Arthur Bliss' score for Christopher Columbus was written for a troubled, big-budget British spectacular starring Frederic March (kind of over the hill at age 52 to portray Columbus, only 41 during his first voyage) that has since become more of a subject of ridicule than veneration. All of the film projects Bliss worked on had problems, including "the Big One," Things to Come (1936), which established Bliss' own reputation as a great film composer; that is why it's a little surprising Bliss didn't work in cinema more often ...
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Arthur Bliss' score for Christopher Columbus was written for a troubled, big-budget British spectacular starring Frederic March (kind of over the hill at age 52 to portray Columbus, only 41 during his first voyage) that has since become more of a subject of ridicule than veneration. All of the film projects Bliss worked on had problems, including "the Big One," Things to Come (1936), which established Bliss' own reputation as a great film composer; that is why it's a little surprising Bliss didn't work in cinema more often than he did. Naxos' Arthur Bliss: Christopher Columbus, which features conductor Adriano with the Slovak Radio Symphony and is recycled from the Marco Polo label into the main Naxos series with this release, is a very handy collection as it covers roughly half of Bliss' production in film scores that falls outside the mountain of music he (and others) produced for Things to Come.The Christopher Columbus score is another large-scale project, and Bliss produced more than 140 pages of...
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