Casablanca: Classic Film Scores for Humphrey Bogart (Compilation)
(2010)
Conductor Charles Gerhardt compiled several albums dedicated to certain Hollywood composers, among them Alfred Newman and Franz Waxman. In addition, he made several albums dedicated to various film stars, in this case Humphrey Bogart. Due to the fact that most of Boghart’s most famous work was done for Warner Bros., it is the music of the legendary composer who headed the studio’s music department for many years, Max Steiner, that dominates the album with seven tracks out of twelve, including the first five.
Opening with Steiner’s famous Warner Bros. fanfare (why, oh why does the studio no longer use that??) and then launches into a suite of one of Steiner’s most famous scores, and Boghart’s most famous film, Casablanca, which highlights Steiner’s powerful compositions as well as his abilities to weave well known tunes, such as ‘La Marseillaise’ and ‘As Time Goes By’ with his own music. Following this is a suite from a film which reunited much of the cast and crew of Casablanca, Passage to Marseille, and, much like the previous suite, Steiner does an excellent job of combining his own sweeping compositions and well known French and English patriotic music. The sweeping string movements and the heroic horn and brass performances are simply glorious – probably my favourite theme from this album.
Next is a suite from The Treasure of Sierre Madre, which unfortunately has a slight disappointment at the start with a slight wobble on the first chord. It’s relatively easy to pick up, so it’s somewhat surprising that nobody bothered to fix it. No matter though – it only lasts for a second, and the trumpets and heavy percussion come in to give a spectacular performance of Steiner’s masterful score. At around two minutes in, the piece becomes mainly string based, performing a beautiful, sweeping melody.
Following a rendition of the ‘Love Themes’ from the 1946 film The Big Sleep, which features some of the finest love themes that Steiner ever wrote. Next is the march from his 1954 masterpiece, The Caine Mutiny. Steiner received an Oscar nomination for his efforts on the film, losing to Dimitri Tiomkin for The High and the Mighty. That wasn’t undeserved, but I’m pretty sure the Academy were regretting not awarding Steiner the Oscar instead at the moment Tiomkin was onstage thanking composers such as Beethoven, Strauss, and Mozart. Gerhardt’s recording easily surpasses the original recordings of the piece, and they weren’t bad at all.
Next is finally some music composed by somebody other than Steiner. The sixth and seventh tracks on the album feature excerpts from Franz Waxman’s not particularly well known scores for the films To Have and Have Not and The Two Mrs. Carrolls. Both are somewhat reminiscent (the latter much more so) of the composer’s earlier, and better known score to Alfred Hitchcock’s film of 1940, Rebecca, and to a slightly lesser degree, the score he wrote for Hitchcock’s film following Rebecca, Suspicion, in 1941. Horn motifs vaguely resembling Alfred Newman’s score for The Black Swan can also be heard in The Two Mrs. Carrolls. Make no mistake however, they still have an incredible dramatic effect.
Next is a piece composed by the incredibly underrated Frederick Hollander. One of the best themes on the album, the rendition of his waltz from 1954’s Sabrina is simply beautiful. But that is no match for what is to follow. Victor Young’s love theme from The Left Hand of God is one of the best and most emotional pieces of music I’ve ever heard. Young was possibly the most underrated of Hollywood’s great composers (he died before the Academy finally decided to give him an Oscar), and this piece proves to the highest degree that he never received the recognition that he deserved, back then or today.
The legendary Miklós Rózsa was the maestro behind the next piece – the Main Title of the 1943 film Sahara. Orchestrated with emphasis on heavy brass in a similar way to many of his other pieces played over the opening of a film, it is a sweeping orchestral piece that sounds simply wonderful.
Steiner’s music returns for the final two tracks – the Love Theme from Virginia City, and an excerpt from his score for John Huston’s Key Largo. The theme from Virginia City opens with a memorable, energetic trumpet march theme, which then morphs into a string arrangement of one of his wonderful love themes. Very different is the theme for Key Largo, which begins with Steiner’s Warner Bros. fanfare, and then features heavy brass, and later string, performances of one of his lesser-known scores, but one that is nevertheless excellent.
I must admit I never actually intended to buy this album. I ordered it from Screen Archives mistakenly thinking that it was the actual soundtrack for Casablanca. In any case, I’m very glad I did. It features some of the best recordings ever released of some of the finest film scores in cinema history, and is a marvellous tribute to a man considered by many to be the greatest actor of all time. Don’t miss out on this one.
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Track Listing
1. Casablanca *
2. Passage to Marseille: Rescue at Sea *
3. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre *
4. The Big Sleep: Love Themes *
5. The Caine Mutiny: March *
6. To Have and Have Not: Main Title: Martinque **
7. The Two Mrs. Carrolls **
8. Sabrina: Main Title; The Larrabee Estate ***
9. The Left Hand of God: Love Theme ****
10. Sahara: Main Title *****
11. Virginia City: Stagecoach; Love Scene *
12. Key Largo *
* Composed by Max Steiner
** Composed by Franz Waxman
*** Composed by Frederick Hollander
**** Composed by Victor Young
***** Composed by Miklós Rózsa
Credits
Music Composed by Max Steiner, Franz Waxman, Frederick Hollander, Victor Young, and Miklós Rózsa
Conducted by Charles Gerhardt
Performed by the National Philharmonic Orchestra
Awards
None
Insert Notes
Contains various notes about the composers and the scores featured on the album.
