OST/POWELL,MICHAEL/PRESSBURGER,EMERIC - The Red Shoes: Music From Films 1941 - 1951 (CD)

The Red Shoes is a 74 minute collection of rare original soundtrack recordings from the classic films of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger (aka The Archers), made between 1941 and 1951. These include 49th Parallel (1941), The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943), A Canterbury Tale (1944), A Matter of Life and Death (1946), Black Narcissus (1947), The Red Shoes (1948), The Small Back Room (1949), Gone To Earth (1950) and Tales of Hoffman (1951). As well as original soundtrack music composed by Ralph Vaughan Williams, Allan Gray and Brian Easdale, the album also features a number of associated recordings, including Sir John Gielgud’s moving reading of An Airman’s Letter To His Mother (1941) and the lively quickstep Commando Patrol from Colonel Blimp and A Canterbury Tale. There is also a superlative rendering of Bach’s stirring Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, recorded by Albert Schweitzer in 1935 and also featured in A Canterbury Tale. The CD booklet features detailed notes on the films and the accompanying scores, as well as biographies of Gray and Easdale. This digitally restored collection is a must for all with an interest in vintage film soundtracks and British light/orchestral music, as well as the dazzling vision of Michael Powell and his gifted (if undervalued) musical collaborators.