Making sense of it all

Carl Davis

Intolerance

Luxembourg Radio Symphony Orchestra/ Carl Davis

Carl Davis Collection CDC030 75:37 mins

The DW Griffith 1916 silent film was the oldest title restored by Thames Television as part of its commitment to preserving some of Hollywood’s early gems in the 1980s. Almost all of their restorations were musically enhanced by Carl Davis, who premiered the score for this in Leeds in 1986. was the American director's lavish follow-up to his controversial (1915) and it proved something of an expensive folly, as he attempted to intertwine four stories taking place in different eras and on different continents. Suffice to say audiences were left a little puzzled by the jigsaw of scenes, but I think all would have been clearer for them if they’d been treated to Davis’s music. It’s a treat to finally have an album of this robust orchestral score, which was recorded in Luxembourg in 1990 for the commercial release of the film. It's not subtle in its use of thematic colouring or place-setting instrumentation, but that’s why it works so well. Davis is the anchor in an otherwise unwieldy set of plotlines, his score – with its repeated central theme – binding everything together with lyricism and perfect storytelling. ★★★★★