01. Leonard Bernstein: On the Waterfront. Symphonic Suite. From 'On the Waterfront, 1954' [20'04]
02. Erich Korngold: Cello Concerto. From 'Deception, 1946'* [12'06]
03. George Gershwin: Promenade 'Walking the Dog'. From 'Shall We Dance?, 1937' [3'18]
04. Miklos Rozsa: Spellbound Concerto. From 'Spellbound, 1945' ^[12'57]
05. Franz Waxman: Tristan and Isolde Fantasy. From 'Humoresque, 1946'^# [11'21]
Frederick Szlotkin- cello*; Simon Mulligan- piano^; Stephen Bryant- violin#; BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Leonard Slatkin
BBC MM234 (recorded March 2003; CD issued October 2003 - Vol.12 no.2}
(CD-rip; flacs, booklet, cover and inlay scans)
Recording venue: BBC Maida Vale Studios, LondonRecording engineer: Simon Hancock; Producer: Ann McKay
Another cover disc from BBC Music Magazine - with an interesting collection of mainly concert works extracted from film scores performed in studio recordings. In general Leonard Slatkin does a fine job with these works - excepting the Gershwin where the rhythms seem to elude him. Chief conductor of the orchestra at that time, he was to leave not long after - another conductor to fall foul of British orchestras. But they play very well for him here (and on other recordings of them together that I have heard).
The Korngold Cello Concerto is something of a family affair - the cellist Frederick Szlotkin is Leonard's younger brother and in the film Deception, the cello was played by their mother, Eleanor Aller, founder member of the Hollywood Quartet along with their father Felix Slatkin.
Theremin fans will appreciate Rosza's score for the Spellbound Concerto which prominently features the instrument - the wailing sound of which I can soon have enough. A bigger role for Simon Mulligan would have been more than welcome. Both Mulligan and the orchestra's leader Stephen Bryant are stellar in Waxman's kitschy use of Wagner's music.