Adventures of Mark Twain [Soundtrack]

Editorial Reviews
Album Description
One of the founders of film music as we know it today, Max Steiner (along with Franz Waxman, Dimitri Tiomkin and Erich Wolfgang Korngold) transformed the cinematic experience through his colorful use of memorable musical themes that were scored specifically to fit to the visual action. The score for The Adventures of Mark Twain was written in 1944 after Steiner’s many successes with classics such as Gone with the Wind and King Kong. His musical style is instantly recognisable with its powerful ability to build on tension and emotions within the film.

Tracks:

Main Title
Pirates
Young Samuel Clemens Finds His Place
The River Pilot
Riverboat In Fog
The Mule - Digging - Cave In
Frogs
Gold Rush
Mark Twain Is Discovered
Theater Scene
The Squirrel - Livy
Toy Shop
Inspiration
Appreciation
Darn Coat Tails
More Squirrels
Neck Tie Troubles
Public Shame
Buggy Ride
Typesetter
Meeting General Grant
Bedtime Story
World Tour Begins
World Tour Continues
The Call
Sorrow
Oxford
Comet's Return
Finale

Album Description

One of the founders of film music as we know it today, Max Steiner (along with Franz Waxman, Dimitri Tiomkin and Erich Wolfgang Korngold) transformed the cinematic experience through his colorful use of memorable musical themes that were scored specifically to fit to the visual action. The score for The Adventures of Mark Twain was written in 1944 after Steiner's many successes with classics such as Gone with the Wind and King Kong. His musical style is instantly recognisable with its powerful ability to build on tension and emotions within the film.

Customer Reviews:

Great Sounding Movie Music.......2004-12-14

This is probably not 'great' music, but it certainly is great-sounding music. And it takes me back to my childhood in the 1940s when every Saturday afternoon found my brother and I and our friends in the local movie theater, watching whatever had just come to our little town. 'Mark Twain' was one of that seemingly endless supply of biopics that played fast and loose with the actual facts of their subjects' lives. And in this case there was also the interference of Twain's daughter, Clara Clemens Gabrilowitsch (wife of the pianist/conductor Ossip Gabrilowitsch), who was determined to protect her father's image. She was concerned that nothing be mentioned about her father's darker irreligious writings, even though he had been long dead and his reputation remained secure. Be that as it may, Frederic March, who had to learn how to brandish Twain's trademark cigar expertly, played him with panache.

For our purposes, none of this particularly matters. What does matter is that Max Steiner wrote a lush mittel-Europäisch score that nonetheless brims with American tunes from 'Dixie' to ''Swing Low, Sweet Chariot' to 'Aloha Oe.' It is more than a little ironic that Steiner used Wagnerian harmonic procedures to underscore a picture about the man who famously commented to the effect that Wagner's music isn't as bad as it sounds. We get 29 cues such as 'The River Pilot,' 'Frogs,' 'Gold Rush,' Mark Twain is Discovered,' 'Meeting General Grant,' 'World Tour Begins,' 'Comet's Return.' The latter, of course, is about the appearance of Halley's comet at Twain's death just as it had appeared 75 years earlier at his birth.

The score has the usual amount of mickeymousing--as in the 'Frogs' section which recreates the famous jumping frog of Calaveras County (with amusing contra-bassoon licks), or in 'Buggy Ride.' But it also has long-limbed and gorgeous melodies, even some proto-jazz rhythms along with what have become clichéd Westernisms--the clopping of horses' hooves and the like. Unlike some of his fellow central European emigré composers (like, say, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Miklos Rosza and Franz Waxman), Steiner was able to master American melody and manner. This score can be enjoyed without any knowledge of the movie from which is comes at least partly because it is so evocative of such things.

The 100-minute score was arranged (and abridged somewhat) by John Morgan, who also contributes helpful notes about what he did. William Stromberg, who specializes in conducting movie scores (although he has also recorded non-cinematic music as well), does a bang-up job leading the excellent Moscow Symphony Orchestra. The recorded sound is all one could ask.

I thoroughly enjoyed this recording, not least because of its ability to take me back to those halcyon days of the wartime 1940s when a small boy could lose himself happily for several hours in a movie theater.

