Reviews
by Matt Byrne in Sunday Mail (Adelaide) 21/6/2008
The Composer is Dead/ Granpa
This is a deftly essayed double bill that opens up the lofty world of classical music to young hearts and intellects.
Director Andy Packer had done a great job with a very clever, informative and poignant hour of family entertainment.
And conductor/musical director Timothy Sexton’s capable hand helps the orchestra get into the spirit of the shows.
The common fun factor is Paul Blackwell who plays the Detective in the first piece by Lemony Snicket.
The Composer Is Dead and Blackwell’s gumshoe must interrogate each section of the orchestra to try and find the culprit.
It’s a nifty way to introduce the full range of instruments to a young audience and drop plenty of oneliners along the way.
Blackwell has a comic visage a child can trust and his connection with the crowd keeps them focussed an interested in who really dunnit.
Howard Blake’s touching ensemble play Granpa which is a marvellous companion piece to the first half.
When his young granddaughter Emily chats to her Granpa they end up on a series of fantastic adventures.
Jasmine Garcia sings with clarity and purity in the plum role of Emily, taking flights of fancy with her gentle Granpa.
The youth ensemble do a wonderful job, never intruding and always enhancing the action.
Special mention to Lucy Gogel-Ellis for her soaring soprano solo in the final moments as Granpa finds his rest.
This is a show that could do with a revival, especially at the 2009 Come Out.
CHILDREN’S THEATRE
Windmill Performing Arts & ASO
by Roderic Dunnett in CHURCH TIMES 1/2008
A work inspired by St Benedict’s Rule
by Roderic Dunnett
TOP MARKS to the St Albans Bach Choir for programming the Benedictus by Howard Blake as part of a recent concert: quality revivals of recent but not regularly performed works are as valuable to a composer as the première itself. Blake’s opus numbers now exceed those of Mozart, and he has a wide following, thanks to his enchanting music for The Snowman and for some other memorable film scores, notably for the Colin Firth and Kenneth Branagh film A Month in the Country. Based on a finely wrought, visceral story by the canny E. H. Carr, it focused on the restoration of a terrifying complete medieval Doom painting (not unlike that recently discovered in Holy Trinity, Coventry). The film was equally unforgettable for the twin cameos of Patrick Malahide as the impossible, violin-strumming incumbent the Revd Mr Keach, and the benign Jim Carter, who played the fire-breathing Methodist minister-cum-stationmaster. Blake, a composer of substance and of agreeably traditionalist leanings, has composed several large choral works that other choirs might consider for the future. The Passion of Mary, his op. 577, a reworking of his earlier Stabat Mater, calls on an additional boys’ choir, as well as a large complement of soloists. Songs of Truth and Glory was written for Donald Hunt and the Elgar Chorale, and first heard at the 2005 Three Choirs Festival. A Charter of Peace was written for the 50th anniversary of the United Nations. In addition, Blake’s Christchurch Mass is for choir and organ, and he has set the Jubilate, and provided music for the Series 3 communion service. Together with this goes Blake’s skill as a synthesiser — he is not afraid to be eclectic, but he assimilates his sources confidently — and as an initiator. The shape and concept of his Benedictus is bold, and almost palindromic. Blake sets not the canticle and Psalm bearing that name, but passages from the Rule of St Benedict, which are used to preface, conclude, and intersperse a series of other Psalm settings. Psalmfest might have been an apt title (compare Leonard Bernstein); or else Symphony of Psalms, à la Stravinsky. At the centre of the work, Howard Blake sets a poem from which he clearly derives strong inspiration: 70-80 lines of Francis Thompson’s harrowing, visionary work The Hound of Hell — coincidentally reminiscent of that other, visionary Blake. Three other ingredients play a part: spoken prefaces, delivered here by the Dean, the Very Revd Dr Jeffrey John; a section in which the tenor soloist (Martyn Hill) speaks certain lines; and a striking initial instrumental passage for solo viola, later yielding to bells and organ, and here performed, to searing effect, by Fiona Bonds at the west end, the crossing, and the east end of the Abbey. By turns serene, knotty, and contrapuntally challenging, this viola sequence, as besotting as Vaughan Williams’s The Lark Ascending, has a similar intensity to the Thompson setting. Both are remarkable pieces of writing. The St Albans Bach Choir’s performance, splendidly controlled under the unflappable Andrew Lucas — crisp, undemonstrative, and capably businesslike, who graded Blake’s tempi to ideal effect — contained much to admire. From the start, the penitential character of this work, beautifully and sensitively articulated, and as piercing as similar passages in A Child of our Time, was to the fore, just as strikingly as in its Hispanic and Italianate grieving forerunners of the 16th and 17th centuries. The initial tenor outburst was superb, with some searing, angst-ridden woodwind for the unrelenting Psalm 38 (“so spent, so crushed, so beaten and bowed”). Later, Blake allows his soloist to intone, and the effect is shatteringly intense. With sensitive accompaniment — not least from some superlative woodwind — Martyn Hill’s articulation of the central section highlighted the full power of the poetry: the intensity of a pianissimo beginning: “I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways Of my own mind; and in the midst of tears I hid from Him”, or the impassioned, pained desolation of “Yet was I sore adread Lest having Him, I must have naught beside.” Only in the second chorus from St Benedict, taken from the Prologue, did Blake seem to lower his guard and produce a movement perilously close to a triter kind of music. The power and invention of much of the rest ensured an enlightening and inspiring evening in the Abbey, whose stones still bear the stamp of Roman Verulamium. |
by Dale Burrows in Daily Herald, Everett, Washington, USA 15/12/2007
 Saturday, January 19, 2008  |
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| | Published: Friday, December 14, 2007 'Snowman' a modern classic
By Dale Burrows
For the Enterprise
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| Ballet Bellevue
Ballet Bellevue's next performance, "Velvet Romance," is slated for March 2008. For tickets to upcoming performances and information about their school of ballet, call 425-455-1345 or visit www.balletbellevue.org. |
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| Watch out, "Nutcracker." "The Snowman" is coming.
Northshore Performing Arts hosted Olympic Ballet's "Nutcracker" two weekends back. They hosted Ballet Bellevue's "The Snowman" last weekend.
Same venue. Same target audience: kids for the holidays. Same format: ballet.
Both set stories in a child's imagination. Both develop the child's relationship with an imaginary friend. Both translate experience into dream sequences. Both celebrate wonder, reconciliation, joy. The similarities go on and on.
