Chandos Movies, with conductor Rumon Gamba has developed quite a reputation for re-discovering music from the halcyon days of British cinema.  In this latest instalment, Chandos Movies welcomes the film music of Mischa Spoliansky.  

BBC Concert Orchestra makes a welcome return with the premiere recordings of  The Happiest Days of your Life Galop, The Man who could work miracles, The Ghost goes West, Suite: King Solomon’s Mines and Suite: North West Frontier and Five Robeson Songs.   

Having fled Russia after the Revolution Mischa Spoliansky found himself in Weimar Berlin where he enjoyed a reputation in the booming theatrical and cabaret life.  Here he worked with such luminaries as Max Reinhardt and Marlene Dietrich, and was seen as a more upbeat version of Kurt Weill.  In 1933 Spoliansky left his adopted Germany after Hitler’s rise to power and emigrated to London where he began a second career as a film composer.  He was commissioned by film-maker Alexander Korda of London Films to writer the scores for Sanders of the River (1935), which won the prize for Best Music at the Venice Film Festival, and The Ghost Goes West (1935).   He went on to score over 50 movies in his 40 years as a composer in England.  

‘I’m very happy to have finally recorded a disc of the film music of Mischa Spoliansky.  An admirer of his ‘cabaret’ songs, it has been a pleasure to dig deeper into his scores for such well known films as North West Frontier, Sanders of the River and King Solomon’s Mines.  Something a little unusual this time as well – a new suite for Bass voice and Orchestra; Five Robeson Songs – songs written for Paul Robeson, the star of two of the films featured on the disc.’ Rumon Gamba.  Chandos is delighted to welcome Mark Coles in his debut part for Chandos singing the Robeson Songs.

THE FILM MUSIC OF MISCHA SPOLIANSKY

Spoliansky fled Russia after the revolution and found himself in the Berlin of the Weimar Republic, where he enjoyed quite a reputation in the booming theatrical and cabaret life, working with such luminaries as Max Reinhard and Marlene Dietrich. In 1933 he left Germany for London where he began a second career as a composer of film music. He went on to score more than fifty films, Sanders of the River going on to win the prize for best music at the Venice Film Festival in 1935. Rumon Gamba conducts the BBC Concert Orchestra in the latest release on the Chandos Movies label. Gamba says, ‘I’m very happy to have finally recorded a disc of the film music of Mischa Spoliansky. I am an admirer of his “cabaret” songs, and it has been a pleasure to dig deeper into his scores for such well-known films as North West Frontier, Sanders of the River, and King Solomon’s Mines’. Philip Lane, who has arranged many of the scores for performance, has extracted five songs from two of the sound tracks, all originally intended for and sung by Paul Robeson; they are now published as Five Robeson Songs but on this disc are heard in the context of the music for the original films. Chandos is delighted to welcome to our label Mark Coles, a great singer of opera and musical theatre, who gives these songs the star treatment they deserve. This CD is Chandos’ ‘Disc of the Month’ for September, and a must for all film music fans, with the usual great artwork.