Another Green World

Tiomkin was born in Ukraine, Russia [1894-1979] attended and graduated from St. Petersburg Academy[studied under the famed composer Glazunov] ~ had a degree in music as well as law ~ came to America in 1925, shown great interest for Native American music early in his film career.

Great fondness for "The Western" ~ "DUEL IN THE SUN" (1946) (Gregory Peck, Jennifer Jones, Joseph Cotton, Lionel Barrymore, Lilian Gish and Charles Bickford - one of biggest and successful epic Westerns ever, score & photography was simply breathtaking), "RED RIVER" (1948) (John Wayne, Monty Cliff and Walter Brennan - the Duke should have won an Oscar for his performance as the aging cantankerous cattle baron)"HIGH NOON" (1952)(classic film with Gary Cooper in his Oscar winning performance of Will Kane), "TENSION AT TABLE ROCK" (1956), "GUNFIGHT AT THE OK CORRAL" (1957)(Burt Lancaster as Wyatt Earp & Kirk Douglas as Doc Holliday pulled this off with the help of the Main Theme), "NIGHT PASSAGE" (1957), "RIO BRAVO" (1959) (top box office leaders John Wayne, Dean Martin, Walter Brennan and Ricky Nelson), "THE YOUNG LAND" (1959) (young Dennis Hopper), "RAWHIDE" (TV Series) (1959-66) (Eric Fleming as trail boss Gil Favor & Clint Eastwood as Rowdy Yates), "THE UNFORGIVEN" (1960) (Burt Lancaster, Audie Murphy and Audrey Hepburn), "THE WILD, WILD WEST" (TV Series) (1965-69)(Tiomkin's music never saw the light of day), "WAR WAGON" (1967) (John Wayne & Kirk Douglas starred) (beautifully melodic) ~ it's easy to see why Tiomkin loved Western lore.

Second disc contains The Epics ~ "LAND OF THE PHARAOHS" (1955) (Jack Hawkins as Pharaoh Cheops and a beautiful Joan Collins as his scheming wife), "55 DAYS AT PEKING" (1963) (Charlton Heston, David Niven and Ava Gardner is the all star cast), "THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE" (1964) (featuring Alec Guinness as emperor Marcus Aurelius), "CIRCUS WORLD" (1964) (John Wayne, Claudia Cardinale and Rita Hayworth under the big top) ~ next we Hitchcock Thrillers with "STRANGERS ON A TRAIN" (1951) (a masterpiece film featuring Robert Walker and Farley Granger are both very convincing as we learn, never talked to strangers on a train or anywhere), "DIAL M FOR MURDER" (1954) (tense moments come from Grace Kelly, Ray Milland and Robert Cummings - they don't get any better than this) ~ finally Drama and High Adventure with "HIGH AND MIGHTY" (1954) (another outstanding performance by John Wayne, as the co-pilot of an airline whistling the haunting theme), "GIANT" (1956)(another big epic film with Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor, James Dean and Chill Wills show us what it's like to be a Texan, with oil and money), "WILD IS THE WIND" (1957) (Anthony Quinn, Anna Magnani and Anthony Franciosa), "THE GUNS OF NAVARONE" (1961) (World War II film featuring Gregory Peck, Anthony Quinn, David Niven and Stanley Baker on a small Greek Island trying to outwit the Germans and a very big gun) ~ some of Tiomkin's most inspiring themes rise to the surface.

On disc three ~ as we continue with Drama and High Adventures "IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE" (1946) (James Stewart, Donna Reed, Thomas Mitchell, Lionel Barrymore and Ward Bond with wholesome warm and endearing themes from our favorite composer), "TARZAN AND THE MERMAIDS" (1948) (in his 12th film as Tarzan, Johnny Weissmuller still had what it takes to swim and defeat the man-god Balu - Weissmuller and Tiomkin the perfect combination for this Tarzan adventure), "CYRANO DE BERGERAC" (1950) (Jose Ferrer stars as Edmond Rostand's famous swordsman with a even more famous nose), "THE WELL" (1951) (intense cues give the film musical triumphs in final scenes), "THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD" (1951) (exciting Howard Hawks film with a score to match), "FRIENDLY PERSUASION" (1956) (director William Wyler shows the life and times of a Quaker family played by Gary Cooper, Dorothy Mcguire and Anthony Perkins during the American Civil War, very touching), "THE ALAMO" (1960) (big budget epic western with Big John Wayne it's producer, director and star as Davy Crockett with a haunting and never to be forgotten "The Green Leaves of Summer"), "TOWN WITHOUT PITY" (1961) (Kirk Douglas in a post-war Germany story, blends jazz themes with Tiomkin signature arrangements) ~ Tiomkin always made the difference when it came to scoring a film.

