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The Sea Hawk


The Sea Hawk (Erich Wolfgang Korngold)  

44 members have voted

  1. 1. How do you rate this score?

    • 5 stars
      21
    • 4 stars
      7
    • 3 stars
      2
    • 2 stars
      0
    • 1 stars
      1
    • I'm not familiar with this score
      13


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Every few days I will post a thread on a random score from my collection that we can discuss and rate. I made a playlist on my computer with one track of each score I've got, so by using the random play option, I'll be able to post a truly random score each time. Hopefully this will allow us to discuss some scores that would otherwise never be discussed. Also we can record the rating so that we can create a full list of the ratings given to scores by JWFan.com.

Today's score is The Sea Hawk by Erich Wolfgang Korngold. Are you familiar with it? What do you like about it? What don't you like about it? How do do you think it works in the film? What are your favourite tracks? Which version do you consider best?

You can base your opinion on the original version or on whatever re-recording you prefer. :P

So far JWFan has rated:

Zathura by John Debney: 3,17 stars - 15 votes - 9 unfamiliar

Rambo III by Jerry Goldsmith: 3,62 stars - 17 votes - 4 unfamiliar

Star Trek X: Nemesis by Jerry Goldsmith: 3,11 stars - 32 votes - 5 unfamiliar

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The only version I'm really familiar with is the recent complete re-recording by Moscow Symphony. It's great! And cheap. I find myself listening to it quite often, moreso than others scores from the era. The early battle cue is my favourite (it is track 4, if remember correctly).

5 stars. Easily.

In fact, I'm going to give it a listen right now :P

Karol

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I couldn't say on the actual score - I do have it but haven't listened to it - but the main theme is stunning.
Same thing for me. I hardly know the score itself; only the main theme. Which is really quite good. I did once try to listen to the score and it did sound nice enough, but it didn't quite connect with me the same way Cutthroat Island did.
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The funny thing about this theme is that it seems to be everywhere in the first half and hardly present in the second.

Karol

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5 stars, no doubt whatsoever. The recent complete re-recording is quite nice (specially since it is the complete score), but 15 minute suite by Gerhardt is absolutely stunning.

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Peter, are you someday going to ask a score that i own? :)
That depends on whether you have any action/adventure scores. That's what my collection is mostly made up of. I've got 400+ scores now though and the selection for my threads is pretty much random. But I'll see about posting a more well-known score next time. :P
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Sea Hawk is an awesome score! So much fun and energy. Always something happening! One of the classic swashbucklers. I bought the complete version from Naxos as soon as I heard it was coming out.

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I really like seafaring music, but I've never been able to really appreciate The Sea Hawk properly, outside of the main title. I wonder why; really doesn't make much sense. Could anybody tell me any particular things to like about this score?

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I really like seafaring music, but I've never been able to really appreciate The Sea Hawk properly, outside of the main title. I wonder why; really doesn't make much sense. Could anybody tell me any particular things to like about this score?

Do you like the Golden Age swashbuckling music in general? Might be that you do not have the taste for this kind of seafaring music.

I personally like the extremely busy and intricate nature of Korngold swashbucklers with almost balletic and openly operatic grand gestures, melodies (even if those are little sugary) and the beautiful flow of the music.

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So much fun and energy. Always something happening!

Exactly, too many notes, not enough rests.

Well I usually have to be in a very energetic mood myself to listen to this kind of music in the first place. Nothing wrong with those notes then.

But I can't take more than one of these scores in a day :P After that it becomes Golden Age overload.

