 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
This looks really cool!
Yavar
|
|
|
|
|
|
This is a wonderful and rich score by Wolfgang Zeller to the terriffic documentary by famous german wildlife filmmaker Bernhard Grzimek which won an Oscar in 1960.
That doesn`t change the fact though that during the Third Reich Zeller wrote the music to some infamous propaganda movies. Most notably the notorious "Jud Süss".
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The biography of Zeller is very complex and full of contradictions. I don't want to negate the fact at all that he wrote a few scores for some propaganda movies during the Third Reich - but he was probably forced by Goebbels to work on JUD SÜSS in 1940 -, but he himself was not a member of the Nazi party. His brother-in-law even was a Jew whom he helped to flee to Switzerland in 1934. It is an additional strange fact that even during the 30s when the Nazis were already in power here in Germany Zeller composed Hebraic songs for the Jewish community in Berlin and apparently he also helped to hide some Jews during that time. After the war he was one of the first artists within the German film business who was denazified in 1946 and immediately afterwards he wrote the music for a few important antifascist DEFA movies like EHE IM SCHATTEN and MORITURI in 1947/1948. In 1958 he also became a member of the International Christian Peace Conference. So you can see how complex the matter is and how dififcult to make a judgment on the person himself. There is a German dissertation about him which was published more than 10 years ago, but also this dissertation doesn't solve the puzzle as to who Zeller really was.
Many documents are missing in the meantime and there are also exist almost no self-testimonies.
Anyway, it is known that he destroyed the manuscript of his JUD SÜSS score directly after the Second World War and it seems that he felt very repentant in the years after the war that he had lent his talents to the Nazis a few years before.
The famous German conductor Frank Strobel managed the estate of Zeller and he als writes a few lines about the complex biography of Zeller in the booklet of our CD.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Just being a prominent artist in Germany and not joining the Nazi party while Hitler was in power is quite the achievement in itself. Learning that he wrote "Jewish music" in the 30s it's amazing that he was let off by the Nazis just having him compose music for propaganda films. Add in helping his Jewish brother-in-law escape Germany (and possibly others) and I'm surprised that anyone is inclined to view him in a negative light just because he "agreed" to write music for the Nazis.
Yavar
|
|
|
|
|
|
Another most welcome release from Alhambra! I'm really happy with all these releases...
For those of you who can watch German TV, it's on SWR on Saturday morning:
SWR SA 2.1. 08:55 Serengeti darf nicht sterben Deutschland, 1959
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Thanks for your nice comments about our CD, Cody. I think that many other Golden Age collectors would certainly also enjoy this CD very much. But the problem for those collectors outside of Germany is of course that they are in most cases not familiar with film, composer and music. And therefore it is diffcult to sell many CD copies of such a score outside of Germany.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The same situation existed for me. I took a chance and it was worth it.
By the way, another German CD you should look out for at the moment is the new recording of the SISSI films conducted by Conrad Pope. I am sure that you will enjoy this CD almost as much as the SERENGETI CD as it is full of Steiner and Korngold touches. A fully romantic, lush and sweeping Golden Age score with wonderful themes by the Austrian film composer Anton Profes. I myself have nothing to do at all with this CD production, but I have bought the CD myself last week and do enjoy it very much. A few weeks ago I had announced this very surprising CD here in this thread:
http://filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?forumID=1&pageID=54&threadID=67395&archive=0
I don't know if you are familiar with those historical films (made between 1955 and 1957) which made Romy Schneider a star, but here in Germany and Austria they are of course very famous. As I can see the CD is still not listed at SAE, but in your country it seems to be at least available on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/SISI-THE-MOVIE-TRILOGY-SUIT/dp/B01AHCZ3RU/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1455558149&sr=8-3&keywords=sisi+movie+trilogy
This is also a real gem for fans of Golden Age film music and I would highly recommend it!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I can only concur with what has already been said about this release: highly recommended. I also got it only yesterday and I'm really happy with it.
I think part of the problem is that there are so many releases these days that you can't get 'em all. I'm fully aware that there are many interesting Italian scores I miss/have missed in the past, but it's impossible to buy/listen to them all.
Many thanks to Alhambra for constantly bringing these tasteful releases of rare Golden Age gems 
|
|
|
|
|
|
As my German is nonexistant - where/how do you buy from alhambra's site
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
