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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Audio CD
Another in the excellent Morgan/Stromberg re-recordings of Golden Age film scores; wonderful film music that would be completely neglected except for their commitment to restoration and release of the work of a variety of composers. Herrmann, Steiner, Tiomkin and Alfred Newman and many others have featured in the team's restorations to full orchestral glory for posterity and our listening pleasure. They are here joined by the lesser known talents of Frank Skinner and Hans J.Salter, who scored many of the classic Universal horror films of the 30s and 40s.
Complete music written for Ghost of Frankenstein [45.02] and a shorter suite from Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror [14.29] are accompanied by a few other themes. The quality of the performance and production are at the usual high standards we expect from the team. Historically, the recordings of Universal Horror music may not be as significant as Casablanca or King Kong, but what enjoyment can be derived from listening to music that accompanied the monster lurching down the village streets and other classic black and white images from the genre.
The disappointing thing about this release is the absolute lack of information to accompany the recording. All the other Marco Polo and Naxos reissues of those releases I have seen have featured booklets with excellent information about the films, the composers, the music itself and the restoration. (Morgan/Stromberg have set up their own label Tribute Film Classics and their booklets are 32 pages long, packed with info.) The booklet for this CD version gives track titles printed so small that they are hard to read - and that is it! On the reverse of the insert is a photo of some Naxos Classical CD covers, but no content at all about the two films and the music.
This is the only release of this particular recording. The Naxos website has a short paragraph about the recording but it is of minimal use/interest, so it was obviously intended for issue with nil written commentary. A huge dissapointment to those of us who enjoy reading descriptions of the music and a bit about the background to its composition.
So, while I enthusiastically recommend the release and feel grateful this music is available to fans of the Universal series in particular, the CD release is not essential to have in that format. Save yourself some money and use the cheaper download option. Even if you burn it onto a CD yourself and stick a photo on a piece of copy paper, your CD cover will be every bit as quality and useful as the official CD release.
Complete music written for Ghost of Frankenstein [45.02] and a shorter suite from Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror [14.29] are accompanied by a few other themes. The quality of the performance and production are at the usual high standards we expect from the team. Historically, the recordings of Universal Horror music may not be as significant as Casablanca or King Kong, but what enjoyment can be derived from listening to music that accompanied the monster lurching down the village streets and other classic black and white images from the genre.
The disappointing thing about this release is the absolute lack of information to accompany the recording. All the other Marco Polo and Naxos reissues of those releases I have seen have featured booklets with excellent information about the films, the composers, the music itself and the restoration. (Morgan/Stromberg have set up their own label Tribute Film Classics and their booklets are 32 pages long, packed with info.) The booklet for this CD version gives track titles printed so small that they are hard to read - and that is it! On the reverse of the insert is a photo of some Naxos Classical CD covers, but no content at all about the two films and the music.
This is the only release of this particular recording. The Naxos website has a short paragraph about the recording but it is of minimal use/interest, so it was obviously intended for issue with nil written commentary. A huge dissapointment to those of us who enjoy reading descriptions of the music and a bit about the background to its composition.
So, while I enthusiastically recommend the release and feel grateful this music is available to fans of the Universal series in particular, the CD release is not essential to have in that format. Save yourself some money and use the cheaper download option. Even if you burn it onto a CD yourself and stick a photo on a piece of copy paper, your CD cover will be every bit as quality and useful as the official CD release.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.6 out of 5 stars
5 reviews
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Way over the top!
8 Jun 2000
By William F. Flanigan Jr.
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
This music is far and away beyond being exceptional! Messrs. John Morgan and William Stromberg have yet again exceed their past triumphs (I have no clue how they keep doing this!). Where to begin? Perhaps, with some numbers: five stars (out of five) for restoration, arrangement/re-arrangement, and cue selection/editing; five stars for presentation (conducting and orchestral performance); five stars for recording and mastering; and five stars for the fascinating (and huge!) CD booklet courtesy of Messrs. Bill Whitaker and John Morgan (the photo on page 33 is worth the price of admission alone!). With a new orchestral venue and technical crew, Mr. Stromberg has once again "come into his own," acoustically speaking; the technical aspects of past recordings with the Moscow Symphony Orchestra has often been ham handed and uneven to the point of distraction. But the sound on these tracks is definitely 21st Century in quality! For those new to the neighborhood, just who are these two film composer folks--Frank Skinner and Hans J. Salter? Well, among other notable achievements, they saved many a Universal programmer during the late 30's and early-to-mid 40's (and very likely the studios's bacon to boot). When you view Universal's "second wave" of horror films even today, two things instantly grab your attention: the stunning photography and the inventive, pulsating music. "(These) pictures were a great challenge, because ... before scoring they didn't seem to have much fright about them or cohesion either. They'd screen one of those pictures for us without the music, and it would be nothing. The challenge was in creating the sense of terror and suspense, and that is something music can do. All the pictures we saved for them!" Mr. Salter is quoted as saying in the CD booklet. Like many of the film scores of Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Salter and Skinner's music transcends and is enormously superior to the films for which they composed. Until Messrs. Morgan and Stromberg got the bit in their teeth, Salter and Skinner's film scores had served to elevate fair-to middling films, but, in turn, it was the poor reputation of these movies that served to suppress vastly underrated film music! NONE of this music has ever been heard like it is presented here. The Universal studio orchestra had barely 40 players; this CD uses a full symphony. Also, Mr. Morgan was able to work extensively with Mr. Salter on restorations during the final year's of the latter's long life. To quote Mr. Salter once more from the CD booklet, the executives at Universal "never knew what they had" in the way of music talent. I strongly recommend that you don't make the same mistake. Latch on to this CD while you still can!
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Naxos Repressing
16 Sep 2009
By Gary A. Smith
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
I wondered why this previously out of print and expensive CD was suddenly so inexpensive. It is a Naxos repressing of the original CD and, the copy I got from Amazon, is unmistakably a CD-R at that. The music is great and it's good to see it back in print but it should be noted here that it is not the original pressing. Also the extensive booklet mentioned in a previous review is not included with the Naxos release.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Much of this shows its classical roots
16 May 2000
By F. Behrens
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Audio CD
Some music is great fun, either in itself or by personal associations or both. So when Marco Polo issued selections from the Salter/Skinner scores to "Son of Frankenstein," "The Invisible Man Returns," and "The Wolf Man" back in 1995 and followed up with the complete film score to "House of Frankenstein" by Salter and Dessau, I could not keep from grinning foolishly hearing it, all the time realizing how good some of it really was.
Now we have <Classic Scores of Mystery and Horror by Frank Skinner [and] Hans J. Salter> (8.225124) that treat us to 22 cuts from "The Ghost of Frankenstein," 8 from "Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror," and a taste of three other films. The very generous program notes tell the whole story, with good lobbycard illustrations, of how this team worked together--one slept as the other worked--and I leave it to you to read all about it for yourself. As for the music itself, listen to the "Monster Theme" in the first suite and think if you will of how Wagner treated the "Dragon Leitmotif" in "Siegfried" to appreciate how classically grounded much of this music is in the tradition of Weber, Wagner, and even Richard Strauss. Not all of the selections are of high quality, but enough are to merit this offering a high rating.
Happy and spooky listening, folks.
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4.6 out of 5 stars
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