Search - Elmer Bernstein :: The Great Escape (Re-recording Of 1963 Film Score)

Remarkable and Essential Score

gobirds2 | New England | 03/05/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"THE GREAT ESCAPE left us with indelible images, characters, dialogue and music. This film contains one of Elmer Bernstein's most recognizable themes in cinema history: the main title or "The Great Escape March" as it is often referred to. To say that THE GREAT ESCAPE has such a distinction is an understatement. As presented in the film and on the original United Artists soundtrack, Elmer Bernstein's main title theme is as much a tribute to the Allied prisoners in the film as it is to all men who must overcome the odds through their own perseverance and unwillingness to bend to defeat to whatever noble end they strive for. Bernstein's complex score complements the theme by giving us passages and statements on the diversity of the individuals as well as their singular overall objective. Once the Allied escapees are on the road, the music reaches exhilarating proportions unlike that of traditional action Hollywood scoring. Bernstein wants to put the audience through the same suspense and anticipation that the escapees feel and then unleashes our pent up emotions in a crescendo of rousing orchestrations that has us cheering them on. That was the same brilliant technique he employed in THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN. I don't think many people give Elmer Bernstein the credit for being the musical innovator that he was back in this period of his prestigious career. Composer Bernstein was able to control our emotions giving us moments of reflective tranquility, then despair and in the next moment lifting our spirits again knowing that actions were not taken in vain and good will eventually prevail.



This new digital recording with Elmer Bernstein conducting the Royal Scottish National Orchestra has a different quality than the original United Artists soundtrack does. This new recording somehow delivers a new emotional interpretation to the original. There seems to be a more profound reverence to the orchestration and delivery of the quieter passages of the score that somehow makes a statement of endearment to the original recording. "The Great Escape March" and especially some of the action cues seem somehow muted with a slower tempo and different arrangements. Parts of the score sound different. Also, there are some parts of the score presented for the first time on CD. Tracks 10 and 11: "First Casualty" and "Hilts Captured" are very good additions that seem to touch on all the major elements that characterized the men and the action of the film. This recording had to grow on me. It seems to be a true reflection on the importance of the film, the characters, the actors, the passage of time and where all these fleeting moments that were so grand and noble now stand in our hearts."