Amazon.co.uk Review
The DVD-Audio of Erich Wolfgang Korngold's score for
The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) allows the listener to experience this film-music masterpiece in all the giddy glory of Dolby Digital 5.1 or DTS 5.1 surround. Given that this is an all-new version actually recorded in Dolby 5.1, the result is far more natural and less gimmicky than some artificially remixed DVD-A discs.
Erich Wolfgang Korngold's score for The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) speaks for itself, and if you don't know it by now then it's time you did. This splendid new recording presents--amazingly for the first time--the entire 75 minutes of Korngold's rambunctious, gloriously romantic music, reconstructed by film music historian and composer John Morgan. Add the mini-suite written for the original theatrical trailer and the result is over 80 minutes of the finest film music ever put to a Hollywood picture. That's almost twice as much as the previous benchmark re-recording of this score, from the Utah Symphony Orchestra conducted by Varujan Kojian.
The Moscow Symphony under William Stromberg are by now veterans of Marco Polo's worthy series of film music restorations; but this is their finest hour, as they rise to the tremendous technical challenges of Korngold's action-packed scoring with grace and abundant enthusiasm. There's little evidence here of the rough edges that marred some of their earlier film music performances. An exhaustive and informative booklet completes an absolutely essential package. Clearly, Robin Hood is still an inspiration for both performers and listeners alike. --Mark Walker