Elizabeth B. Goldsmith

Silva Screen Records presents new digital recordings performed by The City of Prague Philharmonic conducted by Nic Raine featuring Crouch End Festival Chorus (Choir Master - David Temple), also the Westminster Philharmonic Orchestra, plus The Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Carl Davis, Neil Richardson and Kenneth Alwyn. The two CD set of twenty-eight tracks, over 130 minutes of music including such selections - "THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN" (1935-Franz Waxman) - "THE THING" (1951-Dimitri Tiomkin) - "THE EXORCIST" (1973-Mike Oldfield) - "HALLOWEEN" (1978-John Carpenter) - "THE HAUNTING" (1999-Jerry Goldsmith) evokes a string of horror and tension. As usual a few stand outs - "THE DEVIL RIDES OUT" (1968-James Bernard) Bernard's inexorable music may be simply stated, but the orchestration is venomous. This track is surely one of the most formidable and succinct realisations of the satanic in music. "SIX SENSE" (1999-James Newton Howard) this composer adopts a potent blend of richly realised Americana to subtly underscore events, never overtly signposting every narrative twist and turn.

Bob Belden became well-known during the '90s as an arranger and producer. Black Dahlia is the first full-length release of original music to appear under his name. It is a sweeping, ambitious work, featuring a large ensemble that includes the very finest jazz improvisers. The project was inspired by the true story of Elizabeth Short, aka the Black Dahlia, a shadowy character whose grisly murder in 1947, at age 22, became the subject of novels by James Ellroy and John Gregory Dunne.