Smith's liner notes also serve to briskly take the listener through the history of the film and the music. Finally, the discs close out with a knockout doubleheader that begins with Mussorgsky's terrifying "Night On Bald Mountain" and ends with Schubert's tranquil and lovely "Ave Maria".
Then we move on to the sprightly and energetic "Dance of the Hours" from Ponchielli's "La Giaconda". (Be sure and listen for the aggressive brass and percussion that prefigured the shark material in Jaws.)ĭisc two gives us the lengthier tracks, starting with Beethoven's "Pastoral" Symphony (always the least interesting part of the film for me, made worse today by Disney's revisionist history removing some glaring racial stereotypes from the proceedings – I'm not trying to get on a soapbox here, but there is a real lesson to be learned there if today's Disney wasn't so busy burying it's sordid past). Rounding it out is Stravisky's "Rite Of Spring", sure to be a revelation for any soundtrack fan unfamiliar with this source of much inspiration for modern day composers such as John Williams and Jerry Goldsmith. Disc one is no doubt the more accessible of the two, with the two aforementioned pieces as well as Tchaikovsky's abridged but stellar "The Nutcracker Suite". From Paul Dukas' giddy orchestral tour-de-force "The Sorceror's Apprentice" to Stokowski's orchestral rearrangement of Bach's "Toccata and Fugue in D Minor", this will please newly adventurous ears as much as it will make familiar ones sweetly nostalgic. This album is an inarguable classic, a veritable primer for anyone interested in learning more about straight classical music, and belongs in the collection of any well-rounded soundtrack fan.Īll of the old standards are on display here (many of them having attained their classic status thanks to this historic recording). In the glut of the latest batch of Disney soundtrack reissues (including everything from The Little Mermaid to Newsies) majestically sits the 1990 digital remastering of legendary conductor Leopold Stokowski's original tracks to the 1940 animation extravaganza Fantasia.
0 kommentar(er)
