E.W.Korngold Web site

Greetings from San Francisco!

Coming soon ......... the original motion picture soundtracks to "Juarez" and "The Prince and the Pauper"........ together on 2 CDs, plus a suite from "Between Two Worlds."

Here are the details:

http://www.firstfloor-entertainment.de/ ... ci0626.htm

Here is their home page:

http://www.firstfloor-entertainment.de/firstfloor/

Dennis Miller

As nobody here has mentioned this new release, I want to recommend it very much to you all. The sound is much better on this CD than on the previous Korngold CDs from Tsunami, because the high frequencies have not been removed and there are also not these grumblings in the basses which may have annoyed many of us before. Tsunami does have a new sound engineer, a new mastering studio and a new label owner. So it is a completely new policy there - much for the benefit of us listeners.
The double CD is available since end of July in Germany, and especially JUAREZ with 79 minutes does sound absolutely exellent. PRINCE AND THE PAUPER has about 55 minutes and is also quite good as well as the 15 minutes from BETWEEN TWO WORLDS (the Main Title is unfortunately missing, but there are in part other tracks here than on the Gerhardt suite).
Below are some interesting statements from the new sound engineer Markus Mahlke, which can be found in the booklet of the double CD:

Historic recordings always present a great challenge for the person restoring and preparing them for release. In our digital age we are used to clean sound reproduction without noise and defects. Old recordings, especially those made before the advent of magnetic tape, don´t provide this luxury. This raises the question if the music or the clean sound without noise is more important. I believe it is easy to answer, though: the music should always be most important. Therefore I only employed noise reduction techniques which didn´t damage the frequency spectrum of the music.
„Juarez“ and „Between Two Worlds“ derive from the original optical masters of the recording sessions, and with regard to the time when they were made deliver a great frequency spectrum and a wide range of dynamics (Warner's recordings from the 30s and 40s were and are still famous for the dominant presence of the lower frequencies). In the course of time these optical masters accumulate dust and dirt which results in clicks and pops in very much the same way as with vinyl records. I was able to remove those plus the low frequency rumble almost completely without damaging the music. I didn´t touch the hiss, though, because it would only yield a dull and muffled sounding result.
The source for „The Prince and The Pauper“ was a dub of the optical masters on acetate discs. Since this is an analogue copy made at a time when it wasn´t possible to make transfers without loss, the sound is inferior to the other two scores presented on this album. The discs were wrongly pitched during playback, which I was able to correct, and I eliminated most clicks and pops plus the low frequency rumble. Again the hiss remained untouched.
Some listeners may not to be able to fully enjoy these recordings because of their limitations. But try to consider them as a musical time machine to much more simpler times when each recording was still a challenge. Listen to how Korngold brings his music to life in his unmistakeable way. None of the modern re-recordings is able to provide you with the original Korngold sound because it is from a time that is gone forever.

Thankyou for your post. I agree wholeheartedly. I was intrigued by the remarks made about Prince & the Pauper because George Korngold definitely had high res tape copies of the original optical stems (from the nitrate originals) in his collection. The fact that this CD omits the delicious end titles for P&P must mean that the source (acetate discs) did not include that. Incidentally George once played for me a wonderful acetate of Korngold playing the end titles on the piano...I have often wondered what became of it.

Wow, what an amazing disc.

I am from the USA and ordered my copy from amazon.de...good thing I know a little German.

I've never heard P&P sound this good. I've received, over the years, some different tapes of P&P but they always omitted the end titles as well as the Viennese piece when Flynn flirts with the barmaid.

The sound on BETWEEN TWO WORLDS is really quite impressive.

This is a delightful release, and worth the trouble it took me to locate a copy.

I'll just put in my bit.

I waited a long time to order this, for whatever reason...

I must say I should have reread the last messages here, because this 2CD set IS absolutely delightful, with extra points to PRINCE AND THE PAUPER!

Bravo to Tsunami for a work well done!

Actually a few weeks before this, I got the Alex North SPARTACUS 2CD set wich, eventhough it appears under a different label, was (I was told) also produced by Tsunami: what a difference!

Overall, the sound is pretty bad, cues are badly sequenced, it's overlong... unltimately, I find it VERY unsatisfactory.

Anyone know the official release? Is that worth purchasing? Does it have a good sound?

Does anyone know if this is available in the US, even through any of the soundtrack specailty shops?

As nobody here has mentioned this new release, I want to recommend it very much to you all. The sound is much better on this CD than on the previous Korngold CDs from Tsunami, because the high frequencies have not been removed and there are also not these grumblings in the basses which may have annoyed many of us before. Tsunami does have a new sound engineer, a new mastering studio and a new label owner. So it is a completely new policy there - much for the benefit of us listeners.

Am I correct in understanding then that the other Tsunami Korngold releases are NOT worth picking up? The previous owners were not as careful with the mastering?

