Isaias Caetano
01-07-2013, 02:02 PM
The Essential Michel Legrand Film Music Collection [2005]
http://i1065.photobucket.com/albums/u387/icsilva/TheEssentialMichelLegrandFilmMusicCollection2005Co verFrontPeq_zps8fd7e6ae.jpg
* I dedicate this thread to aktivisten *
GENRE: Score
DATE: 2005
COUNTRY: USA
Scans
LABEL: Silva Screen Records / Silva America
AUDIO CODEC: MP3
QUALITY: 320 kbs
PLAYTIME: 1:17:55
Performer:
the Flemish Radio Orchestra Conducted by Michel Legrand
Review
Review by William Ruhlmann ~ Allmusic
Reynold da Silva's Silva Screen Records has been constructing a series of "essential" collections of major film composers' scores usually by making new recordings of portions of those scores or compiling recordings previously made for other projects, most often employing the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra. For this Michel Legrand album, the label has actually enlisted Legrand as conductor of the Flemish Radio Orchestra (whose contributions are not noted until you examine the CD booklet), with a few additional jazz musicians, plus Legrand himself on piano and (during the extended suite from The Go-Between) harpsichord. Still, these are new recordings, made in December 2004, and should not be confused with actual soundtrack recordings. Legrand oversees excerpts from some of his most popular scores, leaning heavily on the major themes, such as "I Will Wait for You" from The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, "Theme from Summer of '42," and "The Windmills of Your Mind" from The Thomas Crown Affair. These tracks tend to run from three to six minutes each, though the suite from The Three Musketeers passes eight minutes, and the album concludes with two suites each lasting about 14 minutes, a medley from Yentl and six "variations" from The Go-Between. Revisiting music dating back to the 1960s, Legrand provides interpretations that do not quite re-create the soundtracks, leaning more toward easy listening versions, but without going too far. Still, a compilation of the original versions (with, for example, Miles Davis actually playing on "Dingo" instead of being imitated by Claude Egea) would be preferable.
CD Description
Recorded in Belgium during December 2004, this stunning 13-track set showcases many of composer/multi-instrumentalist Michel Legrand's finest compositions for the silver screen. (This is not, however, a compilation, as the title would imply.) In addition to conducting the Flemish Radio Orchestra on these sessions, the French-born musician also sits in on piano and harpsichord. The album fittingly begins with one of Legrand's best known and most beloved songs, the delicate and melancholy "I Will Wait for You," from the classic film THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG. Legrand also revisits his work for more mainstream action movies, including the swaggering "Never Say Never Again," from the James Bond installment of the same name, and the main theme from the original version of THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR. The highlight of this collection, though, may be the dynamic medley of songs from YENTL, which features the gorgeous harp playing of Catherine Michel. For Legrand aficionados wanting to hear gloriously symphonic instrumental renderings of his songs, this disc is ideal. Personnel: Michel Legrand (piano, harpsichord); Michel Legrand; Bruno Caviglia (guitar); Catherine Michel (harp); Herve Meschinet (flute, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone); Claude Eg�a (trumpet); Thierry Chauvet (drums); Flemish Radio Orchestra. Recording information: Studio of the Flemish Radio Orchestra, Leuven, Belgium.
Wonderfully sexy compilation of great music
A review by JAMES SOUTHALL
Composer of over two hundred film scores, Michel Legrand remains virtually unknown to even staunch film music fans. Quite why this should be is rather mysterious, since his career has seen him write almost always attractive music for a wide variety of films, some of them very famous (though many, admittedly, most certainly not) and pen one of the most enduring and indelible film songs, "The Windmills of your Mind" from The Thomas Crown Affair. That won an Oscar, as did his scores for Summer of '42 and Yentl. Not bad going, really! And he's still very active today, with ten new scores since the turn of the decade. The time would therefore seem more than right for a retrospective of his work, which is what this 13-piece compilation does. It features new recordings, of Legrand conducting the Flemish Radio Orchestra playing suites and themes from some of his finest scores.
