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Elmer Bernstein is a legend. I don't think there's any way anyone can deny that. But he also was someone who put his money where his mouth was, so to speak, when he began the Elmer Bernstein Filmmusic Collection.
The importance of those records should never ever be underestimated, nor should their quality. I somehow recall reading on here (no threads about this collection show up in search) how several people don't like the early ones because they feel the orchestra is too small - well, no, it isn't. Once again, people labor under this misperception that in days of old Hollywood scores were played by huge orchestras - they were huge compared to other recordings, but were not huge compared to the silly extravagances of today with those useless 100-piece orchestras that give you none of the clarity and/or impact of the fifty (maybe sixty on a good day, but maybe less, too) that they had back then. Those composers and their orchestrators knew what they were dealing with and that number of musicians was plenty.
It was like Christmas every time a new record was released. Mr. Bernstein set a high bar, too, conducting so sensitively and not making it about him, but about the music. But even better, he knew what the sound should be like - close up, detailed, where you could hear every nuance of the music and orchestra, you know, the way film music SHOULD be recorded.
So, why am I going on about it? Because I pulled out the FSM box set of these releases. Yes, we all know some had to be taken from vinyl, but the transfers are quite good, albeit nowhere near as good as the ones from tape. And I'm just sitting here marveling at how brilliant these are and how this was one of the best CD film music boxes EVER. Done for all the right reasons. Right from the first album, Helen of Troy, which sounds absolutely fantastic - such clarity, such detail, and such wonderful music. And A Summer Place is really delightful, too. And no one is going to tell me that it suffers because the orchestra is too small. Ridiculous.
It is why, for me, most of the Varese re-recordings fail - recorded live to two-track, no mixing (not until North by Northwest did they learn THAT little lesson), recorded in a big old washy space, not close-miked, and with too many damn instruments that have nothing to do with the way those scores were recorded. And if you want to hear the most classic example of what I'm talking about it's right there in the Elmer box - listen to Elmer's Torn Curtain - taut, incredible clarity and detail, and brilliant sound. Then listen to the Varese - not one iota of detail, all sounding very distant with no emotional punch and certainly none of the Herrmann sound. It's shocking to listen to both back and forth.
So, if you happened not to get this set - do what you must but get it because it is MAGNIFICENT. There, I've said it and I'm glad.
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This sure is a great box set for all the reasons you mentioned, Bruce.
The FSM set really deserves an important place in any collection of film music. All of these recordings have something wonderful to offer. They never overstay their welcome by including every last note from their respective scores either. It's a titan of film music preserving the works of titans of film music. What more could anyone ask for?
Chris
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Elmer's Torn Curtain was my first Herrmann LP, and was for me one of the defining albums of my nascent collection. And sadly yes, I found the Varese quite disappointing and barely listened to it. For me, the Box set was just about worth it for this album alone, and of course it's got treasure after treasure. I even really enjoy Gunfight at OK Corral, and that's one of those negative-reinforcement nostalgias for me (a sound I tend to associated with bad childhood memories).
What I also value in the series is how it reflects Elmer's taste in film music, which I always find fascinating about composers.
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This sure is a great box set for all the reasons you mentioned, Bruce.
The FSM set really deserves an important place in any collection of film music. All of these recordings have something wonderful to offer. They never overstay their welcome by including every last note from their respective scores either. It's a titan of film music preserving the works of titans of film music. What more could anyone ask for?
Chris
Indeed. Elmer's sheer joy in these recordings is one of the things I love most about them. Did this ever sell out? It surely should have, but if it's still around I cannot imagine why anyone would hesitate - oh, wait, yes I can 
These are, for me, the best film music rerecordings (or in certain cases, brand new recordings) in history.
I remember when he finally did Mockingbird and we finally go all that wonderful extra music. And his Mrs. Muir is breathtaking. Again, a lot of this has to do with Elmer himself, and his understanding of sound and how film music should be recorded. Again, do the test I mention with Torn Curtain and you will hear it all.
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I believe the set is still available... I know I got mine during a 50%-off sale and it was quite worth it. It's astonishing to have so much great music in one place and packaged so handsomely as well. Those FSM boxes have no equal.
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Amen!
I don't know any other composer who invested in their own artform like Elmer did.
He did learn things the hard way as I remember he changed pressing plants after the first few releases because of inferior sound quality. And I always wondered if he would have done better by totally concentrating on unreleased scores. TORN CURTAIN and THE GHOST AND MRS. MUIR were a couple of his top sellers.
A special shout out to Lukas who ushered in, in retrospect, a Golden Age of score releases like no other. Down to the inclusion of the orphaned KINGS OF THE SUN score. I even read that beautiful deluxe book every time I pulled out a CD from this set, which had liner notes from people like Fred Steiner and Christopher Palmer and articles by Jon Burlingame and James Fitzpatrick.
The vinyl quality wasn't good on the first couple of releases, but the sound was.
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Some nice words from Bruce and I particularly like the remark about the announcement of each album being like Christmas! This was actually very true, and one of the reasons for that was the dearth of real film music albums being made available at the time. (It must be difficult for younger collectors to get that concept, because of the amount of stuff that has flooded in during subsequent years, but back then this was like an oasis in a desert.)
What Bruce didn't happen to mention was the other great legacy of Elmer's undertaking - The Film Music Notebooks, really in-depth stuff, serious stuff, wonderful stuff. Articles about film music for the serious collector. Interviews, carried out by Mr Bernstein himself, with film music figures as varied as Addison, Goldsmith, Daniele Amfitheatrof, Leo Shuken. In the case of the latter two this may well be the only recorded legacy historians will have access to.
Elmer was interviewed three times by his friend David Raksin on Raksin's radio show "The Subject is Film Music", the third of these programmes being devoted to The Film Music Collection. Elmer lamented on the lack of membership being enough to sustain the thing : "It's been fun", he said, "It's also been a rather expensive hobby".
Thus, eventually he had to give it up; but the material remains, thanks to LK for producing the box set with the great accompanying notes; and the Notebooks made available in published form as a book, via the Film Music Society.
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Posted: |
Jul 13, 2016 - 4:18 PM
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By: |
manderley
(Member)
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I always wondered if he would have done better by totally concentrating on unreleased scores. TORN CURTAIN and THE GHOST AND MRS. MUIR were a couple of his top sellers.
In fact, only THE THIEF OF BAGDAD, MADAME BOVARY, SEARCH FOR PARADISE, and TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD had ever had any release, and all of them had been out-of-print for years. And you can hardly fault Bernstein for wanting to re-record the latter.
Sorry to misrepresent. I do remember 3 of those you mentioned came in close succession early on and prompted a bit of criticism (nothing like the stuff you hear these days). I just wondered if this discouraged initial enrolment. After all this was a subscription series and depended on consistent orders and membership. I remember getting the word out was slow and encountered many a collector who hadn't heard about it even towards the end of it's run.
I think a few of you eldermusicbuffs are forgetting one of the reasons that a number of people originally complained years ago about this series. It wasn't the music, it wasn't the recording, it wasn't the conducting---it was the cost: Each disc cost $10. and sometimes the money had to be ponied up months before the disc was recorded or released. Wow! TEN FULL DOLLARS, in advance! To many of us, $10 was a lot of money for a 12" LP, most of which were selling then for around $4.99.
Just out of curiosity, I checked the inflationary figures for $10. in 1975, and found that in relation to today, that $10. disc would cost us about $44.65 and a rough price calculation for the FSM set of 13 LPs today, based on 1975 costs, SHOULD be $580.50!!!!
If you haven't yet bought this set, then $199.99 today is a STEAL, and one wonders how Lukas can feed the mouths of his wee twins when he offers it at that price!!! I think those of you who haven't considered this should go out and buy it immediately. Think of those poor, starving tots!
My own particular favorites of the Bernstein series are YOUNG BESS, MADAME BOVARY, WUTHERING HEIGHTS, THIEF OF BAGDAD, THE MIRACLE, and THE GHOST AND MRS. MUIR. But the whole series remains a filmmusic classic and we are lucky it still survives and has been remastered and packaged so well by Mr. Kendall to be enjoyed so many years later.
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The original LP series was one of the joys of my youth, and Lukas's box is one of the joys of my dotage. More than that I cannot say, just, thank you again, Elmer and thank you again, Lukas. And thanks, Bruce, for this thread!
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