Charles Gerhardt Conducts Classic Film Scores—National Philharmonic/Charles Gerhardt (Sony 592064)
In the mid-seventies, RCA released a series of now iconic albums, Classic Film Scores, conducted by Charles Gerhardt and performed by the National Philharmonic. Producer George Korngold, one of the key figures in establishing film music as an esteemed art form, helped make these twelve albums milestones in recorded film scores. The RCA series initiated the idea of re-recording classic film scores, and helped restore the reputations Erich Wolfgang Korngold (the producer's father), Max Steiner, Bernard Herrmann, Dimitri Tiomkin, Alfred Newman, Franz Waxman and Miklós Rózsa. In 2020, Sony, the current owner of the RCA back catalogue, compiled the complete series of the original albums into a 12-box set. In many cases, these recordings are still, even today, the only available versions of the music apart from the films themselves. They provide the best conceivable introduction to the amazing variety of sounds of Hollywood's golden age. From studio fanfares to concert works based on movie music, this collection is a film score library-in-a-box!