Classic Ross Amico

Tag: Scott of the Antarctic

Vaughan Williams Film Music Celebration

It’s a Vaughan Williams weekend, as we anticipate the sesquicentennial of the composer’s birth on October 12, 1872!

First, “Scott of the Antarctic” (1948) anchors an hour of music from movies about explorers and exploration on “Picture Perfect.”

John Mills plays explorer Robert Falcon Scott on his determined push to the reach the South Pole in this Ealing Studios docudrama.

Vaughan Williams’ classic score became the basis for his Symphony No. 7, which he called “Sinfonia Antartica.” (Note the Italian spelling; the composer dropped the first “c” from the title of his symphony, dooming the work to incessant misspelling.) We’ll hear selections from an extended suite from the film score, from the first of three CDs issued on the Chandos label that, collectively, offer an overview of Vaughan Williams’ work for the cinema.

The balance of the hour will be devoted to music from films about Christopher Columbus, Marco Polo, and Meriwether Lewis & William Clark.

Yeah, okay, so conquest is so not “in” right now. Nevertheless, as Monday is Columbus Day, we’ll hear a suite from “Christopher Columbus” (1949), a Gainsborough Pictures release. Fredric March plays the title role, in a film inspired by a novel of Rafael Sabatini (author of “Scaramouche” and “The Sea Hawk”).

The music is by Arthur Bliss, who in 1950 would receive his knighthood and, in 1953, his appointment as Master of the Queen’s Music.

If you think March a strange choice to play Columbus, just imagine Gary Cooper in “The Adventures of Marco Polo” (1938). Cooper assumes the role of the famed Venetian merchant who travels the Silk Road to China. Despite the ludicrous casting, the film yet manages to entertain, with Basil Rathbone, fine as always, as the villain.

The music is by Hugo Friedhofer. Friedhofer was such a successful orchestrator, he remained largely in the shadows of the film score luminaries he assisted. He lent his distinctive touch to many now-classic scores by Max Steiner and Erich Wolfgang Korngold. “The Adventures of Marco Polo” was Freidhofer’s first big chance to step up and show what he could do as a composer. He would have to wait until 1942 for another. It wasn’t until 1946 that he won a much-deserved Academy Award for his score to “The Best Years of Our Lives.”

The westward journey of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark has been a source of perpetual fascination for Americans. In 1997, Ken Burns directed a PBS documentary “Lewis and Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery.” National Geographic climbed on board a few years later with “Lewis and Clark: Great Journey West” (2002). The 42-minute featurette was released in IMAX theaters, with narration by Jeff Bridges and music by Sam Cardon.

Corn and tomatoes from the New World! Spaghetti and fireworks from the Orient! Snow cones and frostbite from the Antarctic! Discover explorers and exploration this week, on “Picture Perfect,” music for the movies, this Saturday evening at 6:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

Then tune in on Sunday night at 10:00 EDT, for more Vaughan Williams on “The Lost Chord,” as the composer conducts his own music in three rare recordings. I’ll post more about that tomorrow.

We’re gearing up for 150 years of RVW, on the silver screen and in the concert hall. Happy birthday, Ralph Vaughan Williams!

October 8, 2022
Vaughan Williams’ Antartica Symphony: Ice and Tragedy

Think cool thoughts with Ralph Vaughan Williams’ “Sinfonia Antartica” – his Symphony No. 7 – spun off of his score for the Ealing Studios film “Scott of the Antarctic” (1948).

The fatal polar expedition of Robert Falcon Scott and his companions enthralled the composer, who responded with music evocative of ice and wind, penguins and whales, and inexorable snows. Vaughan Williams wrote most of the score before even seeing the film.

The symphony is scored for large orchestra, including vibraphone, pianoforte, organ, and wind machine, with wordless women’s chorus and soprano soloist.

It falls into five movements – Prelude, Scherzo, Landscape, Intermezzo, and Epilogue – with the third movement leading directly into the fourth. The scherzo is propelled by whales and penguins. The “landscape” in question is the icy wasteland of Ross Island.

