Frankenstein Symphony

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Francis Dhomont would like to invite you along for the musical equivalent of the oft-heard "It was a dark and stormy night..." Frankenstein Symphony, a very descriptive and appropriate title for the compositions on the album, is an assemblage of Dhomont's students' musical pieces (as well as three of his own), cut apart and stitched back together like Mary Shelley's monster. It occupies a veritable nightmare environment.

An ironic twist to the composition enters during the "Scherzo," when the sound sources include human voices speaking in French and English. Distorted and manipulated by Dhomont's dissection and the lightning of his vision, the human utterances are atomized into melodic nonsense. --Ryan Kuykendall

Tracks:

Opening Sequence
Overture To The Phantom Of The Opera
Night On Bald Mountain
Danse Macabre
March To The Scaffold From Symphonie Fantastique
Pandemonium From The Damnation Of Faust
In The Hall Of The Mountain King From Peer Gynt
Synthesizer Effects
Theme From The Twilight Zone
12,000 Volts
1. Prelude/2. Minuet/3. Pastorale & March
Sleigh Ride From The Devil And Daniel Webster
Prelude
The Mad House
Murder
Overture To Sleuth
Television Noise
The Light From Poltergeist
Super Sleuth From Without A Clue
Funeral March Of A Marionette

Customer Reviews:

Classic - Hold the Chills.......2006-06-25

This is a fine collection of mostly classical themes.
Some of them have nice creepy moments, but on the whole, it's just some solid music. Not something to buy if you want really "spooky" music, but worthwhile for some interesting listening.

Packed with creepy stuff.......2000-12-16

This is an awesome album. It starts off with thunder crashing, running footsteps, a gate creaking, the wind howling, a cat screeching, a door opening, a woman crying that she needs help....and then SCREAMING! And then straight into track 2, the overture to 'The Phantom of the Opera'. Wow! The rest of the cd also features 'creepy' music from various sources, such as Alfred Hitchcock films, like Psycho, various classic works like Rimsky-Korsakov's 'Night on Bald Mountain', and also some other creepy sound effects. A good album not only for Halloween but I dare you to listen to it during a dark night with a thunderstorm raging outside.

A real work-out for your system.............1999-12-11

I've owned the "Chiller" CD since it's release in '89. At the time, I was working for a local Audio/Video/Music dealer, and was looking for 'demo' CD's containing not necessarily heavy bass, but ones displaying incredible dynamic range, and sharp transient peaks. I already owned a copy of "Time Warp", also on Telarc, and was intrigued when I read about "Chiller. Needless to say, I was extremely pleased with this disc. Not only did I get a disc containing some great treatments of classics, but the re-make of the "Psycho" suite is wonderful (the shower sequence is very faithful to the original)! A word of warning.....the dynamic range of this disc is not to be underestimated.....I drove an older amplifier into thermal shutdown VERY quickly with track #1. I haven't tried it since I've upgraded my home system....hmmm....might have to scare the neighbors tonight (or at least rattle a few dental fillings)!

Great stuff!.......1999-10-09

This CD contains tons of great classic Halloween tunes. Even though the names might sound unfamiliar, you probably know most of the music on here through cultural osmosis. Heck, it's worth it just for "Funeral March of a Marionette" (the Alfred Hitchcock show theme.)

Average customer rating:

Monster Music: Film Music Classics

Manufacturer: Naxos
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

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A Rich & Robust Score
Way over the top!
Much of this shows its classical roots

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Manufacturer: Marco Polo
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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House of Frankenstein
Monster Music: Film Music Classics
The Bride Of Frankenstein (1993 Rerecording Of 1935 Film Score)
Cat People
Legendary Horror Films

ASIN: B00004SYHD
Release Date: 2000-05-16

Tracks:

The Ghost Of Frankenstein: Universal Signature
The Ghost Of Frankenstein: Main Title
The Ghost Of Frankenstein: Blowing Up The Castle
The Ghost Of Frankenstein: Freeing The Monster
The Ghost Of Frankenstein: Renewed Life
The Ghost Of Frankenstein: Frankenstein's Castle
The Ghost Of Frankenstein: Arrival At Vasaria
The Ghost Of Frankenstein: Erik's Dilemma
The Ghost Of Frankenstein: Baron Frankenstein's Diary
The Ghost Of Frankenstein: The Monster's Trial
The Ghost Of Frankenstein: Elsa' s Discovery
The Ghost Of Frankenstein: Dr. Kettering's Death
The Ghost Of Frankenstein: Ygor's Scheme
The Ghost Of Frankenstein: Baron Frankenstein's Advice
The Ghost Of Frankenstein: A New Brain
The Ghost Of Frankenstein: Searching The Castle
The Ghost Of Frankenstein: Monster Kidnaps Child/Monster's Desire
The Ghost Of Frankenstein: Brain Transfer
The Ghost Of Frankenstein: Mob Psychology
The Ghost Of Frankenstein: Monster Talks
The Ghost Of Frankenstein: Death Of The Unholy Three
The Ghost Of Frankenstein: End Cast
Son Of Dracula: Main Title
Black Friday: Hypnosis
Man Made Monster: Corky
Man Made Monster: Electro-Biology
Sherlock Holmes And The Voice Of Terror: Main Title
Sherlock Holmes And The Voice Of Terror: Limehouse
Sherlock Holmes And The Voice Of Terror: Christopher Docks
Sherlock Holmes And The Voice Of Terror: Voice Of Terror
Sherlock Holmes And The Voice Of Terror: The Spider
Sherlock Holmes And The Voice Of Terror: No Time To Lose
Sherlock Holmes And The Voice Of Terror: March Of Hate
Sherlock Holmes And The Voice Of Terror: End Title

