Notes and Editorial Reviews
Carl Davis has distinguished himself in many musical fields.
His scores for the great silent films including for Abel Gance’s
Napoleon are prominent as also is that for Lon Chaney’s
The Phantom of the Opera. He puts himself on the line
in writing such music and has carried this off with considerable
success often in live events he conducts to accompany modern
day showings of these films. His work for British film music
is a feature of his concerts and dates back to that mini-series
of unhackneyed concerts on BBC Radio 3 in March 1995. There
have also
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been ballets including one, A Simple Man based
on the life of L.S. Lowry. He assisted Sir Paul McCartney in
the production of his Liverpool Oratorio. His TV scores
are numerous, are magnificently memorable and include the whoopingly
ebullient one for the BBC’s much repeated Pride and Prejudice
with Jennifer Ehle. It’s hinted at in the Goodnight Mr
Tom music (tr. 3). Going further back I still very fondly
recall his pastoral-poignant music for Hardy’s The Mayor
of Casterbridge (BBC, 1972) with Alan Bates as Michael Henchard.
The World at War piece with acrid tragedy gives the sense
of a great remorseless wave, bitter and with little consolation.
The echoes threaded through the music are Czech and Russian.
There is a complete CD dedicated to The World at War –
it’s on CDC006. The four movement suite from the music for Jack
Gold’s Goodnight Mr Tom is more gently wistful, at times
disturbing but also rather pastoral-joyful. The music for Echoes
That Remain naturally has strata of Jewish exoticism among
the violence. One of the finest inventions is the Spring
Cemetery movement with harp ostinato and flute descant.
The final Remember is heavy with the sound-world of the
Dvorák Cello Concerto leavened with just a hint of Bloch. These
moods carry over into the Ann Frank Remembered suite
with a Sibelian elegy as the centre of the sequence. The
Death of Ann Frank is handled with great sensitivity and
the music carries the redolence of the orthodox chant of Rimsky’s
Russian Easter Festival. The Rhapsody on themes from
The Snow Goose recalls the 36 piece orchestral score for
the film featuring Jenny Agutter and Richard Harris. The invention
is overwhelmingly romantic – think in terms of the best of John
Barry but more so. It is gloriously done here as indeed are
all the tracks.
The documentation is good.
-- Rob Barnett, MusicWeb International Read less
Works on This Recording
1.
The World at War, television series score by Carl Davis
Performer:
Carl Davis ()
Conductor:
Carl Davis
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Czech National Symphony Orchestra
Period: Contemporary
Venue: Czech National Symphony Orchestra Studio
Length: 5 Minutes 15 Secs.
2.
Goodnight Mr. Tom, for orchestra by Carl Davis
Performer:
Carl Davis ()
Conductor:
Carl Davis
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Czech National Symphony Orchestra
Period: Modern
Venue: Czech National Symphony Orchestra Studio
Length: 15 Minutes 7 Secs.
3.
Echos That Remain, for orchestra by Carl Davis
Performer:
Carl Davis ()
Conductor:
Carl Davis
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Czech National Symphony Orchestra
Period: Modern
Venue: Czech National Symphony Orchestra Studio
Length: 13 Minutes 41 Secs.
4.
Anne Frank Remembered, for orchestra by Carl Davis
Performer:
Carl Davis ()
Conductor:
Carl Davis
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Czech National Symphony Orchestra
Period: Contemporary
Venue: Czech National Symphony Orchestra Studio
Length: 4 Minutes 36 Secs.
5.
Rhapsody on Themes from The Snow Goose, for orchestra by Carl Davis
Performer:
Carl Davis ()
Conductor:
Carl Davis
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Czech National Symphony Orchestra
Period: Modern
Venue: Czech National Symphony Orchestra Studio
Length: 18 Minutes 16 Secs.
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