Malcolm Arnold - Trapeze (1956)

EM/f.PC/LP 0034
TRAPEZE (1956)
Real. Carol Reed
Mus. Malcolm Arnold
Dir. Mus. Muir Mathieson

LP CBS LSP 15856 – Stereo (ESP, 1986)

Side 1. 

1. Entry of The Gladiators (Pucik) 

2. Juke Box 

3. Tino’s Arrival in Paris 

4. Blue Danube (J. Strauss - Arr.: M. Arnold) 

5. Above The Ring 

6. Stars and Stripes Forever (Sousa)

Side 2. 

1. Prelude 

2. Lola’s Theme 

3. Fanfare and Elephants’ Waltz 

4. Mike and Lola’s Love Theme 

5. Trapeze (P. Elie) 

6. Washington Post March (Sousa)

Notes Back Cover

One of the most exciting motion pictures of 1956, Trapeze offered not only the built-in thrills of the circus, but a high-voltage team of stars, Burt Lancaster, Gina Lollobrigida and Tony Curtis, along with direction by Carol Reed and a lavish production. One of the most interesting aspects of the movie was its use of music, composed and assembled by Malcolm Arnold, to underline the atmosphere of the Parisian circus and the drama crackling among the principal players. Some of the high spots of the score have been collected in this recording taken from the soundtrack, demonstrating not only Mr. Arnold's skill and craftsmanship, but the building suspense of the film as well.

Against the fantastic and colorful background of the circus, the suspenseful drama traces the career of Tony Curtis as a young trapeze artist, and his training by Burt Lancaster, himself a former circus performer in real life. Gina Lollobrigida portrays a volatile acrobat whose scheming sets off a blaze of excitement leading to the thrilling climax. Throughout the story, Malcolm Arnold has provided music to heighten the drama, including many memorable themes.

Among these are Lola's Theme for Miss Lollobrigida, Mike and Lola's Love Theme for the romance between Mr. Lancaster and the beautiful Italian star, and Tino's Arrival in Paris, delineating Mr. Curtis'first appearance. Along with these and other notable moments of original music, Mr. Arnold has included a number of traditional circus pieces, including Johann Strauss' Blue Danube as the theme for many of the trapeze sequences, and two marches by John Philip Sousa, the Washington Post March and Stars and Stripes Forever. There is also that timeless circus favorite, the Entry of the Gladiators, by Julius Fucik. Much of the international flavor of Trapeze and its circus surroundings (American and Italian stars, along with the Mexican Katy Jurado, a British director, a Parisian setting) is echoed in this music, an authentic and delightful souvenir of the production.

Mr. Arnold, one of Britain's foremost young composers, is well-known for his many films scores, as well as for symphonic works in many forms. For the Diamond Jubilee of the Bournemouth Municipal Orchestra in 1953, he was commissioned to write a symphony, his second, which in the words of Malcolm MacDonald is "gay and uninhibited... a frolic resolutely refusing to carry the world's sorrows on its shoulders". Sim larly gay and uninhibited is Mr. Arnold's music for Trapeze, as indeed music for such a film should be. Here, then, are moments reflecting some of the moods of Trapeze, exhilarating, romantic, brooding, exciting, a mirror, in fact, of the kaleidoscopic circus life so vividly presented in a fascinating film.