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Do you like the Golden Age swashbuckling music in general? Might be that you do not have the taste for this kind of seafaring music.
Of the Golden Age music I have heard, I think I like Mutiny on the Bounty (technically Silver Age, but it's all the same to me) and El Cid best. Other than those two, I only really appreciate the main titles and suites to the Golden Age scores. I think it helps that I've actually seen those two films. Although I have been trying to get to see more old films lately, a lot of the really fun stuff seems to be pretty much unavailable. Most notably Captain Blood and The Sea Hawk. I'd love to see those films! :)

I've also seen Ben-Hur and Captain Horatio Hornblower and I do appreciate the music in those films quite a lot, though I never really listened to the complete score of Ben-Hur. As for Hornblower, there's hardly any music of that available. I did find five tracks accumulating to 21 minutes of music on some sort of Horatio Hornblower suite in perfect sound quality though, which I'm really happy with. :P

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I haven't seen the movie, or heard the complete soundtrack, but I have heard several tracks, and what I've heard I like. Great theme, and great treatment. It's one of my favorite Korngold scores.

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CAPTAIN BLOOD and THE SEA HAWK are both in Warner's Errol Flynn boxset. Track them down, they're excellent.
Is that available in Europe? I never saw that in stores and I searched for those films on play.com a while ago, but could only find Region 1 versions. :P

I like pirate films and want to see the famous old ones. Right now I'm stuck with just PotC and Cutthroat Island. And Disney's Treasure Island, which is probably the most similar to the old ones.

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This score annoys me in the movie, but I enjoy listening to the various recordings. I'm giving it a three.

Robin Hood is better.

Neil

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I only know the original Korngold's recording and the sound of it detracts me so much from enjoying it (it generally refers to all my Korngold cues from the double cd compilation: "The Warner Bros Years").

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Peter, are you someday going to ask a score that i own? :P
Ray Barnsbury - waiting for a poll about a score he's heard

You both need to broaden your horizons.....;)

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I think I'll go with 4 stars on this one. I know it's really good from all your comments, but can't really give it 5 stars until I have given it several full listens and have come to appreciate it more.

Well, at least I'm pleased that through these threads we can show scores to people that otherwise would never have heard about them. Perhaps by seeing the rating and comments people provide, other people might get interested to give these scores a listen. I'm certainly more willing to give these scores a listen myself, now that I've seen what other people think about them. :P

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Peter, are you someday going to ask a score that i own? :P
Ray Barnsbury - waiting for a poll about a score he's heard

You both need to broaden your horizons.....;)

It's true! I like these polls, I'm just too ignorant of the scores so far to vote.

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A solid 5-star classic.

Exactly, too many notes, not enough rests.

You just described Independence Day and CutThroat Island.

Hawk has plenty of restful parts.

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Sea Hawk is an awesome score! So much fun and energy. Always something happening! One of the classic swashbucklers. I bought the complete version from Naxos as soon as I heard it was coming out.

Where did you find it? I can never find it on the Naxos site.

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The score can be found quite easily through their website under his name in the composer listing. Here is the link

Seahawk

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CAPTAIN BLOOD and THE SEA HAWK are both in Warner's Errol Flynn boxset. Track them down, they're excellent.
Is that available in Europe? I never saw that in stores and I searched for those films on play.com a while ago, but could only find Region 1 versions. :rolleyes:

I like pirate films and want to see the famous old ones. Right now I'm stuck with just PotC and Cutthroat Island. And Disney's Treasure Island, which is probably the most similar to the old ones.

Yeah, it's Region 2. I bought it in HMV in the UK.

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A solid 5-star classic.
Exactly, too many notes, not enough rests.

You just described Independence Day and CutThroat Island.

Hawk has plenty of restful parts.

My thoughts exactly.

Karol

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There is a new recording on Chandos of the full score.

As a true Korngold fan I rate this one 5 stars.

CAPTAIN BLOOD and THE SEA HAWK are both in Warner's Errol Flynn boxset. Track them down, they're excellent.
Is that available in Europe? I never saw that in stores and I searched for those films on play.com a while ago, but could only find Region 1 versions. :fouetaa:

I like pirate films and want to see the famous old ones. Right now I'm stuck with just PotC and Cutthroat Island. And Disney's Treasure Island, which is probably the most similar to the old ones.

