Mr. Tiomkin On CD

The Alamo (pictured to the left) is a four-CD set from Silva Screen Records devoted to the music of Dimitri Tiomkin. Like most Silva releases it is a mixture of the good and the bad (and in one case downright ugly). It also combines new material with tracks from earlier releases. Still, it is worth getting.

Disc One is devoted to the Westerns and is primarily instrumentals and most tracks, performed by the City Of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, are excellent. The first track is "Follow The River" from Night Passage an excellent film with James Stewart and Audie Murphy. Unfortunately the tempo is too fast, rushing through the lovely theme. Tension At Table Rock is represented next then High Noon, an instrumental arrangement of the song. The Wild Wild West is next, the two tracks being composed for an earlier proposed version of the television series. The tracks are the Main Theme and The Ballad Of Jim West. Gunfight At The OK Corral is represented by a suite. Unfortunately, gunshot sound effects are used, as on an earlier recording by the Cincinatti Pops, and they detract from the music. Also the City of Prague Philharmonic is not up to some of the more complex moments. Tiomkin could be tough on musicians. The War Wagon, Tiomkin's last Western and John Wayne collaboration is very good being one of the best on this disc. Rio Bravo is represented by the Deguello used a year later in The Alamo. The recording of Rawhide is pretty pedestrian. The Unforgiven is represented by three tracks, all of which are excellent. The Young Land, a rarely seen film, is represented by an instrumental version of the Main Theme and Disc One ends with a suite from Duel In The Sun.

Disc Two represents Epics, Hitchcock Thrillers, Drama and High Adventures. This disc opens with three tracks from one of Tiomkin's greatest scores The Fall Of The Roman Empire. The Overture is effectively played except the orgainist doesn't quite reach it. But it is a difficult piece. "The Fall Of Love" and "Pax Romana" wrap up this part. Unfortunately a weak ending is tacked onto "Pax Romana". The Overture from 55 Days At Peking is next, a piece unfamiliar to many. Land Of The Pharaohs is represented by the stirring "Pharaoh's Procession", one of the better sequences in an uneven film. Concluding the Epics is the "The John Wayne March" from Circus World. Tiomkin's scores for Alfred Hitchcock are represented by suites from Dial M For Murder and Strangers On A Train.

The Drama and High Adventure starts out with the stirring theme from Giant followed by the Love Theme and Jett Rink's Theme. All are well played by the Philharmonic. The High And The Mighty, one of Tiomkin's most recognized themes, is next, followed by an instrumental arrangement of Wild Is The Wind The disc ends with an excellent suite from The Guns Of Navarone, one of the better scores for a World War Two adventure.

Disc Three continues Drama and High Adventure opening with the theme to Cyrano De Bergerac, the excellent version starring Jose Ferrar. The next track is from a film called The Well, about a child trapped in a well. I am completely unfamiliar with the film but I found the music to be very exciting. Friendly Persuasion is represented by the familiar and popular song "Thee I Love", another example of Tiomkin's excellent use of songs. Town Without Pity is next followed by It's A Wonderful Life, a song based on the main title for the Capra classic. Tarzan And The Mermaids and The Thing are presented with excellent suites derived from the scores. Closing out this disc is a suite of music from John Wayne's epic presentation of The Alamo. The Overture and Prologue and Davy Crockett tracks are very good, but Tennessee Babe demonstrates the biggest weakness with this set, The Crouch End Festival Chorus. I don't mean to be cruel, but these ladies are horrible, tending toward the shrill. It is painful to hear good music tortured in this way. They may be singing in the wrong key, but whatever the cause, the results are sad. Their rendition of "The Green Leaves Of Summer" is also not very good. "The Battle of the Alamo" features some music never released on record before, the first Mexican assault on the Alamo, but it tends to run a little too fast.

The fourth disc is dubbed "The Tiomkin Vocal Songbook", combining the Crouch End Festival Chorus with the previously recorded instrumental tracks. And this is where things get bad and ugly. Rawhide is botched when the singer continuing during what should be an instrumental passage and pretty much getting out of place. Giant, High Noon, Friendly Persuasion, Wild Is The Wind, Rio Bravo and The Young Land are all well done. Commercial (or sheet music) renditions are supplied for It's A Wonderful Life and "The Ballad of Jett Rink" from Giant. Neither of these had lyrics in the films. The two unused tracks for The Wild Wild West are interesting. But the worst recording is "Follow The River" from Night Passage. Nothing is done right. As with the instrumental the tempo is too fast. The singers do not sound like they are singing a love song and they start in during what should be the instrumental introduction. There is no excuse for this. The movie is readily available on DVD and should have been referenced. But I will also lavish praise for the recording of the theme to The War Wagon. This is the one they got right and almost makes up for the other blunders.

As I said before, it's a mixed bag, but it is worth getting. There are pieces here not available on any other recording, making this a must-have for any film music library.

The collection is a product of Silva Screen Records Ltd., 2004.