Lawrence of Arabia (Lawrence d'Arabie)


Movie | Released: 1962 | Film release: 1962 | Format: CD, Vinyl
 

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# Track Artist/Composer Duration
1.Overture4:26
2.Main Title1:54
3.Miracle3:08
4.Nefud Mirage2:20
5.Rescue of Gasim2:09
6.Bringing Gasim Into Camp3:35
7.Arrival at Auda's Camp2:01
8.The Voice of the Guns (Kenneth J. Alford)2:05
9.Whose Name Do You Ride2:40
10.Suns Anvil3:04
11.Lawrence and Body Guard2:04
12.That Is the Desert2:51
13.End Title1:05
 33:22
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Lawrence of Arabia - 08/10 - Review of Tom Daish, submitted at
Like the theme from Star Wars brings to mind outerspace adventure, the murder motif from Psycho brings to mind blondes in showers being hacked to pieces, the theme from Lawrence of Arabia sums up everything one imagines about deserts in one musical theme; vast, mysterious, dramatic. The film started the hugely successful joint careers of composer Maurice Jarre and director David Lean and while I don't think they quite achieved the same success with their later efforts as they did with Lawrence, the results were always notable. This re-recording contains all the most important sections of the original score and expands on the release of the original, as well as providing better sound and production values.

This being back in the days when films had overtures, Jarre duly provides us with one of the most rousing. The hugely assured opening of thundering timpani followed by a slightly subdued version of the famous main theme starts a brief summary of the film's major motifs. The Arabic harmonies and percussion motifs are introduced as is Kenneth Alford's Voice of the Guns March, which is used on a few occasions throughout the score. One curious omission from the Overture is the theme first introduced in the main title. This is a sprightly, British sounding march that I rather enjoy perhaps even more than the well known theme - possibly because I have not been worn out with over exposure to that particular theme. Having seen the film, I always felt that this theme represented Lawrence as a British soldier as such, whereas the grand theme represents the desert as an entity in itself. Given that these are perhaps the two most important features of the film it doesn't seem unreasonable to make this assertion. It has been suggested that Alford's march represent's Lawrence, but I felt that it more represented the British Army as an institution as such. Anyway, this is a review, not a debate on the meaning of the score.

After the Main Titles we are given a lengthy collage of cues as Lawrence makes his way into the desert; these include some breathtaking as well as a couple of strangely comedic takes on the desert theme, a few appearences of the Lawrence theme and some of the Arabic material. There are also some more eerie and non-thematic sections along the way. I couldn't help but feel that this lengthy mixture was rather awkward sounding as it moved from one thing to another. I'm entirely in agreement with the need to group some sections together, but here short cues have been tagged together to produce what is a slightly schizophrenic suite. Perhaps leaving some of the sections out altogether or simply making better seperation might have worked better.

One thing that becomes very apparent about Jarre's music is that when he's not using the major themes, the music tends to generally lack a huge amount of direction. These sections do not last long as a rule, but once the major melodic material isn't around, there is always a hankering to hear some of it to get things moving again. Jarre varies the basic themes, mostly by bending the rhythms rather than making much in the way of orchesrtation or harmonic changes.

I must admit to having mixed feelings about this album. Of course Lawrence is a recognised classic in film music and having been enthralled when seeing the film I can only admire Jarre's music as a hugely important accompaniment to Lean's superb film. However, as an album it just didn't quite gel for me in the way that I thought it should do. As I remarked earlier, some of the lengthier sequences do run together cues which don't really work as such. These sections work fine as short musical stings in the film, but not in album form.

This being a re-recording, it is not going to exactly match the original performance and while this is not something that concerns me all that much, the spirit and dynamism of the original should be maintained as much as possible. I cannot deny that the playing of the Philharmonia Orchestra is technically competant; the complex rhythmic sections as well as the huge orchestral moments are handled very well. However, the feeling that the performance could have been just that little more spontaneous was one that just wouldn't go away. The recording level is a bit low, but even turning the volume right up doesn't reveal the recording to be as vigorous as one would like. The original (allegedly conducted by Adrian Boult, but mostly handled by Jarre himself) has a much more visceral impact; the Main Title is taut and urgent and the sweeping majesty is more expansive and breathtaking, the percussion is more brutal and so on. Of course this is still a good introduction to the score and features more music than the original release with better sound and until there is a much deserved expanded and remastered release, this provides for a technically proficient performance of a generally excellent score.

Other releases of Lawrence of Arabia (1962):

Big War Movie Themes (2011)
Lawrence of Arabia (2010)
Lawrence of Arabia (1988)
Lawrence of Arabia (2012)
Lawrence of Arabia (2000)
Essential Hollywood, The (2006)
Lawrence of Arabia (2006)
Lawrence of Arabia (2000)
Lawrence of Arabia (1990)
Lawrence of Arabia (1991)
Lawrence of Arabia (1992)
Lawrence of Arabia (2000)
Lawrence of Arabia (2013)
Lawrence of Arabia (1971)
Lawrence d'Arabie (1962)
Lawrence d'Arabie (2012)
Screen Music Reflection (1975)
Theme From Lawrence Of Arabia (1963)
Lawrence d'Arabie (1963)
Lawrence of Arabia (2017)
Lawrence of Arabia (0)
Lawrence Of Arabia (2018)
Lawrence Of Arabia (2018)
Lawrence of Arabia (2015)
Lawrence of Arabia (1963)
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
Lawrence Of Arabia (2020)
Lawrence of Arabia (2022)


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