The disc opens with the wonderfully nostalgic, gorgeous The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, the score that brought Legrand his first real recognition on the international stage (with the whole film featuring not a single line of spoken dialogue, instead the whole lot being sung to his music). Les Demoiselles de Rochefort ("Girls of Cheese") is a big band piece, full of swaggering, smouldering swing; another treat. One of the composer's most famous scores is Summer of '42 (which, as I said earlier, won Legrand an Oscar) though John Barry fans will find the theme sounding really rather familiar. Never Say Never Again is a score which polarises opinion like few others; whatever its merits in the film, the theme is a sexy and impressive one, with the fluttering flute solo (so typical of the composer) a particular highlight.
"Best Friend" is another big band-style piece (though with full orchestra) and another swinging delight; then comes an unfamiliar arrangement of Legrand's most famous theme, The Thomas Crown Affair. I suppose the piece must seem to Legrand a bit like "Spirit in the Sky" would seem to Norman Greenbaum, which explains the fresh (and nice) arrangement. It's one of the sexiest scores ever written. The Happy Ending features romance on a far more sweeping scale, though it still highlights the composer's trademark wind solos to give it a personal touch. Richard Lester's The Three Musketeers is a very different kind of score from those that have gone before (it opens with thunderous action music before leading into a nice presentation of the vigorous, immensely catchy main theme) but equally impressive, and rather preferable to Lalo Schifrin's hard-to-like music for its sequel.
Wuthering Heights is a dramatic and weighty score, still boasting a fine, melodic theme, but considerably darker than much of what has gone before on the album. Brian's Song is one of the most gorgeous pieces on the album, another extremely catchy tune (though a film I've never heard of). Dingo sounds like it might be an Australian movie (the sequel to Dunny, perhaps) though I'm sure it isn't; the music, with a mournful muted trumpet solo dominating, is another delight. The album ends with two lengthy suites, from Yentl and The Go-Between; the heaviest, most serious-minded music on the album, these show a mature and impressive dramatic element of Legrand's style and mark a fine way to end the album.
The latest entry in Silva Screen's "Essential" collection, this is perhaps the best so far, if for no other reason than it will open the door to a much winder audience for the underappreciated composer. Though it's been released by Silva, the recording has apparently been produced by Reader's Digest and features neither Silva's usual orchestra nor any of the other familiar names associated with their releases. While the fine liner notes which typically accompany Silva releases are certainly missed, Legrand entices an excellent performance from his orchestra and this is one of the most impressive film music albums of 2005. While their styles are all very different, somehow Legrand's music shares the same uniquely French joie de vivre as Maurice Jarre's and Georges Delerue's; they are all, always, eminently listenable composers, able to write breezy music to bring a smile to the listener's face. Hopefully this album can go some way to bring recognition of Legrand towards that afforded his two fellow countrymen.
http://i1065.photobucket.com/albums/u387/icsilva/TrackList2.gif
01. I Will Wait for You (05:07)
"Les Parapluies de Cherbourg" - "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg"
02. You Must Believe in Spring / Concerto de Maxence / La Chanson des Jumelles (04:27)
"Les Demoiselles de Rochefort" - "The Young Girls of Rochefort"
03. The Summer of 42 (03:56)
"The Summer of 42"
04. Never Say Never Again (03:33)
"Never Say never Again"
05. How Do You Keap The Music Playing (06:00)
"Best Friend"
06. The Thomas Crown Affair (03:53)
"The Thomas Crown Affair"
07. What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life? (05:59)
"The Happy Ending"
08. The Three Musketeers (08:04)
"The Three Musketeers"
09. Wuthering Heights (05:08)
"Wuthering Heights"
10. Brian's Song (03:17)
"Brian's Song" (TV)
11. Dingo (04:03)
"Dingo"
12. Yentl - Medley (14:00)
"Yentl"
13. The Go-Between - Variations 1-2-3-4-5-7 (13:58)
"The Go-Between"
http://i1065.photobucket.com/albums/u387/icsilva/downloadherer.gif
EssentialMichel.zip (183,73 MB) - uploaded.to (http://uploaded.net/file/rzyclynh)