Scott Morrison

Gone With the Wind: The Essential Max Steiner Film Music Collection

Average customer rating:

Why is this out of print?
Magnificent!
"The Godfather of film scoring of historic proportions"

Gone With the Wind: The Essential Max Steiner Film Music Collection

Manufacturer: Silva America
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Movie Scores | Soundtracks | Styles | Music

Movie Soundtracks | Soundtracks | Styles | Music

General | Soundtracks | Styles | Music

Orchestral Pop | Easy Listening | Pop | Styles | Music

General | Soundtracks | Indie Music | Stores | Music

Movie Soundtracks | Soundtracks | Indie Music | Stores | Music
ASIN: B00005NGXU
Release Date: 2001-08-28

Tracks:

King Kong: Overture
A Distant Trumpet: Prelude
The Adventurees Of Don Juan: Suite
Parrish: Main Title
The Flame And The Arrow: Suite
Now Voyager: First Love Scene
The Caine Mutiny: March
Ice Palace: Suite
Life With Father: Fanfare/Main Title
The Hanging Tree: Suite
The Treasure Of Sierra Madre: Overture
Casablanca: Suite
The Charge Of The Light Brigade: Forward The Light Brigade

Tracks:

The Adventures Of Mark Twain: Overture
Spencer's Mountain: Main Title
The Searchers: Suite
Mildred Pierce: Fanfare/Main Title
Sergeant York: Overture
A Summer Place: Main Title
A Summer Place: Theme (Young Love)
The Dark At The Top Of The Stars: Suite
The FBI Story: Main Title
Johnny Belinda: Suite
Gone With The Wind (Suite): Prelude/Tara/Mammy
Gone With The Wind (Suite): The Fall Of The South
Gone With The Wind (Suite): Rhett's Leaving/Melanie's Dream/Finale

Customer Reviews:

Why is this out of print?.......2007-04-22

This is an excellent collection and it is a shame that this is out of print here in the US. no fear though, it is still in print in the UK, and simply point yourself to amazon.co.uk or Silva Screen's own website listed in the other review, and pick this up.

What is included here you may wonder? This included most of the tracks from Silva's 1993 collection of Max Steiner themes and suites recorded with the Westminster Philharmonic Orchestra. The Helen of Troy suite was not included because the producer was not happy with that suite. Likewise, a Summer Place has been replaced with new recordings by the Prague Philharmonic.

A number of the other tracks originate from Silva's second collection of Max Steiner themes and suites, released in 1997, only in the UK.

Adventures of Don Juan is from 1997's Swashbucklers of the Silver Screen, while King Kong is from 1998's Monster Movie Music Album.

The Searchers suite goes back to 1994 on Silva's excellent "Music from the Films of John Wayne" compilation.

The only new tracks here were the replacement tracks for A Summer Place, as well as The Charge of the Light Brigade

Silva has since recorded updated suites of Gone With the Wind and Casablanca, released in 2005 on The Incredible Film Music Box, but the suites included here from Kenneth Alwyn and the Westminster Philharmonic are more than adequate.

Magnificent!.......2006-06-07

This is simply a wonderful album. It is also an HDCD. It's wonderful to hear these pieces from long-gone but fondly remembered movies from my childhood. Luckily, some are reappearing on dvd. A definite 5 star album to treasure. Now, please note that the photo of the album is correct. However, the ones "available" from CDNOW Preferred Buyer's Club are NOT the correct album. I ordered it twice from them, and both times I got a single disc of a few excerpts from GWTW only. When I spoke with CDNOW, the rep told me he would notify amazon and have the listing changed, but they have not done so. The guy I spoke with at CDNOW recommended I try eBay, which I did, and I found a copy in England.
The info on my set is:
FILMXCD 351,
Silva Screen Records, Ltd.,
3 Prowse Place, London, NW1 9PH
email: info@silvascreen.co.uk
website: www.silvascreen.co.uk
This item is well worth the search, and I hope this information helps you to find it. Sincerely, operabruin

"The Godfather of film scoring of historic proportions".......2001-10-10

When I think of the "Golden Age" of Hollywood, one composer stands above the rest ~ Max Steiner...you gave the usher your ticket in the theatre and sat down, knowingly you were going to get your moneys worth, if the composer was Steiner...when the curtain opened and you heard those first few notes, you sat back and watched as the master, with baton worked his magic.

All twenty-six selections give you the feeling you've been there...but, the stand outs in my mind are ~ "KING KONG"..."ADVENTURES OF DON JUAN"..."THE FLAME AND THE ARROW"..."NOW VOYAGER"..."THE TREASURE OF SIERRA MADRE"..."CASABLANCA"..."THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE"..."THE SEARCHERS"..."A SUMMER PLACE"...and a classic that even the youngsters today recognize "GONE WITH THE WIND", sweeping score that captures the tragic history of the South during the Civil War, one great cue after another, it doesn't get any better than this, nominated by the Academy for Best Original Score.

Silva America as usual, has put quality into this 2-CD-Set featuring The City Of Prague Philarmonic Orchestra, The Westminster Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Kenneth Alwyn, Paul Bateman and Nic Raine. Recorded in "Dolby Surround" with the new technology of "HDCD", this is a "film-score-buffs" dream, one to treasure now and years to come.

One note, on Disc Two for "SPENCER'S MOUNTAIN", the opening introduction used by Steiner is, "AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL, for Mr. Steiner was a patriot and loved this country so, during these trying times today, this seems to be the realizations of all Americans, more than ever!