The Big Sky (film)

Dimitri Tiomkin - The Big Sky

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• published: 23 Jun 2012
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Suite conducted by Charles Gerhardt National Philharmonic Orchestra Recorded in December, 1975 at Kingway Hall, London Prelude; Forest at Night (Nocturne); The Wide Missouri (Epilogue) Album: Lost Horizon - The Classic Film Scores Of Dimitri Tiomkin [Original Recording Remastered] Liner Notes: Tiomkin particularly enjoys the American West and feels a strong sense of identity with the early pioneers. Perhaps this provides the clue and explains why the main themes for Duel in the Sun, The Big Sky and Giant have something of the vastness, the huge all-embracingness of plain and sky. The poetic inspiration of the music is the magnificent landscape surrounding the Missouri River, which is an ever-present feature of the film. The first theme, which starts high and gradually descends, is given to the alto flute with a featherweight accompaniment; the second, which sounds from the valleys and slowly climbs, is played by a quartet of French horns and is introduced as a single line, quite naked and unadorned. "Forest at Night" is an atmospheric nocturne with cloudy, impressionistic textures and solo trombone, trumpet and horn each emerging momentarily from the gloom like colored shadows; the rythmic mutter of distant tom-toms is heard, and the night music grows into a love scene. The main theme is the alto-flute melody first heard in the "Prelude" and besides exhibiting a fine feeling for nature the music also delves into the complexities of the relationship between Boone Cordell (Dewey Martin) and the Indian chief's daughter Teal-Eye (Elizabeth Threatt) whom he and Jim Deakins (Kirk Douglas) have taken hostage on their trading expedition into unknown north-woods territory. The wide-arched, deep-river music of the "Epilogue" contains a new theme and the two main themes. The music fades out to an unconventional pianissimo recalling the serene beginning of the film. --I own no copyright and this is purely for educational/non-profit use--