"Nutcracker" has been around for more than a century; "Snowman," since 1978, when it first appeared as Raymond Briggs' story by the same title. It was after 1978 that Howard Blake wrote music and lyrics for the story and Jennifer Porter choreographed the story, the music and the lyrics for "Snowman." No doubt, it owes "Nutcracker" to some extent.
But as compared with Olympic Ballet's "Nutcracker," Ballet Bellevue's "Snowman" is fresher, cleaner, simpler; in design on paper and performance on stage.
No Freudian complexities. No violent sword fight pitting Nutcracker Prince against the grotesque King Rat. Nothing kids don't care about. Nothing that scares the daylights out of kids.
"Snowman" posits a little boy, James (Leo Malkin), who builds Snowman (Kyle Johnson). James goes to sleep that night. Snowman comes to life, presumably dream life. Ballerina Doll (Alexa Kovalick), Bunnies (Elizabeth Kanning, Byanka Larkins), Fox (Ting Liu) and Pierrot, a clown (Caroline Burnett), come to life.
Cat (Katrina Muser) stretches, yawns and stays aloof.
James and Snowman frolic inside the household till Snowman works up a sweat, which puts him in danger of melting.
Adventure picks up when the two go outside, play; then travel to the one place on earth where it is always cold enough for Snowman, his home, the North Pole.
There, characters, exotic and marvelous, do their thing: Father Christmas (Michael Wojack), Reindeer (Byanka Larkins, Kimberly Knight), Ice Princess (Natasha Keeley) and Jackie Frost (Christina Stockdale); to name only the principals.
The pristine voice of Child Soprano from Columbia Choirs, Amanda Friemel, did a marvelous kind of narrative by way of introducing life at the North Pole in the Bellevue production last Saturday afternoon.
Ballet Bellevue Orchestra, under the baton of Dr. David Upham, had an uplifting, uncomplicated way of bringing out the simplicity of emotion that so easily communicates to a child's sense of wonder. Bravo, BBO.
I can't say the principal dancers fully explored all the choreographic possibilities. Daring and high energy could have stepped up the excitement. Steadiness of foot was hit and miss. Advice to BB: Ham it up. Showcase.
On the other hand, students of ballet, some of them very young, had a lot of fun in supporting roles. I took a lesson. They had fun. I had fun.
"Nutcracker" or "Snowman," take your pick. I don't say one is better than the other, necessarily.
I do say, "Nutcracker," watch out; "The Snowman" is coming.
Reactions? Comments? Contact Dale Burrows at grayghost7@comcast.net. | | |
by Roderic Dunnettt in Church Times 9/3/2007
'The other Elgar Chorale commission (in the programme) was Howard Blake's 'Songs of Truth and Glory', five settings of well-known poems by George Herbert - all settings primarily for chorus, in contrast with Vaughan-Williams' solo-led 'Mystical Songs' - hymnic in character, but each a charmingly turned, sparkling miniature.
The tenors' opening to 'Come my way' was outstanding, and the choir's a cappella launch to 'Teach me my God and King'' sounded equally pure. Simple in essence these may be, but these five songs proved shrewdly varied and utterly delightful. For the last, 'Let all the world' the organ seemed to embark on a tongue-in-cheek Handel organ concerto: both entrancing and effective.'
by Hubert Culot in Helios 9/2/2007
Howard Blake is a versatile composer who may be better known for his marvellous film scores The Snowman and Granpa in which his gifts for colourful orchestration and memorable tunes are clearly evident. He nevertheless also composed a good deal of concert works including the superb choral-orchestral Benedictus and several concertos. Though the intent is overtly more serious, the music of the Clarinet Concerto of 1984 is still memorably tuneful, superbly scored and quite attractive. The Clarinet Concerto is in every respect a fine work that deserves wider currency, and Thea King’s advocacy should earn this fine piece many new friends, hopefully among clarinettists.
by Tammy la Gorce in Amazon.com 1/1/2007
Amazon.com
If all adaptations were conceived with the skill and grace of Granpa, a great slab of moviegoers' current cynicism could be sent packing once and for all. The 30-minute feature, based on the John Burningham children's book, romances audiences with lighter-than-air, sketch-style animation; dreamy, endearing characters; and a serene, story-enhancing score that expertly melds a 40-piece orchestra and a middle school choir. Its loveliness to look at aside, the video's triumph is its loyalty to the tale--Granpa celebrates the relationship between Emily, an eager, young explorer of especially fanciful fantasies, and the affable old man who's never too busy being a grown-up to indulge her. Together, through the power of in-synch imaginations, they're transported to a Victorian-era ball, where they dance the night away. They also go on a picnic in which a parade of stuffed animals come pleasantly and politely to life; they conduct a jungle safari; they go on a high-seas fishing expedition that puts them at the mercy of a speed-demon whale; and they share a sometimes high-flying, sometimes warm and fuzzy panoply of other momentary yet memorable adventures. It's a gentle exploration of a genuinely touching child-adult relationship that erects no age barriers and, to its credit, doesn't duck a difficult subject--Granpa's gradual decline. Sarah Brightman's performance of "Make Believe" further bolsters the film's sky-high charm factor. --Tammy La Gorce
2007
Despite a plot that promised effects and blood, THE CHANGELING is a true throwback to such classic chillers as THE UNINVITED and the original CAT PEOPLE, films that left graphic terror and monsters outside of our sightlines, and palpable in our imaginations. And with Peter Medak’s sure direction, THE CHANGELING was a class act from start to finish, a triumph of atmosphere over wanton effects. With this old-fashioned approach in mind, Medak first turned to Howard Blake, a composer renowned for his astonishingly lyrical score for Ridley Scott’s first feature THE DUELISTS. Blake composed the haunting music box theme, and was prepared to write a full score. But that was until the far more ominous specter of the film’s producers stepped in, handing over composing reigns to John Williams’ orchestrator Ken Wannberg, a fine musician in his own right with such scores as THE PHILADELPHIA EXPERIMENT and OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN to his credit. Toss in the Canadian composer Rick Wilkins to fulfill Canuck financing obligations, and you had a recipe for stylistic cacophony.
