- Artist:
Original Soundtrack - Rating:
- Release Date: 1957
- Type: Soundtrack
- Genre: Soundtrack
Review
Johnny Green was never considered quite in the front rank of Hollywood composers, falling short of the prestige of Max Steiner, Miklós Rózsa, Alfred Newman, Bernard Herrmann, et al., but he was nearly as ubiquitous a presence as there was in movie music, as the music director (i.e., conductor) on numerous films and also an arranger and orchestrator. And on MGM's 1958 release of Raintree County, an adaptation of Ross Lockridge's novel about Southern life during the Civil War, he finally got to show what he could do -- his Oscar-nominated score, which encompasses 95 minutes of music on two CDs, rises to the occasion of the film for which it was written and holds up just as well as freestanding music almost 50 years later. This double-CD set, reissued by Spanish RCA, is beautifully mastered with bright, clean, and sharp acoustics that bring out the orchestral textures in rich detail, not to mention the occasional presence of a banjo or other regionally appropriate period instrument. He does tend to write a bit like an arranger -- the instrumental voices are clear and clean, while his melodic invention is somewhat limited, in terms of how memorable much of it is; by contrast, Steiner or Erich Korngold, who were composers, could deliver a brace of memorable melodies in the space of a single score. Green is closer in spirit and content to Alfred Newman, another conductor turned composer who was more noted as an orchestrator than as a composer (and Newman had over 50 Oscar nominations to his credit). He basically writes beautifully more than memorably, but enough so that this double-CD import is worth tracking down, and not just for those familiar with the movie -- this is excellent mood music, very much in the manner of the light classical work of such figures as Eric Coates and Trevor Duncan. There is no annotation in this double-disc set, apart from the reprinted original jacket notes, which are too small to read without a magnifier -- but that's OK, because the music is expressive enough to speak for itself, and in a manner nearly as sweeping if not as enveloping or overwhelming as Steiner's work on Gone With the Wind. ~ Bruce Eder, All Music GuideTracks
CD 1
| Track Title | Composers | Performers | Time |
| Overture | Johnny Green, Paul Francis Webster | (3:33) | |
| Prologue | Johnny Green | (2:46) | |
| Nell and Johnny's Graduation Gifts | Johnny Green, Paul Francis Webster | (3:43) | |
| Johnny's Search for the Raintree | Johnny Green, Paul Francis Webster | (3:40) | |
| Flash Perkins | Johnny Green, Paul Francis Webster | (2:25) | |
| Johnny and Susanna's First Meeting | Johnny Green, Paul Francis Webster | (4:17) | |
| July Picnic | Johnny Green, Paul Francis Webster | (5:50) | |
| Johnny's Farewell to Nell and Raintree County | Johnny Green, Paul Francis Webster | (7:06) | |
| Johnny and Susanna's River Wedding Night/Burned out ... | Johnny Green, Paul Francis Webster | (5:02) | |
| Carriage Ride to Cousin Bob's | Johnny Green, Paul Francis Webster | (0:50) | |
| Return to Raintree County | Johnny Green, Paul Francis Webster | (3:48) |
CD 2
| Track Title | Composers | Performers | Time |
| Susanna's Madness/War Begins | Johnny Green, Paul Francis Webster | (6:32) | |
| Flash Joins Up/Little Jemmie Is Born Nell Returns | Johnny Green, Paul Francis Webster | (4:58) | |
| Susanna's Secret/She and Jeemie Disappear/Johnny Leaves for the Front | Johnny Green, Paul Francis Webster | (6:07) | |
| Prologue to Act II | Johnny Green, Paul Francis Webster | (2:52) | |
| Battle Montage/Atlanta Destroyed | Johnny Green, Paul Francis Webster | (2:59) | |
| Johnny and Flash at Fairweather, Georgia/Jeemie Is ... | Johnny Green, Paul Francis Webster | (5:03) | |
| Johnny Escape/War's End/Reunion with Susanna/Lincoln's Funeral Train | Johnny Green, Paul Francis Webster | (5:19) | |
| Susanna's Tragic Decision/Her Death/Nell, Johnny and Jeemie Together | Johnny Green, Paul Francis Webster | (8:16) |
