[.ca] Battle of the Bulge

From Amazon.co.uk:
Following a highly acclaimed cycle of Benjamin Frankel's symphonies which saw Frankel hailed as one of the great post-war orchestral voices, CPO embarks on a series devoted to the composer's film work. Battle of the Bulge (1965) was the last of 105 film, theatre and television productions to be graced with a Frankel score, and is his film-music masterpiece. Reflecting a film on the scale of The Longest Day and The Great Escape, there are more than 78 minutes of music, and, due to the low level at which the score was mixed in the finished film, much of it is really heard on this release for the first time. Ranging from huge battle sequences filled with thrilling motor rhythms to the terror of a massacre of prisoners, through a moment of peace that interpolates traditional Christmas carols, this is movie music on a vast canvas. The sound is bold and dynamic, while the Queensland Symphony Orchestra who have recorded many discs of Frankel's music under the baton of Werner Andreas Albert, respond with terse, electrifying performances. The full power of Frankel's vision is unleashed in the Violin Concerto In Memory of the Six Million, Frankel's profoundly personal, rather than Hollywood-inspired, reaction to the horrors of WWII. --Gary S Dalkin

You almost feel like you're there...:
I purchased this for my Mother, who is a big fan of the movie of the same name. From what I understand, this CD only came about recently and was previously only available on vinyl. It has all of the memorable music from the movie and an informative booklet which tells at what point in the movie each track is from. If you're a fan of "Battle of the Bulge" or WWII movies, this would be a worthwhile addition to your collection.

Almost the Original Soundtrack:
The original score to the 1965 movie THE BATTLE OF THE BULGE is very difficult to find. The current release is about as close as you are currently going to get to the original film music. This version was recorded by the Queensland Symphony in Australia in the late 1990's and mastered as a CD in Germany. The original soundtrack was first released as a double album and later pared down to a single album. Until the mid 1980's, the original soundtrack was available only as a Warner Brothers Japanese import. The problem was that it was missing half of the movie music. The current CD solves this and includes all of the tracks in their entirety in chronological order of the movie. The music was produced to sound very close to the arrangement on the movie soundtrack, though a avid fan of the film will be able to detect subtle differences. The chorus singing PANZER LEID is similar to the overdubbed Panzertruppen from the movie. Some of the arrangements do sound as if somebody attempted to improve upon the original, but overall the recording is almost identical. Even the CD cover bears a lobbycard image from the movie. The quality of the recording is superb. Until the original movie soundtrack surfaces again, this CD is a fitting replacement.

A Very Original Symphonic Score:
Like most major British "classical" composers of the 20th Century(such as Walton, Vaughan Williams and Britten to name a few) Benjamin Frankel was as much at home doing film scores as he was in writing for the concert hall. The 1965 film "The Battle of the Bulge" may have played fast and loose with historical fact but in its original Cinerama release it was quite an eyeful. Surprisingly the American studio that produced the film, Warner Brothers, choose a realtively unknown (at least in the States) British composer to score the film, Benjamin Frankel who had worked in films in England. The choice turned out to be a winner as Frankel produced one of the truly great symphonic films scores. Many a critic who savaged the film readily agreed that the score was a superb piece of work. It is tonal at its core but Frankel blends in atonal 20th Century idioms to produce battle music that is not heroic but chaotic and brutal. The scoring is really quite incredible often making the works of such master orchestrators as Mahler and Shostakovich seem tame. The original soundtrack album of the score is very hard to find and often comes at a steep price for about half the score. Werner Andreas Albert has recorded all of Frankel's symphonies and other orchestral works for CPO. His belief, and I agree, that his score for "The Battle Of The Bulge" was on the level of his concert works led him to record the complete score which runs for a little under 79 minutes. He has stuck as closely as possible with the original but improvements in recording technology reveal a few details that the original missed. The playing by Austalia's Queensland Symphony is very good. Extensive notes. Maybe not for casual listening but an impressive piece of music.

A VERY EXCITING SOUNDTRACK:
LATER OF MANY YEARS, WE CAN FIND THIS RARE SOUNDTRACK OF THE MOVIE "THE BATTLE OF BULGE", ABOUT THE LAST GERMAN COUNTRE-OFFENSIVE IN THE WEST SIDE. WE CAN LISTEN THE FAMOUS AND EXITING "PANZER-LIED", TANK'S UNIT MARCH.

A Score should to be true to the score:
Many folks interested in buying this will want to hear the panzer troopers sing the Panzerleid song. They will be disappointed. That portion of the Score isn't here. Instead, the composer re-recorded another version- one apparently designed to mock this song. It is fast, lighthearted and doesn't sound a bit like the one in the Film. A Score needs to be accurate, not edited for ones politcal views.

• The Battle Of The Bulge - Complete Film Music: Prelude
• The Battle Of The Bulge - Complete Film Music: Aerial Pursuit (Kiley's Plane Chases Hessler's Car)
• The Battle Of The Bulge - Complete Film Music: Back To Base - Hessler's Arrival
• The Battle Of The Bulge - Complete Film Music: The Plan Of Attack - Tank Inspection
• The Battle Of The Bulge - Complete Film Music: Christmas In Ambleve - The Americans Debate
• The Battle Of The Bulge - Complete Film Music: Panzerlied (Words: Kurt Wiehle, Music: Adolf Hoffmann)
• The Battle Of The Bulge - Complete Film Music: Interlude With A Courtesan 1st Class
• The Battle Of The Bulge - Complete Film Music: The German Tanks Emerge And Break Through
• The Battle Of The Bulge - Complete Film Music: First Tank Battle
• The Battle Of The Bulge - Complete Film Music: Massacre At Malmedy (The Massacre Of The American Prisoners)
• The Battle Of The Bulge - Complete Film Music: The Armaments Train
• The Battle Of The Bulge - Complete Film Music: The Siege Of Ambleve
• The Battle Of The Bulge - Complete Film Music: Night Assault On Ambleve
• The Battle Of The Bulge - Complete Film Music: Soldiers In Hiding - The Americans Prepare
• The Battle Of The Bulge - Complete Film Music: Hessler In High Spirits - Flight Through The Fog
• The Battle Of The Bulge - Complete Film Music: Final Tank Battle
• The Battle Of The Bulge - Complete Film Music: The Attack On The Fuel Depot Fails And Hessler Is Killed
• The Battle Of The Bulge - Complete Film Music: The Panzerman abandon their tanks : Victory And Postlude