The fact that THE CHANGELING ended up being beautifully cohesive is almost spooky. Growing in suspense from its music box, the score reveals distinctive, interlocking themes, all floating with lush, subtle strings, moaning voices, chimes, and above all melody, Next to Jerry Goldsmith’s THE OMEN, this is easily the creepiest score written for an unholy (if far less malefic) child -- his spirit conjured with a deceptively gentle tinkerbell sounds, gentle suspense that will take on full symphonic revenge.
by Tom Sankey in Opera 15/8/2006
Blake is an experienced composer for film and television and he shows his understanding of dramatic pacing in this piece staged by the Opera Studio of the State Opera of South Australia. The piece is really a short encapsulation of what makes opera work: the search for love, conflict, anger, frustration. In less than an hour it was quite amazing just how much ground Howard Blake had been able to cover without the train ever leaving the station.
in Gramophone 1/7/2006
...has a Faure-like sensibility that must please the cellist (an admitted Faure fanatic) no end.
by Timothy Sexton in State Opera South Australia 29/6/2006
Howard Blake's 'The Station' employs traditional harmonies and well-established peratic conventions to create a 50-minute send-up of the medium. With classic romantic soprano/tenor duets (albeit about Maseratis and Dartford Warblers!), barbershop quintets, dramatic arias, clever ensembles and even an Elvis Presley take-off, the work takes us from Bel Canto to Can-Belto and back. It is a work that intentionally doesn't take itself seriously- a welcome respite in today's post-9/11 world.
by Robert Matthew-Walker in Musical Opinion 4/2006
'Howard Blake's ballet "The Snowman" is now such a part of the Christmas Season that I am sure it certainly deserves to be produced again and again well into the 22nd century ... It is one of those rare theatrical pieces that appeals and impresses theatregoers of all ages ... Musically, the score is a masterpiece. I do not use the word lightly. Howard Blake's world famous song Walking in the Air, with which Aled Jones had such a success, is used as a basis for a virtually continuous set of symphonic variations; a subtle and fully wrought score which entrances the ears of all who are brought into the magical world it conjures up'. (Robert Matthew Walker, Musical Opinion March-April 2006)
by Duke-verity in Duke-verity UK 13/3/2006
Great and overlooked achievement in British animation, 13 March 2006
Granpa, based on the children's book by John Burningham, is the second (and sadly last) animation to be directed by the late Dianne Jackson. She will be forever remembered for the legendary Christmas animation The Snowman, from the book by Raymond Briggs. But she went on to direct Granpa in 1989 and then to do the initial planning and storyboarding for Father Christmas in 1991.
Father Christmas would have been her second Raymond Briggs adaptation as director, but ill health meant that she had to hand over the director's reins to one of her protégés, Dave Unwin, who had worked with her as an animator on Granpa. She died tragically young in 1992, leaving Granpa as her final work as full director. Her concept for an animated series based on the works of Beatrix Potter, The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends, was completed by others and transmitted posthumously by BBC Television in 1993.
Granpa is a beautiful and very British half hour animation about a little girl called Emily and her kindly but ailing old grandfather. Emily's developing personality, imagination and childhood memories are being formed by her days spent listening to Granpa's stories. The stories come to life in animated images brilliantly designed to look like a child's crayoned drawings. Vivid, bright and seemingly inherently childish, the images are actually highly sophisticated animations from director Jackson and her team of artists. Remember that all of these animated frames were created lovingly by hand in 1989, before computer generated imagery came to dominate the business of animation and rendered hand drawn, beautifully detailed cartoon films like Granpa obsolete!
The tone of the film is initially warm and exhilarating, with Emily untroubled by notions of time or mortality. She lives fully within the moment, a child's viewpoint. For Granpa however, things are rather different. Aware that his days with her are numbered, he lovingly preserves her innocence and passes on to her a heritage within stories from his own distant childhood.
As the seasons pass by (symbolically from spring to winter, and then to spring once more), Granpa becomes visibly frailer until finally, during a magical story that has the pair swinging through jungle branches, he concedes that "I just can't reach those branches...the way I used to be able to." In a heartbreaking coda that echoes the famous finale of The Snowman, Emily finds herself (along with the old man's sad, loyal old dog) to be alone; her young life before her and Granpa inevitably consigned to live on only in her memories.
It's an astonishing finish, brave and sad and with an awareness of mortality and the sacredness of memory. In that sense, Granpa has much in common with all the great children's tales (Watership Down, Peter Pan, The Wind in the Willows, The Once and Future King, The Snowman, and many others), and in its so very British way it subtly and with great understatement covers the most serious themes of life, death, time and the rites of passage between old and new.
A great piece of work, deserving of so very much more attention than it has received over the years. A neglected masterpiece that hardly ever gets screened, I recommend Granpa unreservedly. If you get the opportunity to watch this beautiful rarity, do so!
by Greg Elliot in Independent Weekly 30/2006
'The Station' explores the inner thoughts of four commuters on a typical British train platform , forced to wait for a series of delayed trains...Director Sam Haren has ensured that 'The Station' is engaging entertainment from the first note to the last and the creative team has captured memorable images, but none more so than the young man appearing to face his destiny in the light of an oncoming train....this very interesting opera moves from the traditional to the satirical.
in film score magazine 11/12/2005
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In 1996, artistic director Adrian Noble filmed his RSC stage production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. The concept is nothing if not stylized, utilizing Anthony Ward's primary color costumes and minimal scenic design, and the inventive lighting of Chris Parry. This time, the concept is the dream of a young boy who roams throughout the production witnessing the events. What may have appeared full of magic and mirth onstage is poorly suited to film. Not so Howard Blake's score. Expanded from the stage production, the music contains a lushness that makes up for the spartan look of the film. It also employs a childlike simplicity and wonderment that perfectly suits a young boy's dream. An attractive violin solo sings of love in the air, later sung by a mournful, wise viola during the "I know a bank" soliloquy. The entire orchestra joins in for a joyful rendition during the flight to fairyland. Umbrellas play a large role in the staging and solo woodwind triplets ascend into the heavens accompanied by pizzicato strings as the umbrellas take flight. Female voices seduce the ear, from a plaintive alto mermaid voice to the beautiful female trio waltzing through "Philomel with melody." A jaunty trumpet and oboe with slide trombone (which later bays with Nick Bottom's ass' head) accompanies the merry band of actors. A gentle string trio underscores the party and later provides a
tender backdrop for Bottom's final speech. Blake's score captures more of the magic of Shakespeare's text than the awkward production. If you can
find a copy of the long-out-of-print import CD, it's definitely worth a listen. Published in Film Score Monthly Magazine
Nov/Dec 2005
Volume 10, No. 6
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by Robert Beale in Manchester Evening News 1/10/2004
WILLIAM CHEN Howard Blake piano music **** William Chen (ABC Classics).
