Blog Post

An Interview with Leonard Salzedo

Randall D. Larson

Originally published in Soundtrack Magazine Vol.20/No.54, 1995

Text reproduced by kind permission of the editor, Luc Van de Ven and Randall D. Larson

Leonard Salzedo is perhaps best known for scoring one of Hammer Films’ seminal horror pictures, THE REVENGE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1957). His output for British films, in fact, reached nearly twenty, and he has composed more than one hundred fifty concert pieces, ranging from concertos to ballets, voice and piano works, brass ensembles to percussion music. Several of his pieces have premiered in the USA, including a 1993 performance of his ‘Four Antiphones’ at the Music with Percussion Group at the University of Wisconsin / Milwaukee. Now in his 73rd year, Salzedo is still active musically. He completed six new works in 1993 alone. Salzedo’s String Quartet No. 7 was recently performed in the U.K. at Cambridge, in a concert in celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the formation of the Composer’s Guide of Great Britain. Interviewed in May, 1993, and again in August, 1994, Mr. Salzedo described his thoughts on film scoring and his experienced composing for motion pictures. The author is grateful to the kind assistance of Ms. Claire Mitchell at PRS for arranging contact with Mr. Salzedo.


What is your background in music?


My career as a professional composer began in 1944 when my 2nd String Quartet was performed at a concert of contemporary music in January of that year. In the audience was Marie Rambert who immediately asked me to write a score for a new ballet which she was producing with her company. This was The Fugitive and was very successful, receiving some 400 performances during the next six years, mostly in the U.K. but also in Belgium, Australia and New Zealand. Since then I have written another 16 ballet scores and almost made various arrangements and orchestrations for different ballet companies. I have also done quite a lot of conducting for ballet, quite often of my own music.


How did you become involved in film scoring?


I had been very interested in the possibility of writing for films and in the spring of 1954 I asked my friend Malcolm Arnold (we had been students together) if he could help me get a commission. He immediately put me in touch with (music director) John Hollingsworth who asked me to write the music for THE STRANGER CAME HOME, a Hammer thriller starring Paulette Godard and William Sylvester.


That was directed by Terence Fisher, who went on to become Hammer’s greatest horror director. How closely did you work with him on the music?


The only time I met Terence Fisher was when we saw the film through for the first time. After that I worked very closely with John Hollingsworth. Michael Carreras, the producer, came to the recording sessions, but this seemed merely to make sure that everything was satisfactory from the music point of view. This was the case in all six feature films which I wrote for Hammer: it was the producer and not the director with whom I came into contact.


What is your view of the purpose of film music? How do you try to achieve that purpose in your own music, utilizing your own style?


The purpose of film music should be to enhance the dramatic effect of the film. It came as a follow up to incidental music to plays. However, while a lot of the music written in the past for the theater is very good and can exist in the concert hall in its own right, this cannot be said for much film music. This came about because of the possibility of having music during dramatic scenes and during dialog and of course especially in love scenes. And with the ability to synchronize it precisely with the film, it took on a different function. I think that much of the film music written since the “talkies” started back in the 1920s is little more than padding to boost rather bad scenes. I know myself that sometimes the scene for which I had to write some background music did not suggest anything in particular musically. I simply had to produce a rather negative musical noise. I think that a very small percentage of what I have written for the cinema has any musical value in its own right. To listen to it away from the film would be rather boring. I go quite regularly to the cinema and I find that a lot of the music seems to be somewhat superfluous and very often too loud. I remember many years ago a French film called UN CARNET DU BAL, which used a waltz tune very quietly in the background; this was extremely effective and produced a great atmosphere of nostalgia.


What influences have you found significant in your film music composition?


I have always been a regular film goer and always listened very carefully to the music. Also from 1950 onwards, when I was a member of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, I played in many film sessions; which gave me an insight into how it was done. My influences were Prokofiev, Walton, Vaughan Williams and Leonard Bernstein. Although of these the only one I played in the studio was Walton. Much of the music I played in the studio seemed to me to be very second rate as music, but I must say, at the same time, that much of it was very effective and certainly fulfilled its purpose.


