Dmitri Tiomkin - The Alamo 1960 (23 tracks) +Album Reviews

The Alamo: A Film Score To Remember

James D. Eret | 07/03/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Dimitri Tiomkin has written the film music of some of my favorite movies and westerns. I think "The Alamo" is his masterpiece. Mixing Spanish themes with other western standards captures the period of the Alamo perfectly. When he introduces Davy Crockett, riding to immortality with his ragged bunch towards the Alamo with a funny accordian theme, or the bombastic fanfares of generalisamo Santa Anna, or the exciting battle music, history comes alive. His beautiful "Green Leaves of Summer,' perfectly captures the sadness of a noble stand and regret. John Wayne, if my memory serves me, when he won his only Oscar for playing Rooster Cogburn in "True Grit,"thanked the Academy and Dimitri Tiomkin, for Tiomkin scored many films Wayne acted in, classics like "Red River," and others.Also,"The Alamo" was Wayne's only directorial effort and he must have had a great love of Tiomkin's music. This CD gives the listener more music. I had and still have the original LP of "The Alamo" and remains one of my favorites. It is wonderful when Tiomkin takes the "Dueglo," or "no quarter" trumpet solo and blends in "The Green Leaves of Summer" for added effect and power. After the last song, like the survivors of the Alamo, we too feel regret and know that this is great music. Highly recommended. Also try to get or request out of print Tiomkin scores, classics like "The Old Man and the Sea,"(He won an Academy Award for it) and one of my other favorites, "The Guns of Navarone," a great score to a rousing classic as "The Alamo" is. There are many many others but "The Alamo" is a good introduction to Dimitri Tiomkin's wide range of film scores as any and still stands the test of time."

A Great Western Score

Steve Rawlings | Denver, CO USA | 02/10/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The musical score for John Wayne's "The Alamo" was arranged by the Russian-born composer, Dimitri Tiomkin. It is ironic that a man with Russian heritage would compose many of the great American western scores, including "High Noon," "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral," and "Rio Bravo." Tiomkin also wrote scores for other genre including "The Guns of Navarone" and "The Fall of the Roman Empire." "The Alamo" is his signature western work. Tiomkin beautifully captures the many moods and themes of the film in his haunting and reflective Overture. These themes play out again and again in the natural setting of the movie, from the plaintive guitar and harmonica to depict the southwestern flavor of the mission near San Antonio, to the stirring brass to introduce Davy Crockett, or the imperial trumpets to announce Santa Anna. The music is varied, rich, robust, and teeming with excitement. Tiomkin is a master. He can at once soothe the soul with "The Green Leaves of Summer" on the eve of the final climatic battle when the defenders of the Alamo lay wake in the still of the night, as one of them said, "not thinking...just remembering." He can then stir the soul with the clash of strings, brass and percussion in the final dramatic assault. I have listened to this music for forty years, first on records and now this CD. It evokes the many memorable scenes from the movie and is timeless and enduring..."

A great soundtrack for the greatest movie.

Steve Rawlings | 06/13/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I'm a great fan of "The Alamo" since I first saw it at the age of 14. Now I'm 48. Since then, I saw it whenever I could. Its music amused me. I worship "The Green Leaves of Summer"and its openig, too. The other tracks included recently, such as Marty Robbins' "Ballad of The Alamo", made this CD a precious item. I've been after it for a long time. Since the time of vinils, but never managed to get it here in Brazil. Recently, I found it at Amazon.com. So the dream of having it in my collection at last came true. So now I see the film and listen to this great, great soundtrack. In time, I'm very found of movies tracks and songs."

IT WORTHS,ABSOLUTELY!

msalkaya | ISTANBUL-TURKEY(TR) | 01/20/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Absolutely a rarity,absolutely a marvellous recording that must be in every archive that are interested not only in soundtracks but also contemporary classics...Just a few months ago,I saw this movie on TV and I found the vinyl LP of this album (Which was nearly 40 years old)which was on sale in an antiques shop at a price of US$100 (which is around the half of minimum wage in Turkey)and this was purchased by a collectioner,regardless of its age and the scratches on it...From that day,I was looking for that marvellous album until I met "amazon.com". Now I am very happy to be an owner of that rarity and thank you "amazon.com" for realizing my dream!"

Let the Legend Grow and Grow

Todd Knisley | Londonderry, Oh United States | 07/15/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The Alamo not only bridges the gap between truth and legend, but almost every element of this production is riddled with legendary concepts and personalities (the Alamo set, John Wayne's only turn as actor and director, and the score). Hollywood itself was graced with many European emigrants of exceptional heritage, Tiomkin among one of the most versatile and legendary. Let us not forget that this was a man who studied harmony and counterpoint under Alexander Glazunov (along with classmate Sergie Prokofiev) at the Moscow conservatory, who studied pedagogy under Ferruccio Busoni; and a vertuoso pianist who toured during the 1920's first inroducing his friend George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue to European audiences. By 1960 Tiomkin was the most recognized and highest paid of Hollywood composers. The Alamo score comes at the height of Tiomkin's maturity as a composer coupled with the legendary (and sometimes inundatingly orchestrated) Guns of Navarone (1961), The Fall of the Roman Empire (1963), and 55 Days at Peking (1964). The Alamo cd is an unbelievable bargain and musically could stand solidly on the Overture, Main Title, Raid for Cattle, and Final Assault tracks. Music enthusiasts should pay particular attention to the Raid for Cattle track which is an exquisite example of compositional mastery well beyond the rquirements of a film composer (pay particularly attention to the crescendo moments of this track which include trombone counterpoint melodies underlying an all out rendition of the main track melody). As Tiomkin biographer Christopher Palmer has pointed out the Final Assault and Battle music is nearly symphonic in nature. This outstanding composer has such a deep, wonderful tradition in American folk music styles (refer to his work on Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, It's a Wonderful Life, etc.), and a rich tradition of music style that traces origins to Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Borodin, and many of the great romantic era Russian composers. It is a testimony that John Wayne had only one composer in mind when he began work on the most important project of his personal career; in fact, Wayne originally thought that Tiomkin's main title trumpet theme ("De Guello"- also used as the title music to Rio Bravo), was the authentic Mexican melody played at the original Alamo battle."

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