'...music by the composer of We're Walking In The Air, from The Snowman. In fact, the
"composer's cut", as you might call it, of Walking In The Air is
here, in C sharp minor, and there's a brilliant little drawing of
the Snowman himself, by Dianne Jackson, the original illustrator,
in the liner notes. Lifecycle is a set of pieces, one in each
of the major and minor keys, which were written at different
times and in different contexts but which Blake feels add up to a
satisfying whole. And they do. He is a man out of his time, a
composer closer to Chopin and Schumann than to modernism. But he
has Royal Academy of Music training behind him and he understands
the sonorities of the piano wonderfully. Most of these pieces are
about three minutes long: one extends to five; one is only 51
seconds. There is a much variety in them, though - songs, dances,
character pieces, jeux d'esprit - and one (Chaconne in D minor)
surprises with its vehemence, while others (Study, in C minor, and
Oberon, in F sharp major, which is almost a Revolutionary Study
in itself) make considerable demands on the performer. But the
subtlety of Blake's music often lies in its careful use of
familiar patterns - ordinariness, if you like - so that eventually
the nuances begin to speak with an eloquence you would miss if
you just thought it was old-fashioned ideas warmed up again.
William Chen plays them with immaculate technique and classical
purity.
in Classic FM Magazine 10/2004
The 24 miniatures that constitute Lifecycle were composed over a period of
40 years, and are set in every one of the major and minor keys available
on the piano. Anyone who had previously assumed that Walking in the Air was
something of a one-hit wonder for Blake will surely be taken aback by his
inexhaustible flow of melodic enchantment. Each time you think you've
reached the best of the set, he produces yet another winningly memorable
tune. A rare delight.
in rsoonsa@b@b books, Mountain Mesa CA 5/6/2004
in Mainzer Rhein Zeitung 25/4/2004
'...but the orchestra did not quite succeed in conveying the subtleties of the composition in the areas which are partly film-music influenced, and also failed to point up the dynamic contrasts in this richly motivic and well-constructed arch of excitement.'
in Allgemeine Zeitung 24/4/2004
..the composer Howard Blake from London, who travelled over for the concert, charmingly explained in German his 'Birthday Toccata', which he wrote as a commission for the 30th anniversary of the Royal Philharmonic in 1976. Blake showed a supreme craftsmanship in tone-painting. His Toccata began with with music as sweet as the elf-music of Purcell, but then broadened out into the delicious late-romantic sonorities of an Elgar...
by Robert Matthew-Walker 2003
... his (Blake) piano writing is exceptional amongst modern-day composers…
by Jonathan Broxton in Movie Music UK 2000
THE DUELLISTS / THE RIDDLE OF THE SANDS
The Duellists Rating:
The Riddle of the Sands Rating:
Original Review: For many years, much of Howard Blake's film music output has remained unobtainable on CD. Up until recently, only The Snowman has been widely available to collectors, and his score for the classic Raymond Briggs animation remains his most popular work to date. Thanks heavens, therefore, for producers Ford A. Thaxton, Christopher Landry and the people at
Super Collector, who have followed up the release of Flash Gordon and Amityville 3D earlier this year with this superb album from the Airstrip One label, combining two of Blake's most highly-regarded, yet hitherto unheard works.
The Duellists was a 1977 film, notable in film history for being the debut feature of a young British director named Ridley Scott, who would later go on to create such classic pieces of cinema as Blade Runner, Alien and Thelma & Louise. Based on Joseph Conrad's classic novel of honour and obsession "The Duel", the film starred Albert Finney, Tom Conti, and Keith Carradine and Harvey Keitel as two soldiers in Napoleon's French army who, following a disagreement, embark on a bitter 20-year rivalry, during which the two engage in a series of violent duels across the battlefields of Europe.
Blake's music for The Duellists is essentially a one-theme work - but what a theme! Presented in its entirety in the opening (but ultimately unused) cue 'The Duellists', the theme is a large-scale, lush, but poignant, as if the music itself knows that the bitter rivalry between Keitel and Carradine can only end in tragedy. It has its roots in the meaningful music of the French renaissance, and effectively carries the emotion inherent in the story, but despite the undisputed beauty of the music, the fact that it is rather repetitive is it's only weakness. To give him his due, Blake does try to vary his styles of performance: as authentic Gallic source music in 'Mme. De Leon's Salon', with hesitant strings in 'Opening Titles', as an expressive piano solo in 'Laura', and so on.
The duels themselves are scored with a series of wildly impressionistic flourishes, notably with rampant, highly dissonant string work in 'Cavalry Duel', resounding percussion in 'Pistols', and icy harp and piano scales in 'The Final Battle in the Woods'. In addition to these, there are a couple of interesting diversions to maintain interest, such as the fife and drum of 'Military Life', the Renaissance-style light-hearted pageantry of 'Armand and Adèle', 'The Château' and 'The Marriage', and the vibrant (but short!) 'Jubilation'. In contrast, by far the most effective cues are the last ones, 'The Lonely Walker' and 'End Credits', in which the music acts as a final epitaph, and sounds almost heartbroken and hollow, a musical echo of the state of mind of the ultimate victor in the series of duels who, having finally vanquished the object of his lifelong obsession, realises he has nothing else to live for.
The Riddle of the Sands, directed by documentarian Tony Maylam, is a desolate spy thriller based on the 1903 novel by Erskine Childers (who would later go on to form the Irish political party Sinn Fein). It stars Simon MacCorkindale as a yachtsman who, while out sailing in the North Sea off England's east coast, accidentally stumbles across what looks to be a German plot to invade the country, using the remote Frisian Islands as a staging post. Featuring Michael York, Alan Badell and Jenny Agutter, The Riddle of the Sands was actually something of a commercial flop, and despite being released in the UK during 1979, didn't make it to American shores until early in 1984.
As with The Duellists, the thing which The Riddle of the Sands has going for it is the strength of its main theme, a powerful, lyrical melody which Blake freely admits was influenced by Wagner's Ring Cycle. In the opening statement the music is accompanied by a choir singing in German, a beautifully poetic song entitled Geheimnis des Sandes, which adds volumes to the mysterious, potent energy provided by Blake's music. Unfortunately, the vocal version of the main title was omitted from the final cut of the film, and is being presented in this form for the first time here. The theme is recapitulated, to great effect, in further tracks such as 'A Walk in the Dunes', where the melody is led by a series of plaintive woodwind solos, 'Rowing Ashore', where it is accompanied by the orchestra eddying in time with the ocean currents, and 'Carruthers Reboards the Train', where it is performed with muted heroic gusto by the brass section.
