Est 1923

The Great Escape Original Soundtrack

Record and Artist Details

Composer or Director: John Barry

Label: MGM Soundtracks

Media Format: CD or Download

Media Runtime: 35

Mastering:

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Catalogue Number: RCD10718

Tracks:

Composition Artist Credit
(The) Knack ... And How to Get It John Barry, Composer
John Barry, Composer
John Barry, Conductor
Original Soundtrack

Composer or Director: Elmer Bernstein

Label: MGM Soundtracks

Media Format: CD or Download

Media Runtime: 33

Mastering:

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Catalogue Number: RCD10711

The Great Escape Original Soundtrack

Tracks:

Composition Artist Credit
(The) Great Escape Elmer Bernstein, Composer
Elmer Bernstein, Conductor
Elmer Bernstein, Composer
Original Soundtrack

Composer or Director: John Barry

Label: MGM Soundtracks

Media Format: CD or Download

Media Runtime: 32

Mastering:

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Catalogue Number: RCD10720

Tracks:

Composition Artist Credit
(The) Whisperers John Barry, Composer
John Barry, Conductor
John Barry, Composer
Original Soundtrack

Composer or Director: Michel Legrand

Label: MGM Soundtracks

Media Format: CD or Download

Media Runtime: 41

Mastering:

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Catalogue Number: RCD10719

Tracks:

Composition Artist Credit
(The) Thomas Crown Affair Michel Legrand, Composer
Michel Legrand, Conductor
Michel Legrand, Composer
Original Soundtrack

Composer or Director: Elmer Bernstein

Label: MGM Soundtracks

Media Format: CD or Download

Media Runtime: 35

Mastering:

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Catalogue Number: RCD10714

Return of the Magnificent Seven

Tracks:

Composition Artist Credit
Return of the Seven Elmer Bernstein, Composer
Elmer Bernstein, Conductor
Elmer Bernstein, Composer
Original Soundtrack
Rykodisc’s ongoing series of MGM soundtracks from United Artists’ films continues with five theme-driven scores by three prominent composers of the 1960s. Before he started writing music for movies, John Barry created a jazz/pop style that the critics referred to as ‘stringbeat’. He returned to this territory in his popular score for Richard Lester’s The Knack ... And How to Get It (1965). Orchestrated for strings, brass, xylophone, drums and electronic organ (courtesy of Alan Haven), Barry’s music reflects the London youth movement Lester captured so vividly in his film. A moodier side of the composer’s personality comes forth in Bryan Forbes’s The Whisperers (1966). In this score Barry uses a harpsichord to connect the audience with an elderly, abandoned woman (Dame Edith Evans) who escapes life’s harsh realities by fabricating a dreamworld. These suggestive, muted compositions form a veritable tone-poem of solitude. Both discs are recommended for those who think of Barry only in terms of his scores for James Bond films and romantic epics.
Another composer who enjoyed great popularity in the 1960s was Elmer Bernstein, whose work is featured in two reissues. For John Sturges’s The Great Escape (1963) the composer provided a jaunty, Prussianesque march (adopted as an unofficial anthem by the England team in the World Cup this year) to underpin this heroic story of a mass outbreak from a German POW camp. Another signature effort from Bernstein is his music for Sturges’s The Magnificent Seven (1960), which he re-recorded for the dull sequel Return of the Seven (1966). Every track is a highlight, whether you prefer the famous main theme, the ethnic love music or the Chicano-flavoured “Mariachis de Mexico”. This is also a rare instance where the same score was nominated twice for an Oscar (the sequel score in the “Adaptation” category).
Michel Legrand’s fresh, well-focused recording of his jazz score for Norman Jewison’s The Thomas Crown Affair (1968) is a masterpiece of easy listening, Legrand’s Oscar-nominated music includes two memorable songs – the lonely “The windmills of your mind” (Oscar-winner for Best Song) and the ballad “His eyes, her eyes” (sung by the composer). Rykodisc’s packaging of all five releases includes extensive notes, poster art, stills and enhanced-CD tracks showcasing the original movie trailers. Kevin Mulhall
The Great Escape Original Soundtrack Return of the Magnificent Seven

The Knack and How to Get It Original Soundtrack

(The) Knack ... And How to Get It

The Great Escape Original Soundtrack

(The) Great Escape

The Whisperers Original Soundtrack

(The) Whisperers

The Thomas Crown Affiar Original Soundtrack

(The) Thomas Crown Affair

Return of the Magnificent Seven Original Soundtrack

Return of the Seven

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