DAVID MELLOR
Sinfonia of London and John Wilson Hollywood Soundstage Chandos, out Friday HHHHH
John Wilson made his name with performances and recordings of music from Hollywood’s Golden Age, often reconstructed by him. Wilson’s pioneering work, salvaging wonderful music far too good to be lost, won him a standing ovation in LA, led by John Williams, when the John Wilson Orchestra played there.
When Wilson refounded the Sinfonia of London to cast his net much wider, I hoped this did not mean the end of his film recordings.
Hollywood Soundstage thankfully proves that it didn’t.
Wilson’s aim here is to resuscitate the recordings made on soundstages, mainly between the wars. Evocative photos recreate the atmosphere.
There’s Erich Wolfgang Korngold, recording in the late 1930s. And a more earthy shot of Alfred Newman, composer of 200 film scores. Here the floor is covered with stubbed-out fags, as a sure sign of the pressure that these boys (no girls anywhere) worked under.
These eight extracts begin with Korngold’s overture to The Private Lives Of Elizabeth & Essex. For high-profile movies, the composer was encouraged to create an overture that could be played live by the orchestra at the film’s premiere, and this is it.
The extracts continue with How To Marry A Millionaire (with Marilyn Monroe, right). And a lengthy suite from The Wizard Of Oz celebrates the work of Herbert Stothart, who did all the stuff that wasn’t Over The Rainbow, composed, of course, by Harold Arlen.
Liner note guru David Benedict reveals that the studio wanted Over The Rainbow deleted. Thankfully it wasn’t!
John Wilson’s favourite is
Max Steiner’s Now, Voyager, featured here in a 15-minute orchestral suite prepared by Wilson himself.
Most of this stuff comes from the 1930s. Two that don’t are the Transylvanian March And Embassy Waltz from My Fair Lady (1956), and the main title from Johnny Mandel’s The Sandpiper (1965).
Self-recommending to movie buffs of course. But also unmissable for anyone who loves topclass orchestral recordings.