The score itself includes brief literary quotations – from Shelley, the Biblical Book of Psalms, Coleridge, Donne, and Captain Scott’s Last Journal – at the head of each movement. These are sometimes declaimed in performance and recordings, though the composer did not indicate that they were intended to be spoken.

The title of the work is frequently misspelled, since the composer opts for the Italian “Antartica” (spelled with only one “c”) – a decision he made at the last minute, so as to keep it consistent with his use of the Italian word “Sinfonia.”

Vaughan Williams was 80 years-old when he completed the symphony in 1952. It received its first public performance on January 14, 1953. Sir John Barbirolli conducted the Hallé Orchestra.

The tragic dimension of the overall tone of the symphony is unmistakable, with man’s endeavors insignificant in the face of implacable nature.

Here’s hoping your reception is a chilly one!

August 3, 2022
Explorers on Film Celebrate Discovery

Conquest is so not in right now. Nonetheless, this week on “Picture Perfect,” in advance of Columbus Day, the focus will be on explorers and exploration.

Fredric March plays the title role in “Christopher Columbus” (1949), inspired by the novel of Rafael Sabatini, author of “Scaramouche” and “The Sea Hawk.” The film was released by Gainsborough Pictures, the British studio that produced Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Lady Vanishes” and “The Wicked Lady,” a wildly popular, saucy period melodrama that starred Margaret Lockwood and James Mason.

Stewart Granger had originally been announced for the lead. Mason had also been considered. Replicas of the Nina and the Santa Maria were built especially for the film, and location shooting took place in Barbados. The Santa Maria was lost for two nights following a squall in the West Indies. Then it caught fire and had to be rebuilt. As far as March was concerned, all the effort was for naught. Reportedly, he was not very happy with the finished film.

The music for “Christopher Columbus” was by Arthur Bliss, who in 1950 would receive his knighthood and, in 1953, his appointment as Master of the Queen’s Music.

If you think March was a strange choice, just imagine Gary Cooper in “The Adventures of Marco Polo” (1938). Cooper assumes the role of the famed Venetian merchant who travels the Silk Road to China. Despite the ludicrous casting, the film yet manages to entertain, with Basil Rathbone, fine as always, as the villain.

The music is by Hugo Friedhofer. Friedhofer was such a successful orchestrator, he remained largely in the shadows of the film score luminaries he assisted. He lent his distinctive touch to many now-classic scores by Max Steiner and Erich Wolfgang Korngold. “The Adventures of Marco Polo” was Freidhofer’s first big chance to step up and show what he could do as a composer. He would have to wait until 1942 for another. Four years later, he would win a much-deserved Academy Award for his score to “The Best Years of Our Lives.”

The westward journey of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark has been a source of perpetual fascination for Americans. In 1997, Ken Burns directed a PBS documentary “Lewis and Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery.” National Geographic climbed on board a few years later with “Lewis and Clark: Great Journey West” (2002). The 42-minute featurette was released in IMAX theaters, with narration by Jeff Bridges and music by Sam Cardon.

Finally, Ralph Vaughan Williams wrote his most famous film score for the Ealing Studios docudrama “Scott of the Antarctic” (1948). John Mills plays explorer Robert Falcon Scott on his determined push to the reach the South Pole.

Vaughan Williams’ work on the score became the basis for his Symphony No. 7, which bears the subtitle “Sinfonia Antartica.” (Note that the composer drops the first “c” from the title of his symphony, preferring the Italian and dooming the work to being constantly misspelled.) We’ll hear selections from an extended suite from “Scott of the Antarctic,” from the first of three CDs issued on the Chandos label that, collectively, offer an overview of Vaughan Williams’ work for the cinema.

Corn and tomatoes from the New World! Spaghetti and fireworks from the Orient! Snow cones and frostbite from the Antarctic! Discover music from movies about explorers and exploration this week, on “Picture Perfect,” this Friday evening at 6:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

October 5, 2018

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