When you first see a film, prior to scoring it, what impressions do you get, musically? How do you decide what type of music to use, and when?


When I first see a film, I do not always get any particular impressions of what kind of music I will write. That comes later when I sit down with the cue sheet. As far as “when” is concerned, this is a matter of discussion with the director. Sometimes this is obvious but not always. Very often the director might have very precise ideas of when there should be music and what kind, and of course this often makes my job easier.


John Hollingsworth was Hammer’s music director during their formulative years in the adventure, mystery and horror genres. How did you find working with him?


Obviously, Hammer had great faith and trust in John Hollingsworth and I worked very closely with him, going over my sketches on the piano before making the final orchestration. The only film for which this did not happen was THE REVENGE OF FRANKENSTEIN, because just after we had seen the film through and decided on the music sections, John became very ill with tuberculosis and Muir Mathieson took over and conducted the sessions.


What was your musical approach toward these early Hammer films? What kind of music did they require, and what elements did you accentuate with your music?


I did not have any particular music style but simply took each film as it came and wrote what seemed appropriate. As to the question of what they required, I think that Hammer trusted each composer to produce something suitable. Most of the films I wrote for them were serious and fairly dramatic and it was this I tried to emphasize.


What sort of orchestration did you use on these scores? How large of an orchestra was available to you?


The size of the orchestra was dictated partly by how much Hammer wanted to spend on the music and how many musicians they would get into the recording studio. We mostly used Anvil Studios where the music recording was not too big and we used a medium sized orchestra: 2 flutes (piccolo), oboe (cor anglais), 2 clarinets (bass clarinet), bassoon, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, timpani, percussion, harp and strings (about 14).


I’m especially fond of your score for REVENGE OF FRANKENSTEIN. The subtle interplay between the themes for Karl and the Monster – especially as the two merge into one – was highly effective…


For THE REVENGE OF FRANKENSTEIN we used the A.B.P.C. Studios at Elstree. As this was a larger studio we used a slightly larger orchestra. The same wind, brass and percussion but more strings. It’s been so long since I’ve seen it that I’ve largely forgotten what I wrote! I do remember that most of the music was atonal using a sequence of eight notes in different ways. I wanted to get away from certain musical clichés which had become associated with music scores for horror films: muted brass and tremolo strings! It has been the most successful film score which I have written and still brings in some royalties after all this time.


What kind of music did you write for your other Hammer films, which were mostly dramas and mystery pictures?


For THE STRANGER CAME HOME, my first film, I used mainly dramatic music with more romantic interludes as required. I remember that I had a special sequence for the scenes where William Sylvester had amnesia, with high strings, low clarinet and a vibraphone. Also a special section for strings and percussion only for the night time scene by the lake. I have since used an adaptation of this scene in a chamber work, my Partita for Percussion and String Quartet.



THE MASK OF DUST was very straightforward, mostly romantic with more dramatic sections. Quiet strings for the church scene, a march at the race track. I used a slightly jazzy section for the hotel lobby. One of Liszt’s consolations is played on the piano at one point in the film, and I used that also in some of the other segments.


THE GLASS CAGE had a more “circussy” atmosphere and I wrote a special sequence to underline that and also a little waltz section.



WOMEN WITHOUT MEN (called BLONDE BAIT in the USA) was mainly dramatic as there were scenes in jail. I remember that I used a timpani beat in the Main Titles to give a foreboding atmosphere.
 The score for THE STEEL BAYONET used a similar technique to that of FRANKENSTEIN but with a different atmosphere to suggest the hot, dry desert conditions. More recently I wrote a score for the HAMMER HOUSE OF HORRORS television series, but this was less satisfactory as insufficient time was allowed for the recording.


How did you enjoy working at Hammer? Was the studio supportive of its musicians and composers? The studio certainly elevated horror film music to new and spectacular heights. What was it like to work there?

