Search - Maurice Jarre :: Is Paris Burning? Original Soundtrack

"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!"