Why are there no sound track albums by Elisabeth Lutyens?
discogs lists her as a musician on 19 classical albums. She plays organ and piano. But not one of the film scores she composed seems to have found its way onto an album or a CD. A youtube fan has somehow extracted her unreleased, creepy scores from Amicus Films' DVD's into an online score. But what's really needed is a proper album.
My Nights with Susan, Olga, Albert, Julie, Piet & Sandra (1975 Never Go with Strangers (1971) Theatre of Death (1967) The Terrornauts (1967) The Psychopath (1966) Spaceflight IC-1: An Adventure in Space (1965) The Skull (1965) Dr. Terror's House of Horrors (1965) Man with Two Faces (1964) The Earth Dies Screaming (1964) Paranoiac (1963) Why Bother to Knock (1961) Off the Beaten Track (1960) The Edgar Wallace Mystery Theatre (1959) Never Take Candy from A Stranger (1960) Any Man's Kingdom (1956) Bermuda Affair (1956) A Letter for Wales (1960) Penny and the Pownall Case (1948)
One of my faves! There was a re-recording of some of THE SKULL, which appeared on a compilation with other British composers. Some people complained/observed that it was distant-sounding, recorded too low and concert-hally.
I don't know why there are no soundtracks of hers out. Maybe the tapes are lost, or substantially so. I have no idea. What I DO know is that THE SKULL is an absolutely brilliant score, and adds wonderfully to the creepiness of the film. The last half of the film is virtually silent, with just Freddie Francis' roaming camera, Peter Cushing's increasingly terrorific performance , and Elisabeth Lutyens' wild score to hold it together.
"De Sade said he wasn't mad. And I believe him. He was far worse than mad. He was possessed. Possessed by an evil spirit. A spirit that still inhabits the skull. The skull. Of the Marquis de Sade. Who said he wasn't mad. And I believe him. He was far worse than mad. He was possessed. Possessed by an evil spirit. A spirit that still inhabits the skull. The skull that's sitting on your table. The table you bought at the auction. The auction where you boiught the skull. The skull of the Marquis de Sade. For Five. Billion. Pounds."
Graham will recall that I was less than impressed with The Skull (watched Dec 21) finding it rather silly and hardly scary ... but I was impressed with the music score which was effective in providing a feeling of unease, etc.
So much so that I sought out works by this, then unknown to me, composer and found, as Richard has described, a dearth (desert?) of available works. However, from a variety of classical/concert hall recordings I did buy one release: British Works-Cello & Piano, Vol.IV - Paul & Huw Watkins which includes her composition: Constants, Op.110
I keep meaning to look for other releases of her works ...
Lutyens has always fascinated me. Not always her music, necessarily, which is often a bit too experimental for my taste, but her position as an early female pioneer in her field. Along with people like Bebe Barron or Delia Derbyshire, or Pauline Hall and Maja Sønstevold here in Norway.
But hey -- I haven't listened to her much, and zero of her film music, so I'm looking forward to exploring and reassessing.
The UK Indicator Blu-ray of "Never Take Sweets from a Stranger" includes an excellent 40 minute appreciation and analysis of Eiisabeth Lutyens' film music by David Huckvale.
I bought the CD that Stephen mentioned because, although I've been championing Elisabeth Lutyens' film scores all my life, I never "bothered" getting this until now.
The seven - mostly untitled - tracks work as a suite, sometimes blending into each other. It's very well performed. I just love that seething Main Title, and the jangly cimbalom which represents the evil of the skull. It's great to have this recorded at all, it's just a pity that in apparently selecting and ordering "seven of the more substantial cues into the most varied sequence the material allows", Bayan Northcott has omitted a lot of the (to me) truly memorable themes and motifs. The liner notes state that "such a score does not define a wide expressive range, and includes a deal of sectional repetition and recycling..." And yet that very "sectional repetition" is (if I'm understanding the term correctly) what helps to make the score so striking. Some of those almost maddeningly repetitive ideas go on in the film for an inordinate amount of time. It's really gripping music, but the CD doesn't include any of it.
Still, a good try. This CD came out twenty years ago though. I would love to see the day when a complete Lutyens score is rerecorded. I still think THE SKULL is her best, and it needs more than 17 minutes to be fully appreciated in all its demented glory. Carl Davis recorded the full score (or near enough) of Benjamin Frankel's CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF for Naxos.
The CD, apart from the Lutyens score, includes interesting selections from Roberto Gerhard's THIS SPORTING LIFE and Richard Rodney Bennett's rather excellent RETURN OF THE SOLDIER. There's also Benjamin Britten's LOVE FROM A STRANGER (which gives its title to the CD), but that's my least favourite of the bunch.
"All good things come to those who wait..... And perhaps you won't have to wait for long..." ------------------- Wow!! Looks like BSX once again going were few other labels go before.
I sampled and then ordered an album of her chamber music called Jane's Minstrels. Dark, eerie stuff. Got it at Amazon at normal price. Also ordered a book about her, and I'll look into Quincunx.