 I enjoyed working at Hammer very much. The studio was certainly very supportive at all times. They certainly elevated the horror film. I remember Anthony Hinds saying to me that they made X THE UNKNOWN without expecting it to do very much but it was so successful that they did many more horror films and never looked back. Also they gave many young composers like myself the opportunity to write interesting scores.


Hammer occasionally re-used some of their scores, though not to the extent that American studios like Universal did. For example, some of your music was recycled in a scene on THE CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF, which Benjamin Frankel scored. Can you enlighten me on this evidently infrequent practice?


I am aware of the fact that Hammer borrowed a section of my music for THE REVENGE OF FRANKENSTEIN and used it in THE CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF. This also happened to me on another occasion when 20th Century Fox took some of my music from SEA WIFE and used it in ISLAND IN THE SUN. I first became aware of these facts when I received my statements from the Performing Right Society (our equivalent of ASCAP) and unfamiliar titles were included. I do not know how widespread this practice is but I am sure that it has happened on many occasions.


Speaking of SEA WIFE, what sort of musical approach were you taking on this film?


With SEA WIFE I had a slightly different situation that normal. This was for two reasons. Firstly, they had a tune by Tolchard Evans which they wanted as a theme throughout the film; and secondly I wrote the music in collaboration with Kenneth Jones. We worked out in advance exactly who would write each section and of course having a tune sometimes made my job much easier, even using it for one section when one of the characters is attacked by a shark! I did the Main Titles and End Titles for that film; in the Main Titles we used a small choir and a singer with the tune.


Several of your scores have been for documentary films. What sort of music did these films require? How would you contrast their needs with the more dramatic needs of the Hammer films?


Writing music for a documentary film can be very different for a feature. Very often it gives the opportunity for more interesting textures, especially when you have something like a close-up of insects. Also, sometimes with shots of ethnic interest you can use or imitate local music. With these sorts of films I often used a much smaller group of instruments than a feature film, and it was more like writing chamber music.


You’ve written many different types of music for many different mediums – the concert hall, the theater, and film. How do you contrast your film music with that for other mediums? What rewards do you find in scoring for films and television?


I mentioned earlier that, very often, what I write for the cinema has little or no value in the concert hall and requires a different approach from other music. However, this does not mean that it is less interesting to write. It serves a precise function and requires one’s full professional technique in order to be successful. Of course the other factor in writing film music is that usually it has to be done quickly. I do not know whether this might have an effect on the quality of the music, but I think not. Certainly one thing I found very helpful was hearing the music so soon after it had been written. This certainly helped me in learning how to use an orchestra. So often with my other music I have to wait so long before there is a performance.
One other difference between writing film music and any other kind is that film music has to be precisely timed. If I am writing a concert piece and I want it to last four minutes, it does not really matter if it is a few seconds shorter or longer. With film music, however, every section has to be exactly the right number of seconds and must contain within it several “synch points” which must happen at the exact moment of some action on the screen. In the theater, you also need to time each section, but not quite so precisely. Also in incidental music for plays I have had to write songs, which has never happened with a film.


Your film scores encompassed 17 films from 1954-1961. What brought you back in 1980 to score the Hammer TV episode, THE SILENT SCREAM?


In 1980, Hammer was making their horror series and wanted to have a signature tune for the whole series but music for each one by a different composer. Sections were written by John McCabe, Paul Patterson, Wilfred Josephs and others, including myself. I happened to be a friend of Phil Martell, who was Hammer’s music director at that time, and he asked me to do THE SILENT SCREAM. Sadly, he died earlier this year.


How did scoring this TV episode contrast with your feature film scores? What differences in musical and recording techniques did you find after 20 years?


The orchestra for THE SILENT SCREAM was slightly smaller than before, but also used a synthesizer, which was not known in the 1950s. Of course, there was one big advance in the 1950s and that was the introduction of stereo sound. MGM had their three-track system, which was used in SEA WIFE and with an orchestra of 40 plus a small choir and singer in the main titles, made a very good sound. Also, the actual quality of recording has improved greatly in the intervening years so that the sound is very much better.


What is your opinion of current film music today? Would you consider scoring films again?