Customer Reviews:

A Rich & Robust Score.......2001-06-19

Many of you, like me, may have been wondering what the difference is between this score and the one that was released in the early 90's, also on the Marco Polo label. Well firstly, the earlier release was not complete and also included tracks from House of Frankenstein. This new release basically happened because composer, John Morgan, was unhappy with the initial release and wanted another crack at this forgotten score. The result: a fully complete and terrific score from the 1942 Universal classic, Ghost of Frankenstein. Morgan was able to pull together the resources that Hans J. Salter himself did not have to record the original and give us the score as it was originally intended. Recorded under the supervision of Salter, just before he passed away, this is hands-down the best release of the monster scores from Marco Polo to date. Do not pass up.

Way over the top!.......2000-06-08

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!

Much of this shows its classical roots.......2000-05-17

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 (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.

Tracks:

Allegro
Andante
Scherzo (Glocoso)
Finale

Amazon.com

Francis Dhomont would like to invite you along for the musical equivalent of the oft-heard "It was a dark and stormy night..." Frankenstein Symphony, a very descriptive and appropriate title for the compositions on the album, is an assemblage of Dhomont's students' musical pieces (as well as three of his own), cut apart and stitched back together like Mary Shelley's monster. It occupies a veritable nightmare environment.

Customer Reviews:

Redefining the acousmatic corpus!.......2002-08-20

This hour-long, four-movement "electroacoustic symphony" constitutes a somewhat unusual tribute to some twenty-odd of Francis Dhomont's (mainly) Montreal-based composer friends and colleagues. It consists of major 'body parts' sliced from various of their (and his own) compositions, which have been cunningly and expertly grafted on to one another by the master (tape) surgeon, and the whole then reanimated with a life of its own, to make a veritable "acousmatic monster" of a work.

The "morphological organs" used here are, however, anything but dead flesh, hacked from rotting musical corpses by a mad scientist for some bizarre purpose of his own. Rather, they are vibrant, sonic samples - whole passages, in fact - delicately cut from the most beautiful of living works. Carefully selected for their similarities or contrasts, these have been sewn and spliced together seamlessly, with a tender and loving care that is all too evident, each with their own essential character fully preserved and, indeed, highlighted. That Francis Dhomont has managed to construct from them a creature which is itself so powerfully beguiling, sports not a single blemish, and is imbued with an entirely new nature essentially all its own, says as much for his craftsmanship and ear for compositional possibilities as it does about the strength of the original source works.

For while this work stands up perfectly well as a valid composition in its own right, the tantalising glimpses that it gives of its donor-works are such that one feels compelled time and time again to dash off and seek copies of these original. (Fortunately, the CD insert provides a full list of all of the constituent parts - which have not been treated or processed further in any way - so that one can indeed do just this.) Here is a work which not only finds new things to say from others' materials but which manages at the same time to shine fresh light on its sources. Here, in short, is a true work of homage to a tremendous corpus of composers (many of whom were once his students), all executed with the deepest respect by one of the greatest sonic artists of the age. [Cue distant maniacal laughter.]

So, if you are at all curious about what wonders lie within the dark and mysterious world of electroacoustic music - especially of the acousmatic variety - there is probably no better place to start than here. And even for someone who is already familiar with many, or indeed all, of the original works making up this strange new corpus - from such electroacoustic masters (and mistresses) as Robert Normandeau, Gilles Gobeil, Christian Calon, Annette Vande Gorne, Daniel Leduc, Mario Rodrigue, Roxanne Turcotte and Yves Daoust, to mention but an arbitrary handful (not forgetting Francis Dhomont himself, of course) - the fresh, new context that those works are given here makes this disc well worth a listen. Provided you keep the lights on!

All in all, then, this is definitely something that anyone wanting to flesh out a contemporary music collection should grab and quickly... now, while the storm is at its height!

Tracks:

Anne Of The Indies
Captains Courageous
The Pioneer
Huckleberry Finn
The Nun's Story
Botany Bay
Possesed
Mr. Roberts
The Bride Of Frankenstein

Customer Reviews:

Waxman.......2007-05-22

I received the Franz Waxman Vol.1 in the mail and although the music is excellent, the tracks are all wrong. When I ordered Vol. #1 it clearly stated on the track list that track #1 is Anne of the Indies and track #7 is Possessed, but when I got the cd in the mail track #1 is Task Force and all the other tracks are different as well......what's going on here, can someone tell me? I would like to at least get the correct music on the cd I ordered.

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