Search - Maurice Jarre :: Is Paris Burning? [Original Soundtrack Recording]

"Paris brûle-t-il?" or, My memories of a superb soundtrack a

Annie Van Auken | Planet Earth | 12/23/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"When IS PARIS BURNING? (1966) was on TV back in the late 60s, I was too young to tackle what was a 4-hour film (counting commercials), so I never saw it entirely or grasped the scope of what is an amazing Francis Ford Coppola/Gore Vidal script.



As a high school freshman, I'd walk downtown after 3 pm and visit New Haven's main library. Located right next to some venerable Yale facilities on New Haven's Green, this lovely old Federal-style building with its enormous multi-paned windows was completely covered in dense, lush ivy.



Once inside the oversized front door you could ascend long, spiraling marble staircases on either hand that led to their Art and Music room. Many a post-class afternoon would find me there, listening over mono headphones on a Rheem Califone record player to the city's eclectic LP collection. I got quite an education, too.



One that I played frequently was the soundtrack to IS PARIS BURNING?, by Maurice Jarre. This very day, I finally got a chance to hear those remarkable compositions in actual stereo as I watched the movie, fully attentive, also for the first time in my life. It was thrilling and a real trip back through the decades.



The movie's overture consists of three distinct themes that introduce main elements of the story of Paris's ultimate liberation, which came late in WWII after 4½ years of German occupation. The first is a militaristic march, heavy with brass and tympanic explosions, that represents the city's enemy. A second far more gentle air follows, clearly French in nature, led by some simple instrument, perhaps a rudimentary accordion. The final tune heard is no-nonsense but nervously unafraid, and seems to represent the American army's maneuver to recapture Paris.



There's other great music from this epic film, and much of it is on that fine soundtrack album that I fell in love with so very long ago. I highly recommend both works!"

Possibly Jarre's finest score

Trevor Willsmer | London, England | 04/26/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"- Lawrence of Arabia notwithstanding. Despite its all-star cast, in many ways the two real stars of this epic WW2 film are the city of Paris and Maurice Jarre's excellent score, the film's only real constant factors as the stars come and go a events move forward. Jarre's score manages to counterpoint a surprising but incredibly effective militant piano-led theme for the Nazi Occupation with an increasingly stirring resistance theme that constantly runs underneath it, gradually working its way out of hiding and constantly gaining ascendancy before finally flowering into a vivid and triumphant waltz for the Liberation. Divided into two suites with the Paris Waltz theme (a regular feature of Jarre's concerts long after the film was forgotten) and the striking overture given cues of their own, this reissued CD doesn't deviate from the original LP recording but does boast superior sound."

Very welcome improvement on original LP sound

Gary J. Wright | San Francisco, CA United States | 10/05/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Jarre's terrific score is deservedly reissued on CD here, this time with fuller sound. The glorious theme undergoes many a variation, through beautifully lyrical and highly dramatic passages. The original LP was unpleasant to listen to, but the mastering here provides a substantial improvement. Strongly recommended."