Much of the film music today is very good. I thought that the score for SCHINDLER’S LIST was very good, as was the piano music by Michael Nyman for THE PIANO. But as I said earlier, some of it is too loud; it intrudes where it should be in the background. I would certainly be willing to write another film score today if asked. But I will not actively seek a commission. I have had several performances this year and fairly regular commissions during the last few years.


Randall D. Larson - Film music columnist for buysoundtrax.com and author of nearly 300 soundtrack album notes and several books on film music, including a newly-released second edition of Musique Fantastique: 100 Years of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Film Music, from which this article has been extracted and modified.

Charles Gerhardt & Classic Film Scores

by Pascal Dupont • 10 May, 2024
Charles Allan Gerhardt English version adapted by Doug Raynes - FRENCH VERSION AND COLLECTION had a reputation as a great conductor, record producer and musical arranger. His major work at RCA on the Classic Film Scores series earned him recognition from film music devotees of Hollywood’s Golden Age, as well as other renowned conductors of his day. Born on February 6, 1927 in Detroit, Michigan, Charles Gerhardt developed a passion for music and percussion instruments from an early age. At the age of five, he took piano lessons, and by the age of nine, had established a solid reputation as an orchestrator and composer. He spent his early school years in Little Rock, Arkansas, then after 10 years, having completed his schooling, moved with his family to Illinois for his military duties, he served in the U.S. Navy during World War II as a chaplain's aide in the Aleutian Islands, then became an active member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. He went on to study at the University of Illinois, at the College of William and Mary, and later at the University of Southern California. Throughout his time at school Gerhardt was attracted not only to music, but also to the sciences. Passionate about the art of recording, he joined Westminster Records for five years, until the company ceased operations, and then joined Bell Sound. One day, he received a phone call from George Marek to meet with the heads of Reader's Digest, to discuss producing recordings for their mail-order record business; a contact that was to secure his musical future and a rich career spanning more than 30 years. Gerhardt's first job for Reader's Digest was to produce a record; “A Festival of Light Classical Music”; a 12 LP box set that he produced in full. One of Gerhardt's finest projects was the production of another 12 LP box set, “Les Trésores de la Grande Musique (Treasury of Great Music)”, featuring the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by some of the leading figures of the day: Charles Munch to Bizet and Tchaikovsky, Rudolf Kempe to Strauss and Respighi, Josef Krips to Mozart and Haydn, Antal Dorati to Strauss and Berlioz, Brahms 4th Symphony by Fritz Reiner and Sibelius’ 2nd Symphony by Sir John Barbirolli. In the 1950s he conducted works by Vladimir Horowitz, Wanda Landowska, Kirsten Flagstad and William Kapeli. In the early 1960s, Gerhardt lived in England, where he made most of his recordings, but kept a foothold in the United States, mainly in New York. Often, when he went to the United States after a period of recording sessions, he would stop off in Baltimore and spend some time listening to cassettes of his new recordings. Gerhardt loved percussion instruments, especially tam-tams. One of his favorite recordings was the Columbia mono disc of Scriabin's Poem of Ecstasy, with Dimitri Mitropoulos and the New York Philharmonic. He had great admiration and respect for the many conductors he worked with, starting with Arturo Toscanini, with whom he worked for several years before the Maestro's death. It was Toscanini who suggested that Gerhardt become a conductor, which he did! His career as an orchestra director began when he had to replace a conductor who failed to show up for rehearsals. It was a position he would later occupy for various recording sessions and occasional concerts. His classical recordings include works by Richard Strauss, Tchaikovsky, Wagner, Ravel, Debussy, Walton and Howard Hanson. Hired by RCA Records, he transferred 78 rpm recordings of Enrico Caruso and other artists to 33 rpm. He took part in recordings by soprano singer Kirsten Flagstad and pianist Vladimir Horowitz. He worked with renowned conductors such as Fritz Reiner, Leopold Stokowski and Charles Munch, from whom he learned the tricks of the trade. Still at RCA, he assisted Arturo Toscanini, with whom he