Shifrin's WWII Cantata Re-Issued

The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich (1968) was an historical war documentary from Jack Kaufman, more known for his work on The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau and National Geographic Specials.  It was adapted from William Shirer’s popular book.  The score was from Lalo Schifrin who had worked with Kaufman on the aforementioned series.  Bullitt was Shifrin’s break out score among the six films he worked on in 1968.  As documentary scores often went unnoticed, the composer extracted music from this work to create a concert “cantata” which premiered at the Hollywood Bowl in August, 1967.  It was subsequently recorded for MGM Records, which featured an overlay narration by Laurence Harvey.  Dragon’s Domain now provides us the work minus that narration as performed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Gregg Smith Singers under the direction of Lawrence Foster in this remastered release.  Alfred Perry provided the libretto. 

There are certainly elements of Schifrin’s dramatic television style present in the opening “Prologue” (taking a bit of a page from his Mission:Impossible) work.  The style though is a blend of semi-tonal writing flirting with modal lines and with some brief clusters.  In a lot of respects the style often hints at what he would accomplish in The Amityville Horror (1979).  The tight-knit orchestral writing is also very much a part of contemporary orchestral work with its intense clusters of sound and Berg-like choral sections.  “A Pact With Satan” seems a distant cousin of Berg, complete with its flashes of lyrical, tonal segments.  The cabaret infusions that appear also add an often quirky, Weill infusion into the music “The Devil’s Spawn”.  Just a couple of the many interesting segments across this multi-movement work. 

Schifrin’s cantata bears resemblance to Schoenberg’s earlier A Survivor From Warsaw.  The sprechstimme and angular vocal writing are less intense here though no less effective.  The orchestral threads seem to pop randomly about in a more aleatoric fashion as well.  This is not to say it is not tightly wrought music, and the more tonal section add a perfectly macabre quality to the proceedings.  One has to wonder what audiences must have made of this sprawling piece at the time.  Critical reception was certainly mixed, of course, some of this may be attributed to the lower esteem film composers were held at the time and that Schifrin may have been “over ambitious”.  Today, as we listen with a different sense of appreciation for film music as art, we can see how well-developed and structured the work is and it is perhaps time for a modern performance to give new listeners a chance to decide where this piece fits in 20th Century concert music.  At least Dragon’s Domain is giving us the chance to hear this performance recorded at the time of the premiere which lends it an extra historical value. 

For clips, visit the BuySoundtrax website: https://buysoundtrax.myshopify.com/products/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-third-reich-a-dramatic-cantata-composed-by-lalo-schifrin . The label has been re-issuing a host of Southern Cross releases and even some classical releases that were licensed for Vox back in the 1980s/1990s. Many are both available in CD (limited) or as digital downloads (or both).