Dimitri Tiomkin - The Guns Of Navarone / The Fall Of The Roman Empire / Wild Is The Wind / A Presidents Country / Rhap '1985/2021

Tracks list

The first thing to realise is that this is a re-release of the 1985
Unicorn-Kanchana album - `The Film Music of Dimitri Tiomkin DKP(CD) 9047.
Despite the stunning sound and the doubtless enthusiasm of a student RCM
orchestra, the essential Tiomkin idiom too often escapes them. How much this is
due to the bizarre choice of conductor David Willcocks, more at home in Kings
College Chapel, Cambridge or conducting choirs in Bach and Handel etc one cannot
say. Like the curates egg this album is good in parts. My hunch is that
Christopher Palmer who arranged and orchestrated Rhapsody of Steel persuaded
Unicorn-Kanchana to record this album (and the `Western Film Music of Dimitri
Tiomkin much better performed by Laurie Johnson and The London Studio Symphony
Orchestra) when he was producing the wonderful series of Delius recordings with
Eric Fenby? Possibly it was thought that the RCM orchestra would provide an
economic solution and Willcocks may well have viewed the project as good
publicity and good exercise for the RCM students?

The positive side first. The inclusion of the music for the documentary,
Rhapsody of Steel is a real bonus. This score has all the hallmarks of Tiomkins
dynamic music, with an abundance of excitement, and wit and glitter, and vivid
evocation. The film and score cover the history of the development of steel
stretching from the Iron Age through the discovery of steel in India and its
appropriation by the sword-makers of Damascus to the birth of the steel age in
the 19th century with all its consequent dramatic power. The second part of the
composition follows the multifarious uses of steel in a busy urban community.
The music is a playful set of variations on `I Feel Wonderful. As Palmer says, a
big jazzy chrominum-plated climax builds in which all the sights and sounds of
the metropolis seem to converge (taxi horns among them). Its eupeptic spirit is
similar to that of the rowdier parts of An American inParis - `A Russian in New
York? The concluding fugato has a heroic lyricism as we look outwards to the use
of steel in space exploration.

A Presidents Country was a score for another documentary score designed to show
off the south west of Texas, homeland of President Johnson. The score was a
compendium of themes and songs from Tiomkins great western scores: Red River,
Duel in the Sun, Giant, Rawhide, High Noon, and The Alamo. The RCM deliver a
vibrant reading with their tongue firmly in their cheeks and they really relish
the wayward arrangement of the Rawhide theme.

Christopher Palmers `Pop ballad arrangement of Wild is the Wind (made famous as
a single by Johnny Mathis) is a good example of Tiomkins romantic lyricism -- at
best, probably, in Friendly Persuasion. This performance is rather heavy-handed.

The 10½-minute suite from The Guns of Navarone begins well with the evocative
Prologue underscoring views of the Greek islands and James Robertson Justices
narration. But when the tempo picks up after initial martial strains, and the
famous big theme emerges the tempo suddenly drops back again too much and the
excitement sags. Listen to Charles Gerhardt on the rival RCA recording to hear
how exciting this music can really sound.

The same applies to the Overture of The Fall of the Roman Empire. The urgency
and grandeur that is heard on the soundtrack is missing. Granted the sound is
impressive but much more bite is necessary. `Pax Romana the splendid ceremonial
music underscoring the extended scene in which tribute is made to Emperor Marcus
Aurelius (Alec Guiness) from representatives of his far-flung empire fares
better.

An album of highs and lows, but one that should be in every Tiomkin-lovers
collection.

Tracklist:
 01. Dimitri Tiomkin - The Guns Of Navarone (10:33)
 02. Dimitri Tiomkin - A Presidents Country (10:40)
 03. Dimitri Tiomkin - Rhapsody Of Steel (22:16)
 04. Dimitri Tiomkin - Wild Is The Wind (02:51)
 05. Dimitri Tiomkin - Overture (From The Fall of The Roman Empire) (03:41)
 06. Dimitri Tiomkin - Pax Romano (From The Fall of The Roman Empire) (06:22)

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