There has been no more important musical project in the past couple of decades than the recovery of our classic film music. This effort has been achieved almost entirely through recordings. Conductors and orchestras have been very slow to realize what riches these scores contain, which is a pity, because the suites derived from the best of them would grace any serious concert program and please a typical audience to no end. The present disc, for example, contains two extended suites of nearly half an hour each (the opulent, Spanish-tinged Juarez, and the brooding, Sibelian sea-scapes of The Sea Wolf), which in turn enclose a brief interlude consisting of a few cues from Elizabeth and Essex. Much of this music is new to disc, and it’s all wonderful. Korngold lovers will be surprised to hear a prominent theme from the first movement of the Violin Concerto in the music from Juarez. Either suite would make a great change of pace from the usual Strauss tone poem, and for anyone who cares about great late-Romantic music, this dashingly played and richly recorded disc will be self-recommending.
