 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
and it's a fair chunk too.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
...to be released by Naxos in April along with selections from "The Prisoner", "So Long at the Fair" and "The Net".
Performed by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Carl Davis.
http://www.naxos.com/mainsite/NaxosCat/naxos_cat.asp?item_code=8.557850
And btw...
Hi to everyone on this board. I'm new here although checking it for several months now.
"So Long At The Fair" was also directed by Frankel.
|
|
|
|
|
|
s
Here's my film sequence run down of Frankel's surprisingly sophisticated scores to The Prisoner (1955) and The Curse of the Werewolf (1961):
Why surprising, Ed C.?
Were you unfamiliar with Frankel up to now ... or do you mean surprising that British films would have this sort of music at those points in time?
Regarding Curse of the Werewolf's's status, the score may not be strictly serial but it is acknowledged as the first score to a British production to use 12-tone techniques.
Glad you are loving the film music by Frankel, though! It's rather rare for an FSM member to watch U.K. monochrome films from the 1950s such as The Prisoner...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Surprising because I was unfamiliar with his work. One of the objectives of my blog project to expand my own knowledge of film composers and it is definitely doing that. Actually as I mention in my post it has a more operatic or tone poem feel to it than most film scores of that period (or any period) so maybe yes to both of your questions. That's just my opinion of course, and maybe because I just saw an opera and a ballet recently...
The 12-tone "first" is acknowledged in a few places but I'm wondering who started this claim? Really to me it doesn't sound any more 12-tone to me than any other horror film score of the 50s. I mean, it's definitely not Webern-sounding!
The Prisoner was awesome! I actually liked Frankel's score to The Prisoner much more than Curse - as a big Herrmann fan it was somewhat closer to my usual language than the more melodramatic Curse. So anyways, what other Frankel would you recommend to someone looking for "dissonant music"?
Ah - so you're a Frankel newbie. 
Let me direct you to the commendable series of Frankel recordings issued on the German CPO label, like the 8 symphonies.
Reportedly, Frankel did not commence 12-tone techniques until composing his 1st symphony in 1958.
At the time of Curse of the Werewolf, none of the composers working in the British film industry utilized dodecaphony - so this is likely why Frankel's Curse is cited as the first.
Soon thereafter, though, a number of composers followed this trend (such as Elisabeth Lutyens, Humphrey Searle's The Haunting, Richard Rodney Bennett plus more).
I think, Ed C., you should also get this book:
Frankel's estate is one of the 3 that have made arrangements with Stylotone, so if there are any surviving recordings in the Frankel estate they might surface onto vinyl similar to that label's releases on Cordell or Herrmann.
Until then, there's a paucity of Frankel's film music on disc (mainly due to unavailability of source elements).
My recommendation is to watch some of the films on which Frankel scored:
Give Us This Day (1949), which appeared on a U.S.A. DVD with the title Christ in Concrete and an isolated music score as a bonus feature.
The Clouded Yellow (1950)
The Man Who Watched Trains Go By (1952)
The End of the Affair (1954/'55)
Footsteps in the Fog (1955)
Orders to Kill (1958)
The Old Dark House (1963) [William Castle + Hammer Films = an Addams Family type black comedy]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Hey, Ed C.
While I've never seen the 1959 film Libel, I've only just encountered this YouTube clip with 6+ minutes of musical excerpts from Frankel's music.
https://youtu.be/2zEQRY6Eb4Q
F's score sound top notch to me.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
.