With the release of this “on-demand” title, Arkivmusic.com restores to commercial availability one of the most influential orchestra recordings ever made–the first release in RCA’s legendary “Classic Film Score” LP series. After it appeared in the mid-’70s, George Lucas requested John Williams to use it as a model for the swashbuckling music he wanted in Star Wars, thus changing the course of movie scoring (and much for the better).
But it is not its history that makes this CD a mandatory item in any serious collection. It is the thrilling conducting and playing of Charles Gerhardt and the London free-lance musicians billed as the “National Philharmonic”; it is the hand of producer George Korngold (the composer’s son) ensuring authenticity; and it is the ear of engineer Kenneth Wilkinson, achieving a lush yet clear Hollywood sound.
In 1989, personally supervising this remastering for CD, Gerhardt made the release even more important by restoring 20 minutes that had to be dropped from the LP. Listeners who do not have this program should consider it a mandatory acquisition. There are fine CDs that contain more music from most of the scores represented here, but as an overview of Korngold’s illustrious cinema career, this release is unsurpassed. [1/3/2008]
