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Michael J. LEWIS - Film Music 1969-1994 Rundfunkorchester Berlin and Los Angeles Ensemble conducted by Michael J. Lewis  PEN DINAS PD-951 2CDs [117:00]
Music from: Julius Caesar; The MedusaTouch; The Naked Face; Theatre of Blood; The Madwoman of Chaillot; The Passage; Hound of the Baskervilles; 92 in the Shade; Sphinx; The Stick-Up; Rose and the Jackal; The Unseen; North Sea Hijack; Upon this Rock

Available from: Pen Dinas Productions 12525 Victory Boulevard, Suite 121, North Hollywood, CA 91606
                          (Tel: 818 -786-0844; Fax:818 - 781-5751)
                          Mail Order USA $29:95 s/h USA $2.95 - all other areas $4.95 Visa M/C Discover

I noticed this compilation advertised rather strongly in the Gramophone Film Music Good CD Guide with quotations from press reviews like - "..Music of majesty and passion..."; "...absolutely phenomenal..."; and - "makes the blood race with its sheer grandeur". I therefore sent off for a review copy and noticed from the blurb that came with it that it had been declared Best Compilation in a 1996 Film Score Monthly Reader’s Poll and that Gramophone had said that it was the best compilation of music from films so far released. So is it worth all this acclaim. In the words of the Gramophone critic, "Well, yes it is" - for the most part! I do have some reservations but these are slight.

So why is the name Michael J. Lewis not better known. A look at the list of films he has scored above (there are other Lewis scores yet to be recorded) confirms that they are either little known or have received horrendous critical batterings (indeed Halliwell awards no stars at all to most of them and of The Madwoman of Chaillot the book quotes some pretty disparaging reviews such as..."one finds oneself too often longing for the drop of the curtain.") Which is a shame because the music is of a very high order but this is nothing new for as all film music fans know, so often a superior score bolsters an inferior film. Michael J. Lewis has conducted these performances and produced this album and marketed it through his own recording company Pen Dinas (the name of a favourite Welsh hill of his boyhood). It is a case of blowing his own trumpet - but who can blame him if nobody else will? His rivals who are hyped by the major recording companies (and the 'indies') could hardly produce anything better than this collection.

Michael J. Lewis was born in Wales, of course, and studied harmony, counterpoint and composition at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. He scored for a number of British films before moving to Hollywood. His first film score for The Madwoman of Chaillot won him the Ivor Novello Award for the Best Film Score 1969/70 and this compilation includes a short three movement suite from the film including a memorably novel study for percussion, "Palais de Chaillot" and the lovely fragile and feminine "Irma’s Theme." The programme opens in majesty and splendour with the score for the 1969 production of Julius Caesar (that starred Charlton Heston), especially memorable for the imposing "Caesar’s Triumphant Return" music. The Medusa Touch includes organ music in the grand classical tradition and sinister, devilish music for the "Murder", "Destruction of the Cathedral" and "End Title" cues which leave a lot of the empty poundings of today’s scores way behind but the stand-out movement in this suite is the haunting "Grazioso" with its beguiling Spanish inflections. Indeed, Lewis’s gift for melody and romantic lyricism is evident throughout this two-hour collection. The "Main Title" and "Edwina’s Theme" for Theatre of Blood, both written against type are very much in this romantic vein and they contrast with a very effective tongue-in-cheek parody of the swashbuckling styles of Korngold and Steiner in the "Duel" and "Death in the Theatre" cues.

This compilation demonstrates Lewis’s impressive compositional and orchestration skills - and his versatility. The alluring Sphinx contains very authentic-sounding Egyptian/North African music; and the sultry heat of the Caribbean is implicit in 92 in the Shade imaginatively scored for just harmonica and guitar. (Guitar and mandolin appear prominently in many of these scores.) So what are my reservations? Just that there seemed to be a sameness creeping into two or three of the latter tracks on the second CD which ends in grand style with the music for Upon this Rock an NBC dramatised documentary about the history of the Basilica of St Peter’s, Rome. The music captures both the grandeur of St Peter’s and the piety of its pilgrims, and there are interesting references to Respighi’s Roman tone poems especially in the "Fountains" cue.

Recommended and very definitely worth contacting Pen Dinas for a copy.

Ian Lace

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