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by Alan Hamer And so it was that on the 21st November, 2006, Doug, Paul, Roger Feigelson (of Intrada), Rózsa expert Daniel Robbins, conductor Allan Wilson, and this writer assembled at the Slovak Radio headquarters for the first of five four-hour sessions planned for that week. The Orchestra of the Slovak Radio has been used frequently—and highly successfully—for recordings of all sorts, including classical, film soundtracks, and lighter music (of the Robert Farnon variety), especially on the Marco Polo and Naxos labels. Their versatility can be compared favourably with that of the BBC Concert Orchestra, amongst others. The 500-seat Concert Hall within the Radio building, which is used for these recordings, is large and has an imposing array of organ pipes along the back wall. The orchestra were taking their places on stage as we arrived just before nine o’clock. Allan Wilson mounted the podium promptly to rehearse the Main Title, together with a special fanfare that Rózsa had originally composed to precede the titles, but which was ultimately replaced by the familiar Selznick musical signature, composed by Alfred Newman. Allan Wilson is an experienced conductor and orchestrator; he wasted no time in establishing a very friendly yet firm rapport with his musicians. They in turn seemed to quickly understand the Rózsa idiom and unique style of writing. Two harpists were needed for around a half of the sequences, along with four horns, timpani, and three percussion. Two sessions were scheduled for that first long day—four hours per session as opposed to three in the U.K. and U.S. By the close of the first session there had been such an evidently positive enthusiasm by the orchestra under Wilson that everyone was confident—even at this early stage—that it was likely to be a very fine disc indeed. Doug had special praise for recording engineer Peter Fuchs, who had been flown in from Germany, and felt he was a huge asset to the sessions for his talent of capturing the close-mike detail beautifully. One problem that did become apparent was the less-than-perfect state of some of the orchestral parts. These were not always legible, resulting in frequent queries from individual players as to what notes were actually written. All these had to be translated into English in order for Allan, Dan, or Doug to answer to the best of their abilities! Dan, a veteran of the previous Excalibur sessions, stayed mostly in the control booth to resolve textual difficulties in his own unarguably effective way. This was in contrast with Christopher Palmer, who in former times used to patrol the stage scouting for just such problems. Nearly fifty years had passed since the last extensive recording of this music (by Ray Heindorf conducting the Warner Brothers Orchestra), but evidence of usage of the parts at that time could sometimes be seen in key sequences like “The Razor” or “Terror on the Ski Run”. Crossouts, deletions, or attempts to adapt the score were occasionally apparent, much to the consternation of the conductor, who was challenged by having to work not from a full score, apparently unavailable, but from a piano reduction. The next three sessions took place over the rest of the week and progressed at times slowly but surely with such previously unknown sections as “The Impostor,” “The Penn Station,” “Honeymoon at Brulov’s,” “Train to Gabriel Valley,” and “The Revolver,” which will be highlights of the disc. Some forty sequences in all were recorded. The theremin was to be recorded later (January) in the U.K. and overdubbed onto the edited tracks. Doug was pleased to admit later that he felt much had been achieved at these sessions and spoke of Wilson as a sensitive and persuasive conductor who communicates so well with the players. I am sure he is right. This recording will surely make for a very apt and fitting tribute in time for the Rózsa Centenary in April. It will also mark sixty years since the score won its well-deserved Academy Award. So, a most worthy addition to Mr. Fake’s growing Intrada discography, and especially the famed Excalibur series. Long may it prosper! SPELLBOUND, complete at last. |