perfected his conducting skills. Then, in 1960, he produced recordings for RCA and Reader’s Digest in London, and joined forces with sound engineer Kenneth Wilkinson of Decca Records (RCA's European subsidiary), The two men got on very well and shared a passion for recording and sound quality, making an incredible number of recordings over a 30-year period. Also in 1960, RCA and Reader's Digest entrusted him with the production of a 12-disc LP box set entitled “ Lumière du Classique (A Festival of Light Classical Music) ”, sold exclusively by mail order. With a budget of $250,000, Gerhardt assumed total control of the project: repertoire, choice of orchestras and production. He recorded in London, Vienna and Paris, and hired such top names as Sir Adrian Boult, Massimo Freccia, Sir Alexander Gibson and René Leibowitz. The success of this project, in terms of both musical quality and sound, earned him recognition from his employers. Other projects of similar scope followed… A boxed set of Beethoven's symphonic works with René Leibowitz and The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. A boxed set of Rachmaninoff's works for piano and orchestra with Earl Wild, Jascha Horenstein and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the above mentioned 12 LP disc set “Trésor de la Grande Musique (Treasury of Great Music)” with the Royal Philharmonic conducted by some of the greatest directors of the time: Fritz Reiner, Charles Munch, Rudolf Kempe, Sir John Barbirolli, Sir Malcolm Sargent, Antal Dorati and Jascha Horenstein, with whom Gerhardt had sympathized. In January 1964 in London, Gerhardt joined forces with Sidney Sax, instrumentalist and conductor, to form a freelance orchestra. This successful group went on to join the National Philharmonic Orchestra of London, an impressive line-up that would later become Jerry Goldsmith's orchestra of choice. With Peter Munves, head of RCA's classical division, he conceived the idea of recording an album devoted exclusively to the film music of Erich Wolfgang Korngold, one of his favorite composers. Enthusiastic about the project, Munves gave Gerhardt carte blanche, and was offered a helping hand by George Korngold, producer and son of the famous Viennese composer, who owned all the copies of his father's scores. The Adventure Began : The Sea Hawk: Classic Film Scores of Erich Wolfgang Korngold. For this first disc, Gerhardt selected 10 scores by Korngold, which he recorded in the Kingsway Hall Studio in London, renowned for its excellent acoustics. The disc thus benefits from optimal recording conditions, favoring at the same time the performances of the National Philharmonic (and its leader, Sidney Sax), a formidable orchestra made up of London's finest musicians and freelance soloists. Each album was recorded in the same studio, with Kenneth Wilkinson as sound engineer and George Korngold as consultant/producer. As soon as it was released, the album's success received strong acclaim in classical music circles and received a feature in Billboard No. 37, a first in this category in December 1972. It took no less than a year to sell the first 10,000 copies in all the specialist record suppliers and the album went on to sell over 38,000 copies, making it the fifth best-selling album in the “classical” category in 1973. On the strength of this success, Peter Munves and RCA entrusted Charles Gerhardt with the production of further discs devoted to other world-renowned composers of Hollywood music. The program includes several albums dedicated to Max Steiner and Erich Wolfgang Korngold plus one each to Miklos Rozsa, Franz Waxman, Dimitri Tiomkin and Bernard Herrmann, followed by 3 volumes associated with specific film stars such as Bette Davis, Errol Flynn and Humphrey Bogart. Then, a disc devoted to Alfred Newman, a composer who was a pillar of the famous Hollywood sound, who Gerhardt admired and had met: “Newman was a charming man, full of good humor. He was friendly, fun and always had a joke. With his eternal black cigar in hand, he was a composer by trade, down-to-earth, discussed little about himself but was a first-rate advisor in my life. “ Gerhardt would consult certain composers in advance about how to recreate suites from their works, or when this wasn't possible, he would rearrange the suites himself and submit them to the composers for approval. "Some critics complained that my suites were too short, but my aim in the case of each album was to present a well-split 'portrait' of the composer, highlighting his many creative facets". Although Korngold, Newman and Steiner were no longer around to lend their support, Gerhardt was lucky enough to still work with Herrmann, Rózsa and Tiomkin as consultants who turned