Search - Waxman, Shirley, Berlin Radio Sym Orch :: Spirit of St Louis

Do you want a narrator over the music?

Tim WC1 | London | 10/14/2001

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Waxman is from the tradition of romantic Hollywood film music that flourished from the 1930s to the early 1960s. He is a very fine, often inspired craftsman, on a par with Max Steiner, Alfred Newman and Dimitri Tiomkin (not quite reaching the genius of Korngold, Rozsa or Herrmann). The two suites on this disc are good examples of his music, well-played and well-recorded.BUT be aware that an actor speaks over most of the music, reciting a narrative about themes from each film. The narration was added after Waxman's death and intended for performance. Don't buy the disc unless this is what you want to hear. My own feeling is that the narrator might have added something to a concert performance, but gets in the way of repeated hearings. The actor takes himself very seriously, and the writing is full of cliches. I wish they'd released the music on its own.A better introduction to Waxman's film music is "Sunset Boulevard: The Classic Film Music of Franz Waxman" (excerpts conducted by Charles Gerhardt on the RCA label). The best recording I've found of a full Waxman score is "Rebecca" (conducted by Adriano on the Marco Polo label). I think "The Spirit of Saint Louis" is also available in its original mono from the film soundtrack, but I haven't heard it."

The Spirit of St. Louis:Waxman's Music Soars

James D. Eret | 07/10/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Frans Waxman has written many beautiful film scores but none with more lasting beauty than "The Spirit of St. Louis," film music that portrays probably the most famous flight in history: Charles Lindbergh's non-stop solo fight from New York to Paris in 1927. He was the first man to do it and Waxman captures the raptures and poetry of flight with soaring string music with a lovely French tag in the score to tell the liseners about the ultimate destination of the flight: Paris. Waxman, through flashbacks , writes music about Linbergh's earlier barnstorming days, and flying the mail when air travel was extremely dangerous. Waxman's score blends well with the narrative of the film and I once had the LP of this score but lost it and I am glad to see it out on CD. Waxman did many notable film scores("Rear Window" for Hitchcock an excellent example)and others that rank high among film composers but I feel "The Spirit of St. Louis" is his masterpiece, a score on CD to listen to over and over, be inspired by, thinking back to times when "The Lone Eagle" was flying into lengedary status through his brave flight. here, In San Diego, where the famous plane was built by the Ryan Aviation, at the San Diego Aerospace Museum, there is a replica of Lindbergh's plane and memorabilia. Every time I see the silver beauty of the Spirit, I hear Frans Waxman's wonderfully evocative film score, which lifts one's spirit of adventure and longing to fly in the deep blue skies. Highly recommended."