Arthur Bliss

Sir Arthur Bliss is best remembered in film music circles for the score he composed for the 1936 science fiction epic Things to Come. It had the distinction of being one of the earliest film scores of the sound era to take on a life of its own in the concert hall, and that's what makes this CD special. Bliss himself recorded his concert suite from Things to Come in the mid-1930s, and again, in stereo, in the middle to late 1950s, and the latter was available in several vinyl editions and at least two CD versions. But the history of Bliss' music for the film is very complicated -- he wrote the music before shooting was completed (or even, evidently, it had begun), on the assurances of original author H.G. Wells that it would be used intact as a free-standing part of the film, based on the screenplay that had been presented to the studio; once shooting started, however, it was clear that many parts of the finished film would be very different from what the author or the composer had envisioned, and his music was considerably altered and revised (as well as, in some instances, eliminated entirely) by other hands; Bliss wasn't involved in this process, but he had already authorized the performance, by renowned conductor Sir Henry Wood, of a concert suite of what he had thought would be the music from the film, based on this original compositions, which was a rousing success; once the movie opened, and there were requests for a concert suite (including a published score of the latter) based on what people had heard in the film, the composer was obliged to create a suite from the revised material in the movie. Amidst these machinations, a large part of what he had written originally was lost, and other important sections of the score which had been used were simply left out of the suite that he devised. The version of the Things to Come concert music here, as restored by Philip Lane, is the fullest and best realized of the several presentations of Bliss' music -- the disc is worth owning just for the proper version of the epilogue which, for the first time, contains the gorgeous music, centered on an achingly beautiful trumpet part supported by strings and peeling bells, depicting the redemption, joy, and order achieved by the airmen and their rule. Much of the rest that is new here is also well worth hearing, and restores much of the majesty that Bliss intended for his score and that Wells conceived for the film adaptation of his work -- the playing by the BBC Philharmonic under Rumon Gamba is inspired, the recording is beautifully executed. The remainder of the CD contains Bliss' "Welcome the Queen" and his theme from the documentary television series War in the Air, as well as a 17-minute suite derived from his never-used music from the 1944 film Caesar and Cleopatra, all of which fill in significant holes in the composer's film-related output. ~ Bruce Eder, All Music Guide