumon Gamba
  3. 3 Lancelot and Guinevere: Main Theme 04:14
    Track
    3
    Title
    Lancelot and Guinevere: Main Theme
    Duration
    04:14
    Composer
    Ron Goodwin
    Ensemble
    BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
    Conductor
    Rumon Gamba
  4. 4 Deadly Strangers: Main Theme 02:58
    Track
    4
    Title
    Deadly Strangers: Main Theme
    Duration
    02:58
    Composer
    Ron Goodwin
    Ensemble
    BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
    Conductor
    Rumon Gamba
  5. 5 I. Luftwaffe March [Aces High] 03:41
    Track
    5
    Title
    I. Luftwaffe March [Aces High]
    Duration
    03:41
    Composer
    Ron Goodwin
    Ensemble
    BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
    Conductor
    Rumon Gamba
  6. 6 II. Prelude to Battle 00:56
    Track
    6
    Title
    II. Prelude to Battle
    Duration
    00:56
    Composer
    Ron Goodwin
    Ensemble
    BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
    Conductor
    Rumon Gamba
  7. 7 III. Work and Play 02:00
    Track
    7
    Title
    III. Work and Play
    Duration
    02:00
    Composer
    Ron Goodwin
    Ensemble
    BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
    Conductor
    Rumon Gamba
  8. 8 IV. Battle of Britain Theme 01:05
    Track
    8
    Title
    IV. Battle of Britain Theme
    Duration
    01:05
    Composer
    Ron Goodwin
    Ensemble
    BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
    Conductor
    Rumon Gamba
  9. 9 V. Early Encounter 00:57
    Track
    9
    Title
    V. Early Encounter
    Duration
    00:57
    Composer
    Ron Goodwin
    Ensemble
    BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
    Conductor
    Rumon Gamba
  10. 10 VI. Epilogue 03:11
    Track
    10
    Title
    VI. Epilogue
    Duration
    03:11
    Composer
    Ron Goodwin
    Ensemble
    BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
    Conductor
    Rumon Gamba
  11. 11 Whirlpool: Main Theme 02:33
    Track
    11
    Title
    Whirlpool: Main Theme
    Duration
    02:33
    Composer
    Ron Goodwin
    Ensemble
    BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
    Conductor
    Rumon Gamba
  12. 12 The Trap: Main Theme, "The London Marathon Theme" 03:16
    Track
    12
    Title
    The Trap: Main Theme, "The London Marathon Theme"
    Duration
    03:16
    Composer
    Ron Goodwin
    Ensemble
    BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
    Conductor
    Rumon Gamba
  13. 13 Of Human Bondage: Main Theme 03:30
    Track
    13
    Title
    Of Human Bondage: Main Theme
    Duration
    03:30
    Composer
    Ron Goodwin
    Ensemble
    BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
    Conductor
    Rumon Gamba
  14. 14 Monte Carlo or Bust: Suite 06:45
    Track
    14
    Title
    Monte Carlo or Bust: Suite
    Duration
    06:45
    Composer
    Ron Goodwin
    Ensemble
    BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
    Conductor
    Rumon Gamba
  15. 15 633 Squadron: Love Theme 02:02
    Track
    15
    Title
    633 Squadron: Love Theme
    Duration
    02:02
    Composer
    Ron Goodwin
    Ensemble
    BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
    Conductor
    Rumon Gamba
  16. 16 Submarine X-1: Main Theme 05:27
    Track
    16
    Title
    Submarine X-1: Main Theme
    Duration
    05:27
    Composer
    Ron Goodwin
    Ensemble
    BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
    Conductor
    Rumon Gamba
  17. 17 Miss Marple Theme 03:28
    Track
    17
    Title
    Miss Marple Theme
    Duration
    03:28
    Composer
    Ron Goodwin
    Ensemble
    BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
    Conductor
    Rumon Gamba
  18. 18 Operation Crossbow: Main Theme 02:38
    Track
    18
    Title
    Operation Crossbow: Main Theme
    Duration
    02:38
    Composer
    Ron Goodwin
    Ensemble
    BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
    Conductor
    Rumon Gamba
  19. 19 Clash of Loyalties [Al-mas Ala Al-Kubra]: Suite 06:08
    Track
    19
    Title
    Clash of Loyalties [Al-mas Ala Al-Kubra]: Suite
    Duration
    06:08
    Composer
    Ron Goodwin
    Ensemble
    BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
    Conductor
    Rumon Gamba
  20. 20 Beauty and the Beast: Belle's Love Theme 02:17
    Track
    20
    Title
    Beauty and the Beast: Belle's Love Theme
    Duration
    02:17
    Composer
    Ron Goodwin
    Ensemble
    BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
    Conductor
    Rumon Gamba
  21. 21 Force 10 from Navarone: Main Theme 03:10
    Track
    21
    Title
    Force 10 from Navarone: Main Theme
    Duration
    03:10
    Composer
    Ron Goodwin
    Ensemble
    BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
    Conductor
    Rumon Gamba
  22. 22 Where Eagles Dare: Main Theme 03:01
    Track
    22
    Title
    Where Eagles Dare: Main Theme
    Duration
    03:01
    Composer
    Ron Goodwin
    Ensemble
    BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
    Conductor
    Rumon Gamba
  23. 23 Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines (selection) 06:16
    Track
    23
    Title
    Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines (selection)
    Duration
    06:16
    Composer
    Ron Goodwin
    Ensemble
    BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
    Conductor
    Rumon Gamba