Search - Max Steiner :: Max Steiner: King Kong

Ten Thumbs Up!

William F. Flanigan Jr. | North Potomac, MD USA | 12/11/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"1. Where does one begin when surrounded by so many things superlative?! Well first off, I'm very reluctant to hand out five stars to ANYTHING. But this CD rates a five and much more! At the risk of calling down fire and brim stone (not to mention frogs), the bottom line is: the re-recording is orders of magnitude better than the OST! It's a breathless stunner that knocks your socks off (plus a few shards of skin and muscle tissue). This is the first modern re-recording of the complete score (right down to multiple fanfares) of the 1933 film KING KONG (KK). For the two of you who may not know it, Max Steiner was the composer. A prolific creator of film music, Mr. Steiner seems to have composed more classic-film scores than all of his noted contemporaries put together. Over 150! (It is untrue that Jack Warner had Steiner leg-cuffed to his piano. Mr. Steiner was simply, well, a composer-aholic.) The CD is a re-release at "popular prices" of the original which is on the Marco Polo label. And, as such, it's the greatest classic-film-score bargain known to humankind (or any other life form)!



2. John Morgan's restoration of Steiner's score and William Stromberg's conducting of the Moscow Symphony Orchestra are beyond suburb! Mr. Morgan has left no musical fragment unexamined. It's all here folks! Mr. Stromberg has yet again demonstrated that he is one of the most gifted conductors of our generation! The ensemble has been (strongly encouraged?) to match if not exceed the intensity and tempo of the OST. Truth be known, Mr. Stromberg has provided us with a work product that surpasses the original (an ultima-extreme rarity for modern re-recording of classic film scores). The micing/mixing is outstanding courtesy of recording engineers Edward Shakhnazarian and Vitaly Ivanov



3. Many aficionados consider KK music to be the first film score ever written for the movies. While this seems to be true for American talkies, my research indicates that the first totally original film score was probably composed for the 1908 silent film ASSASSINATION OF THE DUC DE GUISE. Its creator was none other than Camille Saint-Saens!



4. The CD booklet, however, is a mixed bag. James D'Arc's essay on Steiner ("'Curiously Appropriate'") is outstanding. So is John Morgan's "Reconstruction Notes." However, the track notes by Ray Faiola focus on what is occurring on screen rather than on a deconstruction of the score's cues. Hey guys, let's keep the focus on the audio domain. This is a music CD. It's not a video CD. Nor is it a DVD.



William Flanigan, Ph.D."

Fantastic!!!

Max | 01/04/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is the first complete re-recording of the landmark score for King Kong (the good one ;-) ) and I highly recommend it. I disagree with the two star "Disappointed" review below (or somewhere). In my opinion the music for the death scene (track 22) sounds great. In fact, I lined up the movie and this recording and even the timing is virtually identical. The trumets do sound slightly different (not as shrill), but that's because of the good recording quality rather than because of the score reconstruction or conducting. If you took this recording and "aged" it with filters to simulate the comparitively tinny 1933 sound it would probably be indistinguishable from the original except to experts.



Anyway, if you're a Kong fan, a Steiner fan, or a general movie music fan you should have this, and the price makes it a very easy decision. By the way, as a bit of trivia for you, Stromberg and Morgan were called in for the Peter Jackson remake to provide their reconstruction for the theater scenes, which used Steiner's music from the original. (Those scenes actually used more than just the theater music. For example, the scrifice music was also used.)"

The Best of the Steiner Film Scores --- Hands-Down

Birdman | Minnetonka, MN USA | 11/10/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Restored by John Morgan and performed with relish by the Moscow Symphony under Stromberg, this selection (part of a classical soundtracks series issued by Marco Polo during the 1990's) emerges as one of Steiner's most distinctive. The manner in which he handles the leitmotives of different cultures and characters is extraordinary. There is terror, suspense, romance and humor to spare. The acoustics are warm and not too reverberent -- a surprise considering the recording venue. The urgency and passion of this conductor and orchestra are just plain fun. These musicians were having a good time!



If you love soundtracks, you will be quite surprised by the quality of the content and performance here. It would be difficult to imagine that the 1933 KING KONG score could be considered "ambient" music, but it is. It is completely listenable, filled with invention and campy multicultural material



At $6.98 it is robbery. On a list of favorite all-time soundtracks, it ranks in my top 25. Call me crazy, but..."