The last and final disc four ~ The Tiomkin Vocal Songbook featuring "This Then is Texas" (Giant), "Rawhide" (Rawhide), "Do Not Forsake Me" (High Noon), "Follow the River" (Night Passage), "The Ballad of Jett Rink" (Giant), "Thee I Love" (Friendly Percuasion), "It's A Wonderful Life", "Wild Is The Wind", "The High and the Mighty", The Ballad of the War Wagon" (The War Wagon), "Rio Bravo", "Strange are the Ways of Love" (The Young Land), "The Ballad of Jim West" (The Wild Wild West), "The Wild Wild West" (The Wild Wild West) ~ many were hit makers of the day and in the top ten.

Outstanding performances by The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra (Nic Raine, Paul Bateman, Mario Klemens - are the conductors), Crouch End Festival Chorus (David Temple - choir master), featuring vocals by Jason Howard and Keith Ferreira ~ hats off to James Fitzpatrick (producer), Reynold da Silva (executive producer), Olilvia Tiomkin Douglas, John Waxman, Rick Clark and Gareth Williams (associate producers) ~ all film producers and directors welcomed the legendary composer with open arms for their forthcoming projects ~ the "film-score-buff" collectors are ecstatic about this four disc release on the essential film music collection of DIMITRI TIOMKIN, the arrangements and performances are top notch inclusive of HDCD/Dolby Surround.

When listening to the music of a film, you had the feeling of the storyline, characters and convictions of the whole picture, they'll never be another to come this way again ~ Silva America has outdone themselves on this one, it is definitely a five star film score box set...gotta love it!

Tracks:

Lamentations of Jeremiah I: Incipit lamentatio
Lamentations of Jeremiah I: Aleph
Lamentations of Jeremiah I: Beth
Lamentations of Jeremiah II: De lamentatione
Lamentations of Jeremiah II: Ghimel
Lamentations of Jeremiah II: Daleth
Lamentations of Jeremiah II: Heth
O nata lux
Salvator mundi
If Ye Love Me
Cruicifixus
There Is A Green Hill Far Away
O vos omnes
Nolo mortem peccatoris
Tristis est anima mea
Crux fidelis
Videte omnes populi
Drop, Drop, Slow Tears
When I Survey the Wondrous Cross
Dum transisset Sabbatum I
Jesus Christ Is Risen Today
This Joyful Eastertide
Haec dies
Let All The World In Every Corner Sing!

Customer Reviews:

a voice teacher and early music fan.......2007-02-15

Perfection in delivery and hauntingly beautiful tone quality mark this performance of some glorious holy week music. The Choir of King's College is made up of approximately 30 members, 16 are the young boy choristers and 14 are the undergraduates, who are referred to as Scholars. This particular disc shows 2 different recording times:The Tallis selections comprising the first half of the record were recorded in 1981; the second half (of varied composers )was recorded in 1977. So we cannot be sure that all the personnel were the same, not that it really matters, because it is all so very excellent. HOwever, I think that the Tallis half sounds like only the Scholars were singing, because there are no boy sopranos, as in the 2nd half. Be that as it may, I'll comment on just a few of the works that I particularly enjoyed.
ALL OF THE TALLIS: "The Lamentations of Jeremiah" are usually transmitted as a single piece in most contemporary manuscripts, but they are really two separate compositions in different modes. Tallis and his contemporary John Sheppard were the only 2 English composers of the time to compose hymn settings of any quality. It has been suggested that they had it in mind to compose a cycle of settings for Mary Tudor's chapel. "O Nata lux" may belong to this Marian set. It is almost entirely homophonic, and relies rhetorically upon a flexible declamatory style. " Salvator Mundi" is one of Tallis's best-known motets. The masterly treatment of imitative writing is combined with a fine sense of structure and balance, achieved through repetition, to give a sense of large-scale design, a feature characteristic of Tallis's best large-scale compositions. And the most beautiful anthem on the disc: Tallis's "If Ye Love Me".
So much wonderful music, exquisitely sung; a delcious Easter treat!
I would like to mention to any Michael Chance fans who read this, he is definitely singing on this recording. In the first half it is very obvious, but I do think he is also on the 2nd half. He would have been with King's at this time. Just some trivia for those who are interested.