http://i1065.photobucket.com/albums/u387/icsilva/TheEssentialMichelLegrandFilmMusicCollection2005Co verFrontPeq_zps8fd7e6ae.jpg
* I dedicate this thread to aktivisten *
GENRE: Score
DATE: 2005
COUNTRY: USA
Scans
LABEL: Silva Screen Records / Silva America
AUDIO CODEC: MP3
QUALITY: 320 kbs
PLAYTIME: 1:17:55
Performer:
the Flemish Radio Orchestra Conducted by Michel Legrand
Review
Review by William Ruhlmann ~ Allmusic
Reynold da Silva's Silva Screen Records has been constructing a series of "essential" collections of major film composers' scores usually by making new recordings of portions of those scores or compiling recordings previously made for other projects, most often employing the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra. For this Michel Legrand album, the label has actually enlisted Legrand as conductor of the Flemish Radio Orchestra (whose contributions are not noted until you examine the CD booklet), with a few additional jazz musicians, plus Legrand himself on piano and (during the extended suite from The Go-Between) harpsichord. Still, these are new recordings, made in December 2004, and should not be confused with actual soundtrack recordings. Legrand oversees excerpts from some of his most popular scores, leaning heavily on the major themes, such as "I Will Wait for You" from The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, "Theme from Summer of '42," and "The Windmills of Your Mind" from The Thomas Crown Affair. These tracks tend to run from three to six minutes each, though the suite from The Three Musketeers passes eight minutes, and the album concludes with two suites each lasting about 14 minutes, a medley from Yentl and six "variations" from The Go-Between. Revisiting music dating back to the 1960s, Legrand provides interpretations that do not quite re-create the soundtracks, leaning more toward easy listening versions, but without going too far. Still, a compilation of the original versions (with, for example, Miles Davis actually playing on "Dingo" instead of being imitated by Claude Egea) would be preferable.
CD Description
Recorded in Belgium during December 2004, this stunning 13-track set showcases many of composer/multi-instrumentalist Michel Legrand's finest compositions for the silver screen. (This is not, however, a compilation, as the title would imply.) In addition to conducting the Flemish Radio Orchestra on these sessions, the French-born musician also sits in on piano and harpsichord. The album fittingly begins with one of Legrand's best known and most beloved songs, the delicate and melancholy "I Will Wait for You," from the classic film THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG. Legrand also revisits his work for more mainstream action movies, including the swaggering "Never Say Never Again," from the James Bond installment of the same name, and the main theme from the original version of THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR. The highlight of this collection, though, may be the dynamic medley of songs from YENTL, which features the gorgeous harp playing of Catherine Michel. For Legrand aficionados wanting to hear gloriously symphonic instrumental renderings of his songs, this disc is ideal. Personnel: Michel Legrand (piano, harpsichord); Michel Legrand; Bruno Caviglia (guitar); Catherine Michel (harp); Herve Meschinet (flute, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone); Claude Eg�a (trumpet); Thierry Chauvet (drums); Flemish Radio Orchestra. Recording information: Studio of the Flemish Radio Orchestra, Leuven, Belgium.
Wonderfully sexy compilation of great music
A review by JAMES SOUTHALL
Composer of over two hundred film scores, Michel Legrand remains virtually unknown to even staunch film music fans. Quite why this should be is rather mysterious, since his career has seen him write almost always attractive music for a wide variety of films, some of them very famous (though many, admittedly, most certainly not) and pen one of the most enduring and indelible film songs, "The Windmills of your Mind" from The Thomas Crown Affair. That won an Oscar, as did his scores for Summer of '42 and Yentl. Not bad going, really! And he's still very active today, with ten new scores since the turn of the decade. The time would therefore seem more than right for a retrospective of his work, which is what this 13-piece compilation does. It features new recordings, of Legrand conducting the Flemish Radio Orchestra playing suites and themes from some of his finest scores.
