Track Listing

1. ALFRED NEWMAN'S Conquest from "Captain from Castile:
2. MIKLOS ROZSA's The Mayflower from "Plymouth Adventure"KLAUS BADELT's
3. The Medallion Calls
4. The Black Pearl
5. He's a PirateHANS ZIMMER's Selections from Pirates of the Caribbean:
6. Jack Sparrow
7. Hornpipe
8. ERICH WOLFGANG KORNGOLD's Overture to Captain Blood
9. .
10. Prelue
11. Out to Sea
12. FRANZ WAXMAN's Overture to "Anne of the Indies"
13. HENRY MANCINI's Artic Whale Hunt from "The White Dawn"
14. KORNGOLD's Suite from "The Sea Hawk"
15. BRONISLAU KAPER's Main Theme from "Mutiny on the Bounty"
16. WAXMAN's Suite from "Captains Courageous"
17. MORTON GOULD'S Main Title (The Ship) from "Windjammer"
18. JOHN DEBNEY's End Title from "Cutthroat Island"

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #90732 in Music
• Released on: 2007-07-24
• Number of discs: 1

Album Description
Masters and Commanders, the newest release by Erich Kunzel and the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra on the Grammy Award-winning Telarc label, is a swashbuckling musical portrait of valiant seamen, tempestuous captains, eccentric pirates, pious pilgrims and more. The new recording includes selections from classic films such as Captain Blood, Sea Hawk, Mutiny on the Bounty, The Buccaneer and Plymouth Adventure, as well as the recent Pirates of the Caribbean movies and Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World.

Highlights from Masters and Commanders include Academy Award-winning composer Erich Wolfgang Korngold's Captain Blood Overture and Suite from Sea Hawk. Captain Blood, which was the legendary actor Errol Flynn's first starring role, also was Korngold's first original film score. Korngold's evocative cinematic scores set a benchmark for numerous film composers who followed, including John Debney, whose score for the 1995 film, Cutthroat Island, was dedicated in part to Korngold and Miklós Rózsa. The end title from Cutthroat Island is heard on Masters and Commanders, as well as Morton Gould's Main Title from Windjammer and Henry Mancini's "Arctic Whale Hunt" from The White Dawn.

Miklós Rózsa, of Ben-Hur fame, composed "The Mayflower" for the film, Plymouth Adventure, in 1952. Franz Waxman's film music is represented with the Overture to Anne of the Indies and Suite from Captains Courageous.

Hans Zimmer, considered a worthy successor to Korngold's symphonic idiom, scored big with Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and the earlier Crimson Tide, both of which are represented on Masters and Commanders. Three selections from Klaus Badelt's score from Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, also are included.

The recording also includes music by Elmer Bernstein (selections from The Buccaneer); Alfred Newman ("Conquest" from Captain from Castile); and Bronislau Kaper (Main Title from Mutiny on the Bounty). A Richard Tognetti arrangement of Luigi Boccherini's Los Manolos is included from Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, the 2003 film starring Russell Crowe.

From the Artist
"Cincinnati Pops fans know that I am very fond of sailing, and they are familiar with our popular `Victory At Sea' and `Sailing' albums on the Telarc label," says Kunzel. "Our latest musical adventure, Masters and Commanders, tells all kinds of tales of the high seas and captures on one album film composers of different generations and styles."

About the Artist
This is the 84th Telarc recording by the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra. The most recent disc, Russian Nights, was praised in the March 2007 issue of Gramophone as "gorgeously played and sumptuously recorded." Recent Telarc/Pops discs also include The Never-Ending Waltz and Christmastime Is Here, both of which were released in the fall of 2006. In 2005, Telarc released Rósza: Three Choral Suites to great critical acclaim. The recording was a collection of composer Miklos Rósza's rearrangements of his original scores from three big-screen epics: Ben-Hur, Quo Vadis and King of Kings. Ken Smith wrote in Gramophone, "One would have to think hard to conceive of a more memorable performance of these works."

In a remarkable 42-year association in Cincinnati, Erich Kunzel's accomplishments are almost too numerous to list. Beginning with his invitation by Max Rudolf in 1965 to conduct the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra to being named Conductor of the Cincinnati Pops in 1977, Maestro Kunzel's credits include an unprecedented catalog of 83 Pops recordings on the Telarc label; four consecutive years as Billboard Magazine's Classical Crossover Artist of the Year; eight nationally televised Pops specials on PBS; and national and international appearances with the Pops including 10 Carnegie Hall concerts, two tours to Taiwan, three tours to Japan and a historic tour to China. In December 2006 he received the National Medal Arts at a White House ceremony with President Bush.

Customer Reviews

Shipshape recording
Kunzel does a fine job here, as he does in the vast majority of his recordings. Above all, he shows respect for the music at all times, and makes no attempt to glitz or schmaltz it up. In this reording, he brings out the majesty and fun of the music while respecting it. Great film scores are rare these days, and Kunzel, with recordings like these, is one of the few still taking up the cause

Commanders in need of a little remastering
I've enjoyed the Kunzel/Cincinnati Pops discs I've owned and have always appreciated the clever mix and variety of selections programmed - a few warhorses and some very out-of-the-way things.

Most of the music on MASTERS AND COMMANDERS is wonderful. A few other reviewers complain of the performance of the suite from Korngold's THE SEA HAWK, but for me it's OK. I find the Newman, Rozsa and Kaper very well done. I was completely unfamiliar with the ultra-romantic Waxman piece from ANNE OF THE INDIES and it's tremendous. So is his CAPTAINS COURAGEOUS. Other music I didn't know and am now very happy to have: the Bernstein, Mancini (very impressive) and the obscure Gould. The cue from Debney's CUTTHROAT ISLAND is a rousing finish, too.

However, the music by Klaus Badelt and Hans Zimmer for the PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN films is out of its league between two masterworks, Rozsa's PLYMOUTH ADVENTURE and Korngold's CAPTAIN BLOOD. I know it's good to include something from popular new films, but these pieces just don't hold up. I program the disc to skip over the offending tracks (3-7) and it's so much improved for the omission. Also, I don't know how the microphones were placed for these sessions but most of this CD sounds as if the orchestra were set up somewhere just outside the studio. The brass is getting through, but the strings are weak and turning up the volume doesn't solve the problem. The other Kunzel discs I've had haven't sounded like this to me.

Still, recommended for the appealing program.

some music to swash and buckle by...........
Not a classical music buff, but a fan of swashbuckler movies, I'd rate this first rate effort entertaining, fun and evocative of the movies from whence the material came. Thouroughly enjoyable. Mancini's Artic Whale Hunt never fails to impress me with the energy contained in the score. Can almost feel the cold water. Selections from Pirates of the Carribean are all first rate. And the bit from the forgettable Cutthroat Island is fine as well. If you like action movies depecting old time sailing vessels and the life aboard, real or fiction, you'll enjoy this disc.