As for JUAREZ/PRINCE AND THE PAUPER, I found it on both Amazon.fr and Amazon.de, and it may be featured on Ebay.

Re: previous Korngold/Tsunami releases, I have four myself and wouldn't call any of them "not worth buying".

The best one before J/POP to me would be CONSTANT NYMPH: great pieces throughout, sound pretty good overall, a great bit with EWK playing solo at the piano (also found in Special Features of the Robin Hood DVD). Can't get enough of it.

CAPTAIN BLOOD is also quite amazing, more so (it seems) as a score than for it's sound qualities: after a while, it just gets tiring (and frustrating) to listen to. Still, the firs 20 minutes blow me away. I wonder how it would play edited down to 45-50 minutes (or whatever would be best) and with updated sound. I'm guessing: GREAT.
(I recently bought the Marco Polo suite, and was very frustrated not to find the best cue in it. Sigh...)

SEA HAWK: similar to CAPTAIN BLOOD in sound, except slightly better.

OF HUMAN BONDAGE: (I have a copy given to me so I'm not even sure it's a Tsunami. I guess it is..) Sound similar to CONSTANT NYMPH. This is one of those EWK score that I consider to be... not on the same level as his 5 or 6 best ones, and I really don't know why: I'm listening to it right now, and it's... not THAT bad!

So you see, tjguitar, it's really up to you: would you rather wait (years and years possibly) for that wonderful realese by either FSM or NAXOS, or would you rather get a quick but possibly inferior fix of vintage Korngold right now?

If you're asking me, I say: "Go for the fix! Go for the fix!"

(PS: OF HUMAN BONDAGE just got upgraded in my collection of "not-superior-but-very-decent-EWK-score". FYI: those still in limbo would be ESCAPE ME NEVER/ANOTHER DAWN, and possibly ANTHONY ADVERSE (yes an Oscar win!) and ELIZABETH AND ESSEX.)

So you see, tjguitar, it's really up to you: would you rather wait (years and years possibly) for that wonderful realese by either FSM or NAXOS, or would you rather get a quick but possibly inferior fix of vintage Korngold right now?

I guess it depends if they were to be released in the United States at a reasonable price. As it is, all of the Tsunami titles at Amazon.Co.UK cost GBP 12.99, which is over $25---not including shipping.


Also....what ever happened to the Kings Row on FSM rumors?


With regards to Captain Blood, I have the two Gerhardt cues, main ttile on Silva, and the Marco Polo suite. I would love to see a complete score recorded by Naxos, Chandos, Tadlow Music etc, but am satisfied with the Marco Polo for now.

You might want to try to purchase the Membran "reissues" of the Tsunami releases: they are usually sold for 3-4 £ (I recently got a Rozsa Membran on Ebay for 5 $).

fireatheart wrote:You might want to try to purchase the Membran "reissues" of the Tsunami releases: they are usually sold for 3-4 £ (I recently got a Rozsa Membran on Ebay for 5 $).

Are the Membrans the same as the Tsunami's? For some reason I thought they were the same as the awful Soundtrack Factory's ?

As far as I know, Membran simply copies CDs from other companies: these include FSM, Prometheus and Tsunami. So, musicwise, they are identical.

fireatheart wrote:As far as I know, Membran simply copies CDs from other companies: these include FSM, Prometheus and Tsunami. So, musicwise, they are identical.

Hmm. Well I see a few Membrans of tsunami's for good prices on amazon.com:

Sea Hawk, Captain blood, Robin Hood, Elizabeth & Essex, Constant Nymph


No Membran (on Amazon) of Sea Wolf, Anthony Adverse, Juarez/Prince & Pauper.

I am a bit slow on the uptake and now I find that amazon.de no longer has the Tsunami "Juarez/Prince" in stock. Following the links on the First Floor website it looks like jpc.de and fennmusic may be the only alternatives to jump this soundtrack across the pond to my home in California. I have yet to see it on eBay.

Does anybody have any ideas or suggestions on how us Americans can buy the Korngold Tsunami releases or should I just go with jpc.de?

And I am curious: are the Tsunami recordings even sold in any retail outlets in Europe? That label seems to have such limited availability and distribution.

I would even consider making a trade/even exchange if anybody needs anything from San Francisco.

Best regards,
Dennis Miller

You can order the Korngold Tsunami releases at the German retailer shop Cinema Soundtrack Club:
http://www.soundtrack-club.net/#

JUAREZ/PRINCE AND THE PAUPER is available there at a price of 19,99 Euro which should be about $28.
If it is too complicated for you and you dont want to order there, just send me a private message.

To answer another question above (I did not have a look at this board for a long time): No, Membran and Tsunami don't have anything to do with each other. Membran did simply copy official CDs (and also old LPs) and even Tsunami CDs without asking Tsunami beforehand or licensing anything from them.