Yeah, it's Region 2. I bought it in HMV in the UK.

Can you post more info on that box set? I have been looking for the two movies but they seem not available here.

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CAPTAIN BLOOD and THE SEA HAWK are both in Warner's Errol Flynn boxset. Track them down, they're excellent.
Is that available in Europe? I never saw that in stores and I searched for those films on play.com a while ago, but could only find Region 1 versions. :fouetaa:

I like pirate films and want to see the famous old ones. Right now I'm stuck with just PotC and Cutthroat Island. And Disney's Treasure Island, which is probably the most similar to the old ones.

Yeah, it's Region 2. I bought it in HMV in the UK.

Can you post more info on that box set? I have been looking for the two movies but they seem not available here.

Sure, it's this one: Errol Flynn Signature Collection

Contains:

DIVE BOMBER

THEY DIED WITH THEIR BOOTS ON

THE SEA HAWK

THE PRIVATE LIVES OF ELIZABETH AND ESSEX

DODGE CITY

CAPTAIN BLOOD

Great price on Amazon, too.

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CAPTAIN BLOOD and THE SEA HAWK are both in Warner's Errol Flynn boxset. Track them down, they're excellent.
Is that available in Europe? I never saw that in stores and I searched for those films on play.com a while ago, but could only find Region 1 versions. :lol:

I like pirate films and want to see the famous old ones. Right now I'm stuck with just PotC and Cutthroat Island. And Disney's Treasure Island, which is probably the most similar to the old ones.

Yeah, it's Region 2. I bought it in HMV in the UK.

Can you post more info on that box set? I have been looking for the two movies but they seem not available here.

Sure, it's this one: Errol Flynn Signature Collection

Contains:

DIVE BOMBER

THEY DIED WITH THEIR BOOTS ON

THE SEA HAWK

THE PRIVATE LIVES OF ELIZABETH AND ESSEX

DODGE CITY

CAPTAIN BLOOD

Great price on Amazon, too.

Thanks!

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I've heard both of Gerhardt's Sea Hawk Suites, and I think they're fantastic, but that's only about 15 minutes of music so I can't really say I'm familiar enough with this score.

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The score can be found quite easily through their website under his name in the composer listing. Here is the link

Seahawk

Thanks Incanus-- ordered it.

Figured I'd better after a good omen tonight. An episode of "Family Guy" came on with a plotline about his acquiring a parrot, and then behaving like a pirate. during a drive, he conducted pirate-style warfare with an adjacent motorist, and the incidental music was "the Sea Hawk." :beerchug:

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I imagine the album of this would be good. It's not particularly good in the film, which I hated. Way too much mickey-mousing. The main theme is a great theme, though, and works well at a couple of points in the film.

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The Sea Hawk film score certainly influenced Williams in his composing style. While incomplete, the Utah Symphony recording is spectacular. Check out the Main Title music:

http://buysoundtrax.stores.yahoo.net/seahawdigrec.html

Buying options at Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Sea-Hawk-1987-Studio.../dp/B00000154B/

The Moscow Symphony recently re-recorded the full score:

http://www.screenarchives.com/title_detail.cfm?ID=7241

.... but lacks the energy of Utah's effort.

Make an effort to get a hold of this monumental film score.

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Sea Hawk is an awesome score! So much fun and energy. Always something happening! One of the classic swashbucklers. I bought the complete version from Naxos as soon as I heard it was coming out.

Completely seconded. :) The Main Title is one of the best Main Titles ever written, I can never resist to listen to it less than 5-10 times in a row when I put the CD into my player. :ola:

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I listened to Sea Hawk once and I didn't like it enough to play it again. Too typical golden ageish sounding

Williams writes much better themes

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I listened to Sea Hawk and I didn;t like it that much. Too typical golden age sounding

Korngold invented the "Golden Age." That sound was in his music before it was in Hollywood, even before Hollywood had sound at all!

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