up at the recording studio to lend a hand. Gerhardt also had the idea of creating albums focusing on a single film star. Three specific volumes were devoted to music from the films of Humphrey Bogart, Errol Flynn and Bette Davis. Although these albums suffer from too great a diversity of genres, they still offer the chance to hear and discover rare and previously unpublished compositions. The best conceived album was arguably the one devoted to Bette Davis. Conscious of the important role played by music in her films, the legendary actress took part in the conception of the album, knowing that it favored scores by Max Steiner designed for Warner Bros. The Collection Begins ! Gerhardt's passion for certain composers knows no bounds, but he soon envisages a disc devoted to Miklos Rozsa, including suites for “Spellbound” and “The Red House”, one of his favorite scores, which he will exhume to create one of the longest suites in the series. At the same time, he received various fan wish lists and films to watch, such as “The Four Feathers”, which he had never seen and which gave him the opportunity to discover a splendid score by Miklos Rozsa that he had never heard before. He was disappointed, however, not to be able to conceive a longer “Spellbound” sequel for rights reasons. Despite RCA's full approval, Gerhardt realized that it was not easy to record film music in its original form, as few were ever edited, played and made available for rental. For The Sea Hawks album, things were simpler, as Georges Korngold had copies of his father's scores, and Warner Bros had also archived material in good condition. From the outset, Gerhardt encountered other major problems in the search for and discovery of scores hidden away in other studios, often with the unpleasant surprise of discovering missing or incomplete conductors, or others heavily modified by orchestrators during recording sessions, or the surprise of discovering, in certain cases, instrumentation information noted in shorthand on the edges of the conductor score. For the disc dedicated to Max Steiner, for example, the conductor score for “King Kong” had disappeared from the RKO archives, having been shipped in 1950 to poorly maintained warehouses in Los Angeles where it had become totally degraded and illegible. With the help of Georges Korngold, Gerhardt was able to reconstruct a substantial suite from the piano models left by Steiner at the time. This experience was repeated when the conductor score for Dimitri Tiomkin's “The Thing” was discovered in the same warehouse, in an advanced state of disintegration. Fortunately for Gerhardt, Tiomkin, who was still alive, had been able to provide precise piano maquettes with orchestration information in shorthand, revealing a complex and highly innovative style of writing. Tiomkin always composed at the piano, inscribing very specific information and signs on the edges of the scores in pencil, an ingenious system of his own invention that was difficult to decipher. “Revisiting the score of ‘The Thing from Another World’ was a complex task, involving experimental passages and an unorthodox orchestra. You can understand that I had a huge job on my hands. When I approached the recording sessions, it was not without some trepidation. However, the composer present made no criticism or comment on my work, and was delighted. He was delighted.” For “Gone With The Wind”, Steiner was against the idea of remaking a complete soundtrack, as he felt that too many passages were repeated. It was an opportunity for him to revisit his own score, integrating his favorite melodies. This synthesis gave him the opportunity to revitalize his music by eliminating the least interesting parts of the score. Conceived as long suites or isolated themes, the discs reflect the essence of the composers' work. The “Classic Film Scores” series by Franz Waxman, Bernard Herrmann and Miklos Rozsa etc will become a big hit with collectors. For Gerhardt, this will be an opportunity to unearth forgotten or rare scores such as Herrmann's “The White Witch” and “On a Dangerous Ground”, Hugo Friedhofer's “The Sun Also Rises” and early recordings for Waxman's “Prince Valliant” and Rozsa's “The Red House”, all with new, impeccable acoustics. For “Elisabeth and Essex”, Erich Korngold had already prepared a suite in the form of an Overture, which was given its world premiere in a theater. The suite for “The Adventures of Robin Hood” also pre-existed. Franz Waxman created his own suite for “A Place in the Sun”, which was also performed in concert. Dimitri Tiomkin, Miklos Rozsa and Bernard Herrmann acted as consultants and contributed arrangements to their scores. For the continuation of “White Witch Doctor”, Bernard