Search - William Stromberg :: Friedhofer: The adventures of Marco Polo/The Lodger/The Rains of Ranchipur/Seven Cities of Gold

Limelight for Hugo...

vmzfla | Orlando, Fl. | 04/04/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The modest skillful orchestrator Hugo Friedhofer spent most of his career in the shadows of his friends, film score icons Steiner and Korngold. In fact, during interviews he prefered to discuss their achievements rather than his own. John Morgan that master film score reconstructor has given us here a generous sampling of this talented neglected film composer/orchestrator. The selections span the "Golden Era", from the 1930's to mid fifties. None of this is great music, but other than the "Lodger" we're treated to some exotic instrumentation and melodic themes typical of the fables told and the locals filmed. The "Lodger" uses somber and sad elements and modern techniques to illustrate the demented Jack the Ripper. I prefer when Morgan strings together themes as in "Marco Polo", rather than the seemingly endless track by track divisions nearly always implemented not just with this composer. "Marco Polo" comes off more like an exotic tone poem. All in all, this is another well recorded project of one more valued film composer that if not undertaken would have gone down in obscurity."

Friedhofer: a good sampling

vmzfla | 06/16/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The "golden era" of Hollywood had film scores written by the likes of Rozsa, Steiner, Newman, Herrmann, and Friedhofer. Hugo Friedhofer is primarily remembered for his Academy Award winning music to THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES. Most of his scores are rich orchestral masterpieces but he is not as well known as well as some of his contemporaries. Still, his music is worth a listen today. Marco Polo continues recording music from "forgotten" film classics with commendable performances by the Moscow Symphony Orchestra. This CD contains superb music from four of his earlier works: ADVENTURES OF MARCO POLO -- 1937, 13 min.; THE LODGER -- 1944, 20 min.; RAINS OF RANCHIPUR -- 1955, 15 min.; SEVEN CITIES OF GOLD -- 1955, 25 min.Digital recording on Marco Polo CD."