David Raksin - Forever Amber: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1947) Reissue 1998

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David Raksin - Forever Amber: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1947) Reissue 1998

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David Raksin was among the most prolific and storied composers in Hollywood history, his career spanning across six decades and some of the most acclaimed films in cinema history. Raksin was born August 4, 1912 in Philadelphia, where his father was a member of the Philadelphia Orchestra in addition to conducting and performing in concert bands and for silent movies. The younger Raksin began studying piano as a child and by 12 was fronting his own dance band, even appearing on the local CBS radio station – he taught himself orchestration while still in high school, funding his subsequent studies at the University of Pennsylvania by performing with society bands and radio orchestras. After graduation, Raksin settled in New York City, working as a pianist and arranger with several orchestras; in time he crossed paths with pianist Oscar Levant, who was so impressed by his arrangement of George Gershwin's "I Got Rhythm" that he alerted Gershwin himself. Gershwin was so impressed that he arranged for Raksin to join the Harms/Chappell team, then the dominant arranging force in all of Broadway.

Raksin remained with Harms/Chappell until 1935, when he relocated to Hollywood to work with the legendary Charlie Chaplin on Modern Times, arranging the film's score based on melodies Chaplin would hum or whistle. He briefly returned to Philadelphia long enough to assist conductor Leopold Stokowski in premiering his concert piece "Montage" before returning to Hollywood full-time – in 1937 alone, Raksin racked up no fewer than 11 different film credits, and he would maintain a frenetic pace for decades to follow. He authored his first true classic in 1944: Commissioned to score Otto Preminger's atmospheric murder mystery Laura, Raksin composed the film's haunting theme just days after separating from his first wife, drawing on her "Dear John" letter for inspiration and channeling his heartbreak into one of the most memorable and recognizable melodies in motion picture history. Johnny Mercer later added lyrics, and "Laura" is now recognized as an American standard, recorded by Frank Sinatra, Rosemary Clooney, Ella Fitzgerald, and countless others.

Raksin earned his first Academy Award nomination in 1947 for his work on the period drama Forever Amber; he earned his only other Oscar bid 11 years later for Separate Tables, never taking home a statuette. He nevertheless worked on some of the most celebrated motion pictures of the postwar era, among them Abraham Polonsky's Force of Evil, Nicholas Ray's Bigger Than Life, and Vincente Minnelli's The Bad and the Beautiful – in all, Raksin scored in excess of 100 films, not to mention themes and scores for more than 300 television programs including Ben Casey and Life With Father. He also worked in radio, most notably writing, narrating, and conducting interviews for a three-year series of 64 hour-long programs entitled The Subject Is Film Music, and from 1956 until his death, he taught film composition at the University of Southern California. Raksin's film and television output slowed during the 1970s, and in 1983 he completed his last major celluloid score for the landmark telefilm The Day After; soon after he received a commission from the Library of Congress, premiering his choral work "Oedipus Memneitai (Oedipus Remembers)" on October 30, 1986. Raksin died at his Van Nuys, California home on August 9, 2004 at the age of 92.

Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide

My comments concern the 1998 Varese Sarabande release (the 2004 Membran disc appears to be identical) of the 1947 original score recordings for Preminger's FOREVER AMBER, the setting for which is 1660 England at the time of the Restoration of the Crown with Charles II of Scotland. The musical cues on the album are sequenced as they appear in the film and are assembled into four suites:

PART 1 (10:04) - Main Title / The Chase / Escape / Fanfare / The Royal Court
PART 2 (11:45) - Romance / Royalty / Amber / The Prison / Birth
PART 3 (19:40) - Amber's Theme / Ride / Death / Sickness / Attack / Ordeal
PART 4 (22:40) - Music of the Court / The King / Return / Memories / Whitehall / The Fire / End Title

In PART 1, we are introduced to Amber (Linda Darnell) and her Puritan family and learn of her father's plan to marry her off to a young Puritan man. Refusing to agree to her father's wish, she is reprimanded and sent to her room, where from the window, she espies Lord Bruce Carlton (Cornel Wilde) and his friend Lord Harry Almsbury (Richard Greene - later "Robin Hood" in the British television series) and is smitten with Carlton. Before the night is through, she decides to run away from home to join the two travelers.

PART 2 takes us to the 50 minute mark of the film. Amber is abandoned by Carlton, is swindled and imprisoned, escapes with the aid of a highwayman and bears Carlton's child.

PART 3 continues to the 1 hour 38 minute mark of the film. Amber is betrothed to the gallant Captain Morgan, briefly reunites with Carlton (who must then fight a duel with the Captain), marries the Earl of Radcliffe, again runs away to join Carlton and saves his life only to see him leave once more.

In PART 4, Amber becomes a consort of the king, again encounters Carlton (now married) and loses both her child and her position at the court.

This is not the complete score, but is very much of it. PART 1 is nearly all of the music heard during the first 18 minutes of the film. The other three suites are highlights but capture all the film's themes so that nothing essential for one's appreciation of Raksin's achievement is missing.

Much of the music for FOREVER AMBER reminds me of the 19th Century suites anciennes of Delibes ("Le Roi S'Amuse") and Grieg ("Suite from Holberg's Time"), which although bearing conspicuous Renaissance or Baroque-isms, are still unmistakably creations of Romantic minds. Raksin's court music is appropriately more formal than the rest of his (more folksy) underscore and does sound rather like Purcell as was his intent, giving the impression of source music. He also quotes a few period tunes, notably the 150-year hit, "Greensleeves", in its original 16th Century harmonization. Still, the loveliest music is the very Romantic and vaguely Scottish material representing Amber and her love for Carlton. It is beautifully orchestrated, touching and poignant, even so far as to be heartbreaking.

I would recommend this to any fan of Alfred Newman, Korngold or Steiner.

the old guitarist, Amazon

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David Raksin - Forever Amber: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1947) Reissue 1998

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David Raksin - Forever Amber: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1947) Reissue 1998

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David Raksin - Forever Amber: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1947) Reissue 1998

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