Scaramouche: Original Soundtrack by Victor Young

Description: From the thirties to the fifties swashbuckling films were a standard part of Hollywood fare, and Scaramouche was one of the biggest and most successful of them in the early fifties. Victor Young wrote one of his best scores for the film and I'm thankful to Turner Classics for making it available on CD. Young was a hard working composer, writing over 300 film scores for every conceivable type of film, most of them standard fare using stock music he wrote without film credit that was used for everything from Leadville Gunslinger to Zombies of the Stratosphere. That's the way the studio system worked. But he also was considered one of the best film composers around and was frequently chosen for major pictures like The Quiet Man and For Whom the Bell Tolls. Scaramouche was one of those prestige pictures which required a notable score.He put his heart into the music for this film and it contains some of his best music. Nowadays a studio would go for historical authenticity and have original instrument orchestras playing Rameau or Philidor, but that's not how it was done then. this has a fully Romantic filmscore with only slight nods to the late eighteenth century period, a touch of Baroque in Pierrot and Florette and some Rococo touches in the Pavane and Magic Box. Young had studied classical music and had played the violin like all film composers of the era he saw his music in the classical tradition. For a swashbuckler there's not a lot of call for Korngold style daring do beyond the opening. Even the famous swordfight that climaxes the film so memorably with Stuart Granger and Mel Ferrer standing out in black and white clothes against the brilliant reds and gold of a Baroque theater, the longest film swordfight ever, by the way, has no music at all. There are two love interests and they each receive a beautiful theme. Janet Leigh's Aline has a soaring theme scored much in the manner of Rachmaninov's Symphony No.2, lush with strings and heavenly. Eleanor Parker's more earthy Lenore gets a waltz-like theme that has a hint of familiarity. All composers, including Mozart and Beethoven, develop themes over time that evolve in separate works, and Lenore's theme contains a musical idea that would expand and grow to eventually become the main theme for Around the World in Eighty Days a few years later. My own particular favorite bit of music is "Magic Box" a sprightly, minor key tune with a dance-like rhythm that is totally enchanting; the way it suddenly cuts off is the moment when Andre stops the theater orchestra to confront Noel.With 27 tracks and 7 bonus tracks you might think it would be difficult to listen to, perhaps jumping around a lot, but it's actually very easy to sit through as the music is in a similar vein throughout and flows together. There's also enough variety for it not to come across as variations on a theme, the way some soundtracks do. I don't usually comment on sound because it's so subjective, but here I feel the need for a few comments. This is the original soundtrack from 1952, not a new recording, so you have to make allowances for the period. Not only that, but the original three-track stereo was transferred to a mono tape in the early sixties, and only that copy survived. The TCM people did an excellent job with it, but it still doesn't have the full sound of a modern recording and allowances have to be made. In addition there is some noise n the recording that must have been unavoidable. You don't hear it much on speakers in a room but it can be quite noticeable if you are using headphones.These TCM "Golden Age Classics" are a real gift to lovers of film scores, but please not that they are all put out in limited editions and when the go out of print, will only be offered at astronomical prices as is often the case with film music." - johnf, Amazon .com This CD is an import. Seems to have been produced in Germany. Track List:01Prelude/Royal Signpost2:2102Royal Fanfare0:1703avane #2/Andre Arrives on Horseback3:3704Roses and Diamonds1:1005Vanished Merchant1:3406De Valmorin1:1707Father and Son1:1308Gavrillac/Andre and Aline4:4409Candlelight1:2510By All I Hold Sacred/Andre Escapes/Tomb4:5011Andre's Departure/Andre and Scaramouche2:3012Pierrot and Pierrette/Lenore and Scaramouche1:3813Trap Door2:2314Pamphlet2:1815Saucepan Love1:0416Duel Montage0:2517Take Me to Paris1:2418Noel and Andre/Noel, Aline and Andre1:2919Perigore of Paris/Big Apple2:4120Big Apple No 20:4521Perigore and Andre1:0622Pay Me Tomorrow2:0923Chase1:5624Wounded Chabrillaine0:1825Big Show/Magic Box2:4626Pinned to the Wall/Why2:0627Lenore's Farewell/Roses and Napoleon/Cast3:14Bonus Tracks:28Pavane #10:4229Pavane #22:2730Candlelight1:2631Big Apple1:1232Magic Box2:1433Interlude0:4034Lenore and Scaramouche0:38 Note: Discounts for combined shipping. 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Price: 13 USD

Location: Quincy, Massachusetts

End Time: 2025-01-09T05:56:46.000Z

Shipping Cost: 4.25 USD