Herrman added percussion to link the different musical tableaux. He did the same for the different parts of “Citizen Kane”. Miklos Rozsa saw an opportunity to add a male choir to the suite from “The Jungle Book”, based on an idea by Charles Gerhardt. For the record dedicated to Errol Flynn, Gerhardt re-orchestrated the theme “The Lights of Paris” from Hugo Friedhofer's “The Sun also Rises”, as the original was no longer available. “I wanted to go back to that time and systematically explore the very substance of the great film scores of the late 30s and 40s, sending them back directly to their images as dramatic entities. The desire to rediscover tunes we know and to take into account the contexts in which they were originally used. I decided to recreate these scores with their original orchestrations, and this could only be done by returning to the ultimate sources, as the composers had originally conceived them.” Keen to open up the collection to other genres, such as science fiction, Gerhardt dedicated two further albums to the series in 1992. The first featured contemporary sequels to “Star Wars” and “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”, promoting the work of John Williams, a leading composer of new film music. Then another called “The Spectacular World of Classic Film Scores”, presenting a disappointing compilation of scores that had already been recorded, except for the creation of a sequel to Dimitri Tiomkin's “The Thing From Another World” and Daniele Amfitheatrof's rarely heard theme “Dance of the Seven Voiles” from Salome. In 1978, the collection was published in Spain by RCA Cinema Treasures. In the USA and Europe, the Classic Film Scores LP series was reissued in the early 80s with a black art deco cover and colored star index. All Volumes in the First Series Were Reissued : By the end of the '80s, the series was running out of steam, and Charles Gerhardt planned to relaunch his collection with albums dedicated to famous American actresses, a new volume for Max Steiner and the Western, a volume reconstructing the score of Waxman's “The Bride of Frankenstein”, followed by volumes devoted to Alex North, Hugo Friedhofer, Victor Young and Elmer Bernstein... But RCA would not support Gerhardt in these projects, preferring to release the collection on CD for the first time. In early 1990, RCA asked Gerhardt to supervise and co-produce the collection, which he saw as an opportunity to revisit some of the volumes, inserting tracks that had not appeared on the LPs or extending certain suites. The volume devoted to Franz Waxman, “Sunset Boulevard”, was the first to be released. The CD did not benefit from any particular promotion, but sold very well, as did the other CDs that followed... A collection marked by a new design in silver pantone. The CDs series was reissued in 2010, still under the RCA Red Seal label, but distributed by Sony Music Entertainment. RCA Victor's Classic Films Scores series represents a unique collection in the history of film music recordings. 14 recordings of rare quality, produced by Georges Korngold and Charles Gerhardt to become one of the revelations of the reissue phenomenon. Other Concepts... Later, Gerhardt spent most of his time in London, continuing to make recordings. After retiring from RCA in 1986, he returned to independent work for Readers Digest and other record labels, a position he held in production and musical supervision until 1997. Since 1991 he had lived in Redding, California. In later years, he did not appear professionally, refusing all public invitations because of his desire to remain discreet. In his entourage he was close to three cousins, Lenore L Engel and Elizabeth Anne Schuetze, both living in San Antonio, and cousin Steven W Gerhardt of St. Pete Beach, Florida. In late November 1998 Charles Gerhardt was diagnosed with brain cancer and died of complications following surgery on February 22, 1999. He was 72 years old. Thus ends this tribute to Charles Gerhardt and the most famous collection of film music records: The Classic Film Scores series.

Exodus

by Doug Raynes • 24 Jan, 2024
Following on from Tadlow’s epic recording of El Cid, the same team – Nic Raine conducting and James Fitzpatrick producing – have turned their attention to a completely different type of epic film for the definitive recording of Ernest Gold’s Academy Award winning score for Otto Preminger’s Exodus (1960). The score is something of a revelation because aside from the main theme, the music has received little attention through recordings. Additionally the sound quality of the original soundtrack LP was disappointing and much music was deleted or cut from the film.
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