Frequently Bought Together
Product details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
Listen to Samples and Buy MP3s
Songs from this album are available to purchase as MP3s. Click on "Buy MP3" or
view the MP3 Album.
Product Description
Review
Restoring the reputation of a now-forgotten Oscar-winning composer. Ruman Gamba conducts Easdale's music with a blazing conviction that entices the listener back to the films themselves. EDITORS CHOICE --Gramophone,May'11
Product Description
Cynthia Millar, ondes martenot - BBC National Chorus of Wales - BBC National Orchestra of Wales - Rumon Gamba, direction
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
A fantastic recording with suites from Easdale's Gone to Earth (aka The Wild Heart). A masterpiece of film scoring and have been waiting for a proper recording of this to be released since I first saw the film as a child. Easdale was a genius and this is a wonderful tribute. CD of the year in the world of film music with music from Black Narcissus and others too - don't hesitate - BUY IT
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is the first music by Easdale I have purchased but it does show a talent in this field for the composer. Well recorded but the choral music some how doeasn't go with the other examples I feel. More instrumental film music would be better. The orchesra and conductor great as usual
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.2 out of 5 stars
5 reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
At long last Easdale
24 Feb 2011
By AndrewCF
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Audio CD
British Film Music, Vol. 1The Red Shoes: Music from the films of Michael Powell & Emeric PressburgerRed Shoe & Other British Film Scores
Back in the early 1990s, I wrote a letter to Brian Couzens at Chandos pleading for a recording of the complete score of The Red Shoes. This Academy Award-winner by Brian Easdale had so much wonderful music, I argued, that it deserved more respect and attention. Up to this time (so I thought), the only stereo version of just the ballet was the one conducted by Golschmann, which appeared on Columbia (later, Odyssey). It was slightly cut, there was no prelude and a theremin had been substituted for the ondes martenot. Couzens harrumphed the very idea and spoke vaguely about possibly releasing the original recording conducted by Beecham (the ballet, that is; Easdale conducted the rest of the score). In the early 2000s, someone on chandos.net claimed that they were working an Easdale project but were having trouble obtaining the scores from the estate.
Of course, the entire score was copied directly from a print and released on a Spanish label with no remastering and less than ideal sound. In 1992, Silva America released a fine recording of the same clipped ballet score (as in the Golschmann), but this time using an ondes martenot, conducted by Kenneth Alwyn with the Philharmonia Orchestra.
Pearl released, in 2000, its first volume of British film music which included a 1948 recording of both the prelude and the ballet conducted by Muir Mathieson, which originally appeared on Columbia 78s. Flutes were substituted for the ondes martenot. A CD issued by the Powell-Pressburger website contains the same recordings, perhaps a tad better remastered, plus some other tidbits from P&P scores poorly transferred.
Now we have the new, lush Chandos recording. The good news: the recording is spectacular, the ballet is complete, and the ondes martenot has never sounded more seductive and mysterious. The bad news: the prelude was not included, nor is any more of The Red Shoes' remarkable score. Conductor Gamba is to be commended for pacing the ballet music close to Beecham. Details are revealed that display Easdale's flair for orchestration. We get gorgeous, important excerpts from Black Narcissus and Gone to Earth. Complaining seems futile. This CD is a must. We can only hope for a Volume 2 with the Small Back Room nightmare scene and more from The Red Shoes.
Back in the early 1990s, I wrote a letter to Brian Couzens at Chandos pleading for a recording of the complete score of The Red Shoes. This Academy Award-winner by Brian Easdale had so much wonderful music, I argued, that it deserved more respect and attention. Up to this time (so I thought), the only stereo version of just the ballet was the one conducted by Golschmann, which appeared on Columbia (later, Odyssey). It was slightly cut, there was no prelude and a theremin had been substituted for the ondes martenot. Couzens harrumphed the very idea and spoke vaguely about possibly releasing the original recording conducted by Beecham (the ballet, that is; Easdale conducted the rest of the score). In the early 2000s, someone on chandos.net claimed that they were working an Easdale project but were having trouble obtaining the scores from the estate.