But, unlike The Duellists, The Riddle of the Sands builds up an interesting series of sub-themes, often playing against and in counterpoint to the main melody. A dark, ominous two-note motif for the German invaders, and the turncoat agent Dollman, is first heard at the end of 'Sailing', and features in later cues such as 'The Inn', 'The Kormoran Moves In' and 'The Train to Emden', while the theme for the Jenny Agutter character is a subtle variation on the "antagonists theme", and is heard performed by mysterioso strings in 'Barge Building', 'Into the Fog' and others. A unique piece in the score, 'Sailing' is a sprightly scherzo for a bed of strings which takes on the carefree, undulating quality of the ocean.
It's quite astounding to realise that, considering the amount of talent he obviously has, Howard Blake's career as a film composer has never developed in the way it should. He has scored only two films in the last eight years - A Midsummer Night's Dream and My Life So Far - and is hardly ever mentioned when lists of great British film composers are compiled. It makes you wonder just what might have happened if the American executives had allowed Blake to score Alien, as Ridley Scott originally intended, instead of Jerry Goldsmith. What ifs and maybes aside, this is still a superb album, and a timely reminder of the talents of Howard Blake. If "Walking in the Air" made a shiver run up your spine without you knowing why, this CD provides the answer.
Track Listing:
THE DUELLISTS
- The Duellists (3:01)
- Mme. De Leon's Salon (2:38)
- Opening Titles (0:59)
- Military Life (0:23)
- Laura (1:47)
- Armand and Adèle (1:32)
- I Renounce Love (0:59)
- Tarot (1:31)
- Cellar Duel (0:58)
- Cavalry Duel (2:13)
- Jubilation (0:29)
- Russian Winter (6:21)
- The Château (1:11)
- The Marriage (1:35)
- The Challenge (0:49)
- Pistols (1:05)
- Final Duel in the Woods (3:29)
- The Lonely Walker (2:44)
- End Credits (3:17)
THE RIDDLE OF THE SANDS
- The Riddle of the Sands (4:29)
- A Walk in the Dunes (1:41)
- The Dulcibella (1:10)
- Sailing (4:46)
- The Inn/Rowing Ashore (1:57)
- Barge Building (3:51)
- The Kormoran Moves In (1:12)
- Into the Fog (1:26)
- Carruthers Investigates the Barn (1:48)
- The Train to Emden (2:53)
- Carruthers Reboards the Train (2:22)
- Rehearsal for Invasion (5:03)
- Sink the Dulcibella! (1:36)
- End Titles (2:23)
Running Time: 77 minutes 54 seconds
Airstrip One AOD-HB002 (1977/1979/2000)
THE DUELLISTS composed and conducted by
Howard Blake. Performed by
The National Philharmonic Orchestra. Recorded and mixed by
John Richards. THE RIDDLE OF THE SANDS composed and conducted by
Howard Blake. Performed by
The National Philharmonic Orchestra and
The John McCarthy Singers. Choir conducted by
David Shaw. "Geheimnis des Sandes" lyrics by
Christopher Geer. Recorded and mixed by
John Richards. Album edited and remastered by
James Nelson. Album produced by
Howard Blake, Ford A. Thaxton and
Christopher Landry.
by Jonathan Broxton in Movie Music UK 2000
THE DUELLISTS / THE RIDDLE OF THE SANDS
The Duellists Rating:
The Riddle of the Sands Rating:
Original Review: For many years, much of Howard Blake's film music output has remained unobtainable on CD. Up until recently, only The Snowman has been widely available to collectors, and his score for the classic Raymond Briggs animation remains his most popular work to date. Thanks heavens, therefore, for producers Ford A. Thaxton, Christopher Landry and the people at
Super Collector, who have followed up the release of Flash Gordon and Amityville 3D earlier this year with this superb album from the Airstrip One label, combining two of Blake's most highly-regarded, yet hitherto unheard works.
The Duellists was a 1977 film, notable in film history for being the debut feature of a young British director named Ridley Scott, who would later go on to create such classic pieces of cinema as Blade Runner, Alien and Thelma & Louise. Based on Joseph Conrad's classic novel of honour and obsession "The Duel", the film starred Albert Finney, Tom Conti, and Keith Carradine and Harvey Keitel as two soldiers in Napoleon's French army who, following a disagreement, embark on a bitter 20-year rivalry, during which the two engage in a series of violent duels across the battlefields of Europe.
Blake's music for The Duellists is essentially a one-theme work - but what a theme! Presented in its entirety in the opening (but ultimately unused) cue 'The Duellists', the theme is a large-scale, lush, but poignant, as if the music itself knows that the bitter rivalry between Keitel and Carradine can only end in tragedy. It has its roots in the meaningful music of the French renaissance, and effectively carries the emotion inherent in the story, but despite the undisputed beauty of the music, the fact that it is rather repetitive is it's only weakness. To give him his due, Blake does try to vary his styles of performance: as authentic Gallic source music in 'Mme. De Leon's Salon', with hesitant strings in 'Opening Titles', as an expressive piano solo in 'Laura', and so on.
The duels themselves are scored with a series of wildly impressionistic flourishes, notably with rampant, highly dissonant string work in 'Cavalry Duel', resounding percussion in 'Pistols', and icy harp and piano scales in 'The Final Battle in the Woods'. In addition to these, there are a couple of interesting diversions to maintain interest, such as the fife and drum of 'Military Life', the Renaissance-style light-hearted pageantry of 'Armand and Adèle', 'The Château' and 'The Marriage', and the vibrant (but short!) 'Jubilation'. In contrast, by far the most effective cues are the last ones, 'The Lonely Walker' and 'End Credits', in which the music acts as a final epitaph, and sounds almost heartbroken and hollow, a musical echo of the state of mind of the ultimate victor in the series of duels who, having finally vanquished the object of his lifelong obsession, realises he has nothing else to live for.
The Riddle of the Sands, directed by documentarian Tony Maylam, is a desolate spy thriller based on the 1903 novel by Erskine Childers (who would later go on to form the Irish political party Sinn Fein). It stars Simon MacCorkindale as a yachtsman who, while out sailing in the North Sea off England's east coast, accidentally stumbles across what looks to be a German plot to invade the country, using the remote Frisian Islands as a staging post. Featuring Michael York, Alan Badell and Jenny Agutter, The Riddle of the Sands was actually something of a commercial flop, and despite being released in the UK during 1979, didn't make it to American shores until early in 1984.
