Producer David O. Selznick described Victor Young as an ‘extremely practical and successful man in doing scores without nonsense and within economic boundaries’. Something Selznick overlooked, however, was Young’s gift for melody; an attribute affectionately dubbed by colleague Miklos Rozsa as ‘Broadway-cum-Rachmaninov’. It is odd, then, that although Young’s film-inspired songs, Love Letters and When I Fall in Love, have been indestructible standards for over four decades, his vibrant film scores are only now beginning to receive the attention they deserve.
Amid the four attractive rarities on this latest addition to Marco Polo’s enterprising film music series is the main theme from The Uninvited (1944), which will be more familiar as another of Young’s enduring song hits, Stella by Starlight. This unashamedly lush, rhapsodic theme is both pure Young and pure Hollywood, and makes tantalizingly flitting appearances throughout a skilfully crafted score that shares the slightly edgy, mist-shrouded romanticism of Franz Waxman’s Rebecca. Representing his association with director Cecil B. DeMille is the march from The Greatest Show on Earth (1952), a blazing anthem to the technicolored world of the three-ring circus that out-Sousas Sousa!
If I can’t quite share notator Bill Whitaker’s enthusiasm for the rather overgenerous 26-minute suite from Bright Leaf (1950), the two ardent, contrasting love themes and a bustling ‘Machine Montage’ are certainly welcome discoveries. For me the most delightful item is the 16-minute selection from the animated feature Gulliver’s Travels (1939). Although based on several of the film’s songs (by Ralph Rainger and others), Young’s rich embroidery is a wonderful example of his nimble, warm-hearted style.
A few restrained moments aside, the Moscow orchestra captures the spirit of these scores with great success, in a clean, robust acoustic that brings a satisfying sheen to the whole disc.'