There are certain thingsyou can always count on when purchasing a release from In the Nursery.The melodies are always emotionally charged, the production shines witha signature decadent brilliance and the sounds do an excellent job ofimitating a full orchestra.
The new release is their fourth in a seriesof music for silent films. This amazingly priced 2xCD set accompaniesthe British film of the same name from 1927, a story which revolvesaround a working class holiday in Northern England. What's seeminglymore important than the story to some critics are the filmingtechniques used, which makes this film noteworthy to film buffs andscholars. Perhaps one of the reasons ITN chose this film to score wasthe long drawn out camera shots and picturesque images noted in someonline reviews of the movie. The variety of themes for various dramaticsituations always impress me with In the Nursery's releases, althoughthe instrument choices can get somewhat repetitious. This is a qualityof the most popular film scores, however: John Williams for examplealmost always uses the trumpet as a lead instrument, while on HindleWakes, ITN has almost completely exhauseted the clarinet as a leadinstrument. Film scores should have recurring themes so the repetitionon this disc might be somewhat overkill without actually viewing thepicture. Judging by the length of the release, I'm sure the entirescore is here, making it easy to rent the film and watch along. Let'shope everything lines up perfectly. [Note: while the DVD release of"Man with a Movie Camera" includes the film set to ITN's score, there'sno word about a release of Hindle Wakes with their score.]
- Jon Whitneysamples: