Well, it's taken me a long time but thanks to the wonders of the internet I've finally tracked down what is surely the only recorded orchestral transcription of Lizst's B minor Piano Sonata. We, of course, know and love this classic from Heinz Roemheld's adaptation in Universal's THE BLACK CAT (1934). The score was a compendium of brilliantly adapted classical pieces.
HOMMAGE A LISZT on the REM label (REM 311265) features a piano rendition as well as a complete orchestral version (15 pieces) conducted by Janos Komives. The choices of instrumentation lead me to suspect that Komives (no other orchestrator is credited) was familiar with Roemheld's adaptation. It was recorded in 1995 but it's taken me this long to track it down. Here is the link to the company from whom I ordered it (when I bought it last week they only had 3 copies in stock):
Ray, where exactly in The Black Cat was this music used? Was it in the Werewolf of London too? Where? Would love to see both of these scores on CD. (Hint to John Morgan)
Why has The Fountainhead been dropped from your web site? Delayed?
Ray, where exactly in The Black Cat was this music used? Was it in the Werewolf of London too? Where? Would love to see both of these scores on CD. (Hint to John Morgan)
Why has The Fountainhead been dropped from your web site? Delayed?
Thanks, Peter
Peter, FOUNTAINHEAD is right on schedule. There was a temporary problem with my ITX server. But that has been fixed and the missing files have been restored.
The Lizst Sonata is heavily adapted in THE BLACK CAT. The main motif is Karloff's theme. There is also an agitato theme that gets used quite a bit. Roemheld's adaptation was recycled in THE RAVEN and several other pictures.
Just got through watching this again on the Bela Lugosi Collection DVD from many years ago This movie deserves a 4K restoration and Blu-ray release. Anyway, reading about it on Wiki, it's claimed as the first sound motion picture with an almost continuous score. I'm not a big fan of continuous scores, but it worked in this movie.
Just got through watching this again on the Bela Lugosi Collection DVD from many years ago This movie deserves a 4K restoration and Blu-ray release. Anyway, reading about it on Wiki, it's claimed as the first sound motion picture with an almost continuous score. I'm not a big fan of continuous scores, but it worked in this movie.
It can't be the arrangement used by Roemheld since it's from the 1950s (did Roemheld arrange it himself?) but there is another orchestration of the B Minor Sonata done by Leo Weiner and recorded at least once --
Well, it's taken me a long time but thanks to the wonders of the internet I've finally tracked down what is surely the only recorded orchestral transcription of Lizst's B minor Piano Sonata. We, of course, know and love this classic from Heinz Roemheld's adaptation in Universal's THE BLACK CAT (1934). The score was a compendium of brilliantly adapted classical pieces.
HOMMAGE A LISZT on the REM label (REM 311265) features a piano rendition as well as a complete orchestral version (15 pieces) conducted by Janos Komives. The choices of instrumentation lead me to suspect that Komives (no other orchestrator is credited) was familiar with Roemheld's adaptation. It was recorded in 1995 but it's taken me this long to track it down. Here is the link to the company from whom I ordered it (when I bought it last week they only had 3 copies in stock):