Of course, the entire score was copied directly from a print and released on a Spanish label with no remastering and less than ideal sound. In 1992, Silva America released a fine recording of the same clipped ballet score (as in the Golschmann), but this time using an ondes martenot, conducted by Kenneth Alwyn with the Philharmonia Orchestra.
Pearl released, in 2000, its first volume of British film music which included a 1948 recording of both the prelude and the ballet conducted by Muir Mathieson, which originally appeared on Columbia 78s. Flutes were substituted for the ondes martenot. A CD issued by the Powell-Pressburger website contains the same recordings, perhaps a tad better remastered, plus some other tidbits from P&P scores poorly transferred.
Now we have the new, lush Chandos recording. The good news: the recording is spectacular, the ballet is complete, and the ondes martenot has never sounded more seductive and mysterious. The bad news: the prelude was not included, nor is any more of The Red Shoes' remarkable score. Conductor Gamba is to be commended for pacing the ballet music close to Beecham. Details are revealed that display Easdale's flair for orchestration. We get gorgeous, important excerpts from Black Narcissus and Gone to Earth. Complaining seems futile. This CD is a must. We can only hope for a Volume 2 with the Small Back Room nightmare scene and more from The Red Shoes.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Long Overdue Brian Easdale Survey
2 Mar 2011
By Allen Cohen
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Audio CD
Some sixty odd years prior to the contemporaneous emotional travails of the protagonist in The Black Swan, there was the magical, visually breathtaking, The Red Shoes. This 1948 film told the story of an equally conflicted ballerina played by Moira Shearer. The universal acclaim which greeted this film was in no small part heightened by its superb musical component. There have been several fine recordings of Brian Easdale's music for the famed ballet sequence from The Red Shoes: Vladimir Golschmann, and Kenneth Alwyn, come to mind. Now we have a stunning new version captured in the typically opulent sound associated with Chandos: an ideal blend of ambient warmth and transparency. Rumon Gamba, leads the BBC National Orchestra of Wales in a complete, beautifully realized, well nigh definitive performance. As if this were not sufficient reason for serious consideration, the disc includes an imaginatively arranged bounty of other film scores as well as one concert rarity by the vastly under appreciated, British born Brian Easdale (1909-1995) a name often unfamiliar even to avid devotees of this genre. Among the many gems included is the haunting score Easdale composed for Black Narcissus, a one time controversial Deborah Kerr vehicle. The 13 minute suite assembled here features the considerable resources of the BBC National Chorus of Wales to excellent effect. At 76:52 minutes this is a generous collection of inventive, engaging material. As is customary with Chandos, packaging and liner notes are of the highest order. Highly recommended.
4.0 out of 5 stars
It's all about the Red Shoes Ballet
29 Mar 2013
By Theodore R. Spickler
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
Brian Easdale has fascinated me ever since I was in the first grade when I was taken to the local Warner theater to see the great movie, "The Red Shoes". Easdale won an Academy Award for this music and I find the movie and the music enthralling. I have an old LP recording made by the St Louis Symphony but have always wished for a new CD recording. This one is conducted with appropriate vigor and luxuriates with contemporary full stereo sound quality. Other selections on the CD include some music Easdale wrote for other films. He shows glimmers of artistry here and there but nothing can top the Red Shoes Ballet. His creativity on the red shoes sound track is over-the-top. His style has elements of modernity coupled with romanticism. When the lead dancer first steps into her shoes and begins her signature dance, Easdale's musical theme carry's her with irresistible excitement to her inevitable doom. The orchestra plays with strength and precision so I am quite happy with this CD. Do not miss the Blu-Ray of the full movie where the sound track was directed by Sir Thomas Beecham.
›
Go to Amazon.com to see all 5 reviews
4.2 out of 5 stars
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