As with The Duellists, the thing which The Riddle of the Sands has going for it is the strength of its main theme, a powerful, lyrical melody which Blake freely admits was influenced by Wagner's Ring Cycle. In the opening statement the music is accompanied by a choir singing in German, a beautifully poetic song entitled Geheimnis des Sandes, which adds volumes to the mysterious, potent energy provided by Blake's music. Unfortunately, the vocal version of the main title was omitted from the final cut of the film, and is being presented in this form for the first time here. The theme is recapitulated, to great effect, in further tracks such as 'A Walk in the Dunes', where the melody is led by a series of plaintive woodwind solos, 'Rowing Ashore', where it is accompanied by the orchestra eddying in time with the ocean currents, and 'Carruthers Reboards the Train', where it is performed with muted heroic gusto by the brass section.
But, unlike The Duellists, The Riddle of the Sands builds up an interesting series of sub-themes, often playing against and in counterpoint to the main melody. A dark, ominous two-note motif for the German invaders, and the turncoat agent Dollman, is first heard at the end of 'Sailing', and features in later cues such as 'The Inn', 'The Kormoran Moves In' and 'The Train to Emden', while the theme for the Jenny Agutter character is a subtle variation on the "antagonists theme", and is heard performed by mysterioso strings in 'Barge Building', 'Into the Fog' and others. A unique piece in the score, 'Sailing' is a sprightly scherzo for a bed of strings which takes on the carefree, undulating quality of the ocean.
It's quite astounding to realise that, considering the amount of talent he obviously has, Howard Blake's career as a film composer has never developed in the way it should. He has scored only two films in the last eight years - A Midsummer Night's Dream and My Life So Far - and is hardly ever mentioned when lists of great British film composers are compiled. It makes you wonder just what might have happened if the American executives had allowed Blake to score Alien, as Ridley Scott originally intended, instead of Jerry Goldsmith. What ifs and maybes aside, this is still a superb album, and a timely reminder of the talents of Howard Blake. If "Walking in the Air" made a shiver run up your spine without you knowing why, this CD provides the answer.
Track Listing:
THE DUELLISTS
- The Duellists (3:01)
- Mme. De Leon's Salon (2:38)
- Opening Titles (0:59)
- Military Life (0:23)
- Laura (1:47)
- Armand and Adèle (1:32)
- I Renounce Love (0:59)
- Tarot (1:31)
- Cellar Duel (0:58)
- Cavalry Duel (2:13)
- Jubilation (0:29)
- Russian Winter (6:21)
- The Château (1:11)
- The Marriage (1:35)
- The Challenge (0:49)
- Pistols (1:05)
- Final Duel in the Woods (3:29)
- The Lonely Walker (2:44)
- End Credits (3:17)
THE RIDDLE OF THE SANDS
- The Riddle of the Sands (4:29)
- A Walk in the Dunes (1:41)
- The Dulcibella (1:10)
- Sailing (4:46)
- The Inn/Rowing Ashore (1:57)
- Barge Building (3:51)
- The Kormoran Moves In (1:12)
- Into the Fog (1:26)
- Carruthers Investigates the Barn (1:48)
- The Train to Emden (2:53)
- Carruthers Reboards the Train (2:22)
- Rehearsal for Invasion (5:03)
- Sink the Dulcibella! (1:36)
- End Titles (2:23)
Running Time: 77 minutes 54 seconds
Airstrip One AOD-HB002 (1977/1979/2000)
THE DUELLISTS composed and conducted by
Howard Blake. Performed by
The National Philharmonic Orchestra. Recorded and mixed by
John Richards. THE RIDDLE OF THE SANDS composed and conducted by
Howard Blake. Performed by
The National Philharmonic Orchestra and
The John McCarthy Singers. Choir conducted by
David Shaw. "Geheimnis des Sandes" lyrics by
Christopher Geer. Recorded and mixed by
John Richards. Album edited and remastered by
James Nelson. Album produced by
Howard Blake, Ford A. Thaxton and
Christopher Landry.
by John Bradshaw in The Birmingham Post 14/7/1998
'...most exciting of all a new composition by Howard Blake, receiving its first performance. Sleepwalking, a vocalise for solo soprano and eight cellos, describes in its seven continuous movements a world of dreams in which a woman moves from deep sleep, depicted by an eerie, unearthly sound created through the use of harmonics, throuh a series of episodes, half-forgotten memories and a brief wakefulness, returning at last in a final movement to sleep. The 12-minute work is technically demanding and Blake uses to wonderful effect the dark rich sonority of the ensemble to suggest night and the woman's hazy dreams.
Red Barn Cellos produced ensemble playing of a very high order and Mary Nelson' ability and charm enlightened both the Villa-Lobos (Bachianas Brazileiras No.5) and Blake's marvellous and evocative work.'
by Christopher Morley in Birmingham Post 1/5/1996
'One of the most attractive new pieces one could wish---memorable tunes and deft scoring combine to make this a work which will enchant audiences.'
in Svenska Dagbladet 11/3/1996
Howard Blake has created hauntingly original music. His style is tonally rich, dramatic, rhythmically focussed. The orchestra sounds marvellous under his baton.
in Gothenburg Post 10/3/1996
Howard Blake's music takes the leading role in this ballet. It is imaginative, finely balanced and beautiful to listen to...
by Nicholas Dromgoole in The Sunday Telegraph 1996
The ballet is as much Howard Blake's triumph as North's. His score daringly carries us to the heights that he and North have chosen to venture upon. By any standards on the world stage of dance anywhere this is a major achievement.
by John Thaxter in Ths Stage and Television Today 28/9/1995
Purcell Room, London's South Bank Sep 18/20 1995
..the piece turns those stiff encounters between frustrated travellers, waiting on the platform for their morning train, into beguiling duets and quartets. Sarah Jenning's London premiere for Jigsaw Music Theatre proved a real crowd-pleaser, touching a chord in an audience only too familiar with the daily hazards of points failures, work to rule and the wrong kind of snow.