What you would expect from Kings.......2005-03-23

This is a good recording--you wouldn't expect anything else from this choir. They just sing really well. Diction, tone, everything. Just great performance.

I disagree, as I usually do with Kings, with some of the repertoire selected. The Tallis Lamentations at the beginnning are sung well, but, quite honestly, I usually skip them because they're boring and I want to listen to a variety of pieces on the recording. The Lotti and Sheppard are also disastrous, not because of the performance, just because, in my opinion, they are disastrous as music anyway.

The hymns are probably the best music on this recording. They exemplify the true passion of the season. The other motets (besides the Lamentations) by Tallis are excellent. Leighton's "Let all the world", while I hate singing it, is an effective way to close the recording.

Overall, a good addition to your music library, but not a necessary one.

Lovely til the end........2004-03-13

The music on this cd brings home the beauty of the loftiest, most beautiful cathedrals of Europe, and is fitting of the subject matter therein: the death and resurection of Christ. The only thing I have to complain about is the last selection. TERRIBLE! Forgive me, but I tried to listen to it with open mind and open heart... but everytime, the word terrible came to mind. I would try to keep my twitching fingers away from the skip buttom; but again, every time, I found my arm going straight for it. The last selection sounds like a horrible, tragicly corny and rediculous church-circus joke. The rest of the cd is gorgious. I'm just not into that new-age sound-- or whatever it's supposed to be. Did I mention that the last selection on this cd is repulsive? If I didn't, well, let me say that it stinks!!! Buy the cd anyway, and do like I do and skip the last selection... unless of course you have found a way to tollerate it.

Vintage King's!.......2001-10-30

Superb ensemble singing from simply one of the finest choirs in the world. Philip Ledger's tenure at king's was relatively short but he produced a sublime sound from the choir. Then are many jewels on this disc from Lotti's 'Crucifixus' to the simply beautiful interpretation of Orlando Gibbon's 'Drop, drop slow tears'
Highly recommended.

King's College Choir Proves Its Mastery Again.......2001-03-20

I have been extremely hungry to hear English Tudor composers lately and came across this CD. Since it contained works by Tallis, Morley, Gibbons, Taverner and Sheppard, was sung by my favorite choir, and was very reasonably priced, I figured I had nothing to lose. Everything else on the disc was frosting on the cake.

I am especially delighted with the attention to program on this CD. From following Tallis's lavishly dense "Lamentations" with his thrillingly sparse "O Nata Lux" (full of tasty cross relations), to following Taverner's "Dum transisset Sabbatum I" with the well known Easter hymn, "Jesus Christ is risen today," careful attention is given to pacing and contrast over the generous 73 min 18 sec of the recording.

If I were to select two items worthy of special note, I'd point you to Lotti's "Crucifixus" and Kenneth Leighton's "Let all the world in every corner sing." The first is certainly the most exquisite use of dissonance I've ever heard in a Baroque choral work. Burney records in his 1770 diaries that the Italian choir brought him to tears when it nailed the entries on dissonant suspensions, and this recording shows you exactly what he was talking about. In the context of this program, Leighton's anthem is also a thrilling piece of work. Though decidedly modern, it uses modern organ and choral writing to the service of the text. Never do I pull back and think, "Is this weirdness for weirdness' sake?" -- as I do when listening to the works of many moderns, and Gesualdo, for that matter. It is a thrilling ride on the crest of a wave of sound that brings the entire program of King's College Choir's "Music for Holy Week" to an exhilarating conclusion. (I don't know any other work by him. Surely this isn't unique in his catalog.)

Take Me To The World -- Marc Heller Sings Stephen Sondheim
Average customer rating:

Oversung

Wonderful Sondheim Recital

Take Me To The World -- Marc Heller Sings Stephen Sondheim

Manufacturer: Et'Cetera
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B0000000QY
Release Date: 2004-03-22