Music Composed by Benjamin Frankel
Rating: **** 1/2

I’ll confess that Benjamin (street name, “Ben Jammin”) Frankel was not always a composer I had any particular fondness for. In the past few years, I’ve made multiple attempts to enjoy my copy of the compilation, Benjamin Frankel – Music for the Movies. Sadly, every new listen put me straight to sleep. Maybe it was a poor cue sequence, maybe it was a weak recording, maybe it was a bad performance, but it left me with the impression that Frankel was a bland and forgettable composer. Rest assured, this is decidedly not the case with Naxos’ new recording, Curse of the Werewolf (And Other Film Music by Benjamin Frankel. How short I sold you, B. Jammin’ (his other street name)! In this compilation, we hear a Frankel who is uniformly brilliant, classy, and blisteringly dynamic – quite the opposite of my first impression, and quite a necessity for your CD library.

The complete score for Curse of the Werewolf headlines the album, and it doesn’t take long to realize that the score is a long over-looked masterpiece of the genre. This is broad and epic horror scoring, the type that’s entirely absent from the genre today. What’s perhaps the most amazing is that despite the score’s use of 12-tones scales, dissonant harmonies, and passing shades of Bartok, the music isn’t ugly or unpleasant to listen to at all. Though dissonant, the music never actually moves into grinding tone clusters, and a clear melodic line is almost always discernable. Aside from a short three-note motif threaded through the carnage and the occasional respite from a love theme, there really aren’t any major themes, but that’s hardly an issue here. Frankel’s score plays more like abstract concert music than traditional film music – it follows its own whims and harmonic developments, rather than fastidiously marking each hit with a leitmotif. That isn’t to say that there isn’t a close and meaningful relationship between the on-screen drama and the music, only that the music doesn’t take the easy route of marking of every individual action and stabbing every individual shock stinger. It plays more like a violent tempest raging above the action, thundering over the full moon as it watches over the carnal ecstasy of the beast. Not that it’s all Sturm und Drung. There are also expertly crafted subtle moments of rising suspicion and dread that build to horrific realizations – the grand dynamic statements don’t come out of nowhere, they’re earned. And the aforementioned love theme is exquisite (“Pastoral”), so perfectly orchestrated and so beautifully bittersweet that it makes me wonder how I possibly could have dismissed Frankel’s romantic writing in the past (especially as that cue was in the other Frankel compilation). The finale is by far the standout, moving from a thrilling chase that recalls Herrmann’s stunning “The Hunt” from On Dangerous Ground into a breathless assault until it finally resolves into a triumphant conclusion (once upon a time all movies, no matter how dark, got a rousing upbeat musical finish).

Benjamin Frankel

Curse of the Werewolf is the reason to buy the album, and it would be worth the price if it were the only score featured. The extra music included, however, is far too good to write off as mere filler. As a bit of a chaser, a short suite from So Long at the Fair follows, an utterly charming diversion filled with wintry sleigh bells and breezy holiday-flavored melodies. My gut instinct is to tell you that it reminds me of Miles Goodman’s sweeping old English score for The Muppet Christmas Carol, but I realize I’d probably sacrifice any credibility as a critic by making that allusion (what’s that? too late? damn). Almost as lovely is the “Love Theme” from The Prisoner, though it’s probably the most forgettable piece on display.

The album closes with a suite from the popular British television series, The Prisoner. It’s not as consistently dynamic as Curse, but it’s excellent and could easily hold the album by itself. Vast and oppressive, it conjures up of overwhelming feelings of isolation and abandonment. Granted, the bulk of the score is subtler, melodic but suspicious and uneasy. It’s expertly crafted suspense music, though I will confess that my attention usually wanders by the time the score enters the last ten-minute stretch (and the suite’s only 30 minutes long). Still whenever the music enters into that grandiose material, the goosebumps pop right back up, and the closing “Finale” puts the perfect finish on both the score and the album.

Praise for the recording itself cannot be exaggerated – Carl Davis’s baton is masterful, and I suspect it sometimes even elevates the music past Frankel’s original compositions. Davis and The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra strike the perfect balance between thrilling abandon and classical dignity, presenting Frankel’s music in the best light possible. Really, you have every reason to buy this CD. It gives you one mini-masterpiece of film music’s horror canon, two charming diversions, and one excellent (if occasionally meandering) piece of television film music. All that and the album retails for less than ten dollars. Get it! Why are you even pausing to think about it? Are you really that reluctant to buy something from a composer you haven’t heard of? What else were you going to buy, pray? Over the Hedge? The Omen remake? Do you really think you’re going to listen to them more than a few times before shelving them? Curse of the Werewolf will having you listening for months on end and discovering something new every time you come back. So I’m not having this discussion with you anymore. Until you come to your senses, I have music to listen to.

Music Composed by Benjamin Frankel, Conducted by Carl Davis, Performed by Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Engineer: Phil Rowlands, Album Produced by Tim Handley. Label: Film Music Classics (8.557850), Availability: In-print, U.S. Release Date: May 16, 2006.

Curse of The Werewolf
01. Prelude (1′49)
02. The Beggar (1′59)
03. Servant Girl and Beggar (2′14)
04. Revenge and Escape (2′59)
05. Baptism (3′43)
06. Pastoral (1′51)
07. Leon’s Assignation (1′49)
08. A Deadly Transformation (2′22)
09. Leon Confronts the Horror (3′28)
10. Leon Imprisoned (1′58)
11. Final Transformation (3′21)
12. Finale (6′50)
So Long at The Fair
13. So Long At The Fair - Suite (6′25)
The Net
14. The Net - Love Theme (3′09)
The Prisoner
15. Prelude (1′28)
16. The Prison (2′53)
17. Cat and Mouse (2′51)
18. Cardinal and Interrogator (3′06)
19. Mind games (1′52)
20. Civil Unrest (3′16)
21. Solitary Confinement (6′30)
22. The Dark (1′48)
23. The Confession (3′32)
24. Last Meal (1′51)
25. Finale (1′23)

Total Playing Time: 74′40