As Station-master Dean Robinson's resonant bass-baritone over the intercom had just the right note of British Rail regret...Lisa Tyrrell's bird-spotting secretary spies a Dartford Warbler on the line, while tenor Vernon Kirk's time-obsessed executive tries to impress her with his talk of fast cars and all the business appointments he may have to miss. Their back-to-back coloratura duet won a special round of applause on the second night.
Stranger still is Dennis Schiavon's shabby drop-out, with pop-tune chatter to match his copy of The Melody-Maker, clowning about on the track. He responds to the pleas of Janet Shell's feminist business woman to join her in a cup of coffeee. But though they find the buffet closed, their duet combining his musical theatre vocal with her delicious mezzo made for a standout musical encounter.
by Ivan March in Gramophone 12/1994
Inspired, intense, yet infused with spontaneous feeling. The first movement.. is very appealing. The performance brings a moment of utter magic when, after the solist's hauntingly introspective (written) cadenza, the alto flute floats the main theme exquisitely over gently violin arpeggios. The slow movement again brings a hushed opening, unforgettable when the violinist, following a big tutti, takes up the main theme on a thread of tone ending with a breathtaking pianissimo. The finale is in the best 'dancing' tradition of the great concertos from Mozart and Beethoven onwards.
in Classical Music 12/1994
Not only has Blake created one of the most radiantly beautiful concertos ever written, wirth a slow movement of unsurpassed loveliness, he has shown that 'Modern' Music can be immediately enjoyable.
by Ivan March in Gramophone 12/1994
A lovely suite of string music written for the film A Month in the Country is also inspired. The bittersweet nostalgia of the three slow movements makes a telling contrast with the Alla Marcia second and the folksy Scherzando fourth.
in Tagespiegel (Berlin) 20/5/1994
... a concisely constructed work with an astonishingly inspired melody.
in Tagesspiegel (Berlin) 20/5/1994
As a surprise, Chrsitiane Edinger and her excellent duo partner commenced the second half of the concert with Howard Blake's 'Penillion'-Theme and variations for violin and piano. One listened to this concisely constructed work with its astonishingly inspired melody as if the name of the composer were not Howard Blake , but Antonin Dvorak. The Slavic-sounding tonality of this poignant piece makes one curious to hear the Violin Concerto that Blake. whose neo-conservatism seems currently to be in vogue in the English music scene, has composed for Christiane Edinger.
by Ann Fitzgerald in Stage and Television Today 13/1/1994
Pure magic, an hour and a half's mime, dance and music fantasy celebration of innocence, friendship and fun, with a hypnotic, dream-like quality... Howard Blake's eloquent score... is full of wit and humour as well as lyrical beauty. The lovely ballad Walking in the Air runs through it like a thread.
in The Stage 17/12/1992
... a gently satirical and witty piece. Blake's libretto is sharply perceptive, encapsulating the humour of the mundane. His lyrical score is vividly pictorial. Modern rhythms sit easily with more classical elements, all beautifully worked ... The Station makes music theatre enjoyably accessible.
by Mark Gale in Mid-Sussex Times 6/3/1992
... a setting of a poem by Edgar Allan Poe caught the atmosphere of this chilling piece with an effective response to the rhythm of the lines ... as well as a high dramatic peak the cantata has a most effective dying fall.
in ISM Journal 9/1991
They gave an enormous ovation after the first performance that brought the house down...the piece had two encores, with much deafening applause; former ISM President Sir Charles Groves said it was 'the most important event that has happened since youth music started'
by Edward Greenfield in The Guardian 3/1991
A concerto which would be agreeable in any programme ... elegant, with enough salt in the orchestral mixture to give it flavour. It is good to find a composer looking to the Ravel Piano Concerto as a model ... The neo-classical chatterings in the piano-writing directly echo that model, together with the jazzy syncopations of the outer movements, which in turn pay a debt to Gershwin.
by Christopher Palmer in The Philharmonia Collins Classics Series 1991
..it has a deceptive simplicity not unlike that of Mozart. I mention Mozart advisedly since the classical qualities implicit in scores like 'The Snowman' and 'Diversions for cello and orchestra' are on full frontal display in the Piano Concerto. There is a child-like exuberance and spirit of delight...but a shrewd supervisory intelligence plots every move and never allows the plain, ordinary even commonplace musical language tit speaks ever to sound plain, ordinary or commonplace. Much of this is due to a strong feeling for line, and not just melody: counterpoint is far more of the essence of Blake's music than harmony. To cast a full-scale concert work in a simple diatonic styel with no sense of deja entendu is, in the 20th century, a considerable achievement.
by Andrew Vaughan in Insight Magazine 1/12/1989
The material is crammed with invention from beginning to end. It looks at the world from both pairs of eyes, young and old, as their fantasy unfolds; toys come to life, mud pies turn into strawberry ice-creams, and there is the ultimate little girl's fantasy - she becomes a princess riding on a tall white horse. The score directs the piece, giving it pace and and meaning.
by Christopher Grier in Evening Standard 5/6/1989
A score written from the heart, effective and fresh.
in Which Compact Disc? 1/3/1989
'This overture cleverly tests children's skill in identifying all the rhymes used whilst demanding of them the utmost concentration to accomplish this.'
by Linda Innocent in Hi-Fi News and Record Review 1/2/1989
With the lightest of touch, Howard Blake has translated John Burningham's book for young children, 'Granpa' into music with voices - the little girl is played by Emily Osborne, natural, without a trace of drama-school artifice. Peter Ustinov makes an endearing character of Granpa, with marvellous professionalism and warmth...Granpa is near perfection.
in The Catholic Herald 9/12/1988
Drawing inspiration from the great traditions of the past, Benedictus belongs unmistakeably to the living tradition of inspirational choral music ...
by Michael John White in The Guardian 1/6/1988
... I liked its easy lyricism and its flow of self-motivating rhythmic figures strung across insistent tonal pedal notes or ostinati in the lower strings.
by Edwar Greenfield in The New Penguin Guide to Compact Discs & cassettes 1/4/1988
Hyperion disk CDA 66215
....Howard Blake turns his unostentatious lyrical invention to the concert hall and produces a comparitively slight but endearing Clarinet Concerto which is played here with great sympathy by Thea King who commissioned the work. With its neo-classical feeling, it is improvisatory and reflective in its basic style, but produces plenty of energy in the finale with its whiff of Walton...it is extremely vividly recorded on CD- there is almost a sense of over-presence; the state-of-the-art chrome cassette however seems ideal in all respects.