The disc opens with the wonderfully nostalgic, gorgeous The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, the score that brought Legrand his first real recognition on the international stage (with the whole film featuring not a single line of spoken dialogue, instead the whole lot being sung to his music). Les Demoiselles de Rochefort ("Girls of Cheese") is a big band piece, full of swaggering, smouldering swing; another treat. One of the composer's most famous scores is Summer of '42 (which, as I said earlier, won Legrand an Oscar) though John Barry fans will find the theme sounding really rather familiar. Never Say Never Again is a score which polarises opinion like few others; whatever its merits in the film, the theme is a sexy and impressive one, with the fluttering flute solo (so typical of the composer) a particular highlight.
"Best Friend" is another big band-style piece (though with full orchestra) and another swinging delight; then comes an unfamiliar arrangement of Legrand's most famous theme, The Thomas Crown Affair. I suppose the piece must seem to Legrand a bit like "Spirit in the Sky" would seem to Norman Greenbaum, which explains the fresh (and nice) arrangement. It's one of the sexiest scores ever written. The Happy Ending features romance on a far more sweeping scale, though it still highlights the composer's trademark wind solos to give it a personal touch. Richard Lester's The Three Musketeers is a very different kind of score from those that have gone before (it opens with thunderous action music before leading into a nice presentation of the vigorous, immensely catchy main theme) but equally impressive, and rather preferable to Lalo Schifrin's hard-to-like music for its sequel.
Wuthering Heights is a dramatic and weighty score, still boasting a fine, melodic theme, but considerably darker than much of what has gone before on the album. Brian's Song is one of the most gorgeous pieces on the album, another extremely catchy tune (though a film I've never heard of). Dingo sounds like it might be an Australian movie (the sequel to Dunny, perhaps) though I'm sure it isn't; the music, with a mournful muted trumpet solo dominating, is another delight. The album ends with two lengthy suites, from Yentl and The Go-Between; the heaviest, most serious-minded music on the album, these show a mature and impressive dramatic element of Legrand's style and mark a fine way to end the album.
The latest entry in Silva Screen's "Essential" collection, this is perhaps the best so far, if for no other reason than it will open the door to a much winder audience for the underappreciated composer. Though it's been released by Silva, the recording has apparently been produced by Reader's Digest and features neither Silva's usual orchestra nor any of the other familiar names associated with their releases. While the fine liner notes which typically accompany Silva releases are certainly missed, Legrand entices an excellent performance from his orchestra and this is one of the most impressive film music albums of 2005. While their styles are all very different, somehow Legrand's music shares the same uniquely French joie de vivre as Maurice Jarre's and Georges Delerue's; they are all, always, eminently listenable composers, able to write breezy music to bring a smile to the listener's face. Hopefully this album can go some way to bring recognition of Legrand towards that afforded his two fellow countrymen.
http://i1065.photobucket.com/albums/u387/icsilva/TrackList2.gif
01. I Will Wait for You (05:07)
"Les Parapluies de Cherbourg" - "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg"
02. You Must Believe in Spring / Concerto de Maxence / La Chanson des Jumelles (04:27)
"Les Demoiselles de Rochefort" - "The Young Girls of Rochefort"
03. The Summer of 42 (03:56)
"The Summer of 42"
04. Never Say Never Again (03:33)
"Never Say never Again"
05. How Do You Keap The Music Playing (06:00)
"Best Friend"
06. The Thomas Crown Affair (03:53)
"The Thomas Crown Affair"
07. What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life? (05:59)
"The Happy Ending"
08. The Three Musketeers (08:04)
"The Three Musketeers"
09. Wuthering Heights (05:08)
"Wuthering Heights"
10. Brian's Song (03:17)
"Brian's Song" (TV)
11. Dingo (04:03)
"Dingo"
12. Yentl - Medley (14:00)
"Yentl"
13. The Go-Between - Variations 1-2-3-4-5-7 (13:58)
"The Go-Between"
http://i1065.photobucket.com/albums/u387/icsilva/downloadherer.gif
EssentialMichel.zip (183,73 MB) - uploaded.to (http://uploaded.net/file/rzyclynh)