| The 3 Worlds of Gulliver |
| Composed by Bernard Herrmann |
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Conducted by Joel McNeely Performed by The Royal Scottish National Orchestra Produced by Robert Townson Release Date: 2001 |
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I had never even heard of this Ray Harryhausen film until I noticed a cue from Bernard Herrmann’s score on the In Session compilation. The cue present on that album was simply magnificent and it inspired me to check out the whole score, of which I have only so far been able to obtain as this excellent re-recording from Joel McNeely and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. As I have never even seen the film or listened to Herrmann’s original recording, I can’t compare and contrast the two, except to say that McNeely has definitely carried over the feel of a Herrmann score. Of course, given the usual excellence of such Herrmann re-recordings in the past, I feel confident that this one is also highly acceptable. The opening Overture immediately unleashes a full barrage of orchestral power on the listener. It’s quite intense and those playing the CD for the first time might receive a shock due to the forcefulness of it. Needless to say, it’s a wonderful opening, and one that showcases the main theme although it never appears quite that forceful again. Herrmann has a lot of fun with this theme, even orchestrating it to cover a storm scene (which works quite well and is very interesting to hear). The other main theme of the score presents itself in The Lilliputians. This is the track that enchanted me from the In Session album, and this theme is also morphed about in some very interesting and original ways. There is even a spot where Herrmann places it underneath the layer of the main theme, which proves to be quite a fascinating effect. In addition to the two primary themes, Herrmann provides a lot of marches which allows him to delve into some really good percussion work as well as some excellent string passages. Herrmann’s love of the 18th century, and thus possible the subject matter of the film as well, really excited him. In fact, this score comes across as more of a classical work than what one typically thinks of as a film score, and this just helps to make it all that more remarkable. The performances from the Royal Scottish National Orchestra are top notch, though the music content seems to run a little skimpy as compared with other Varese releases of re-recorded Herrmann scores. The linear notes are quite insightful, but they feel like that little extra “oomph” is missing. Otherwise, this is album is well constructed. Fans of Golden Age scoring, and especially of Bernard Herrmann, should not wait to add this score to their collection. It is truly a gem of classical/fantasy scoring. **** |
| Track Listing - Total Running Time: 49:39 | |
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