in Chester Standard 31/7/1987
'Of the various works especially commissioned by the Chester Summer Music Festival this year's Shakespeare song cycle would musically and artistically speaking seem to be the best....Blake has achieved true sensitivity, originality and innate musicianship with all the technical skills of modern song-writing to breathe fresh life into familiar stanzas. The songs are crafted with much perception. Devices such as suddenly-soaring intervals to give emphasis, sense of movement with changing time-signatures, and the manner in which lines are phrased to make literate as well as refined musical sense are some of the ways that help underline the significance of the texts...the composer acknowledged the prolonged ovation that was given the first performance.'
in Chester Chronicle 24/7/1987
'...a big success in the Festival..a work which received a stamping ovation...Blake's appreciation and comprehension of the poems was expressed precisely, passionately and descriptively...music utterly fitting to each mood, modern in sound, classical in impact.'
by Paul Dewhirst in Daily Telegraph 23/7/1987
'...the odd faint passing hint of Britten in some of the textures, and the more obvious debt of Stravinskian neo-classicism in the recurring motif of trills in the string accompaniments, the Shakespeare Songs hark back to Peter Warlock in their blend of rhythmic regularity spiced with the occasional irregularity and almost embarassingly direct tunefulness...the audience was duly enthusiastic.'
in Chester Post 22/7/1987
Rarely does one witness so warm and prolonged a reception for the premiere of a new composition as greeted Howard Blake's Shakespeare Songs...the English folk song tradition permeates every nook and cranny. Britten (in his Serenade style) seems to have been a particularly strong influence but the writing is at once highly skilled and conceptually fresh
by Kenneth Walton in Daily Telegraph 5/1987
Benedictus ... flows directly out of the English choral style as much as it enjoys the influences of the mainstream turn-of-the-century European composers ... impassioned and sincere.
by Stephen Pettitt in The Times 27/1/1986
'The four movements are extremely well written for the instruments, demanding much virtuosity, for example, in the brisk Scherzo---this is admirably fluent, well-balanced music.'
by Hugo Cole in The Guardian 4/1/1986
Thompson's words [inspire] some of the most turbulent and personal music in the work. Great opportunities for the tenor as the long aria works up ... to a jubilant coda for chorus of exactly the right length and weight. A serious and impressive work.
in Music and Musicians International 1986
Benedictus is a major work to date by a musician of wide experience ... Eschewing avant-garde methods, Howard Blake relies here upon enhanced diatonicism and devotes his impressive skills to sensitive word-setting and assured pacing of the linked sections in the development of a satisfying large-scale structure in three parts. A prelude, interlude and epilogue for unaccompanied solo viola evoke the aloneness of the central character, a Novice called to the monstic life, a masterly imaginative stroke. The scoring for choir and orchestra is unfailingly effective. The music ranges through moods of despair and anguish to a final affirmation. Its moods encompass sweetness, yet avoid sentimentality, and there is plenty of lively choral music spiced with syncopated rhythms. Benedictus deserves its considerable success with choral societies and audiences. Repetition increases respect for its solid virtues and sincerity.
by Richard Morrison [reviewing the farewell concert of the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble at the QEH] in the Times 5/11/1985
Zsolt Djorko used a resourceful palette of 'effects'...but the Sinfonietta of Howard Blake, though more conservative in idiom and structure, sounded distinctly brassier in conception, with the helter-skelter moto perpetuo movements cannily balanced by some bluesy 'three in the morning' writing. It certainly seemd to please the audience whose rapturous applause was rewarded by an encore...
in Sunday Telegraph 2/12/1979
...a moving and impressive interpretation of the life of Christ, to a haunting score by Howard Blake, in which Patrick Harding-Irmer, crucified, recalls Grunewald's altar-piece..
by Ian Woodward in Evening Standard 29/11/1979
Cathy Lewis as a poignant Mary and Patrick Harding-Irmer as Christ headed an outstanding cast. Howard Blake's sonorous score also triumphed.
by James Kennedy in the Times 28/4/1977
..a very decorative flow of dance, punctuated but scarcely interrupted by touches of fairly broad comedy. Howard Blake proves, not for the first time, that he can compose the sort of music which is easy on the ear and must be a joy to dance...
by Peter Gammond in Hi-Fi News and Record Review 1/1/1976
'The New National Songbook' has discovered a brand new and immensely effective line of satire which should replace all others. It is called the truth.'
by Edward Greenfield in Penguin Guide to Compact Discs & Cassettes
An attractive addition to the surprisingly limited list of modern British piano concertos.
in The Strad
This is unequivocally great music, accessible, expressive and often ravishingly beautiful.
in The Strad
The dearth of repertoire for the solo cello should encourage more composers to write for the instrument ... Diversions is a welcome newcomer which could become an old friend. The right movements all have an individual character, made more convincing by economic scoring in which each theme or effect is clearly defined. It is a bright, colourful, tuneful piece with tremendous rhythmic drive...
Highbridge Music Ltd.
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Competent direction and writing are lacking for this Canadian film shot in picturesque British Columbia, featuring Donald Pleasence as a gold prospector named Logan. Of rather an unstable disposition, Logan nevertheless keeps company with a widow played by Kate Reid when he is not panning for gold with little success, and suddenly the lives of the pair are disrupted by a young man from Brooklyn, Mazella (Don Calfa). Mazella shows Logan a book that describes possible locations of untapped gold mines in the Pacific Northwest and his discussion of them stimulates Logan to search for the "Little Lemon Mine" prospected by his late father who had failed to reach its lode. The oddly mingled trio spontaneously journeys, upon Mazella's quaint three wheeled motorcycle, into a wilderness on the track of the Little Lemon for which Logan has an old map, and they have some uninspired adventures along the way. Director Gerald Potterton's script wants clarity, lacks continuity, and even a better cast could not give it harmony, as Potterton's woeful attempts at humour do not amuse. One might expect that whenever a director is responsible for a film's screenplay, he should know how to tighten the action to align a story with his perceptions in order for the cast to avoid relying upon ad libbing, but such is not the case here, where torpor prevails and competent editing is an unfulfilled requirement. Pleasence therefore resorts, with scant control from the helm, to his customary hamminess while Reid simply seems to be befuddled throughout, leaving Calfa of the three principals owning the acting laurels, although his part as written lacks definition. The most rewarding aspect to this misfire, apart from the scenery, is its interesting scoring by always effectual Howard Blake, and although it seldom is matched with action on the screen, that is not a fault of the composer, but rather of generally shabby post-production efforts.