The General (Original Soundtrack) (75th Anniversary Edition) [Import]

by Various Artists

Rare & Hard-To-Find Audio CDs (series)

This is a delightful CD, giving what is perhaps the fullest presentation ever received for the music from one of the finest comedies ever made. The General, starring and co-directed by Buster Keaton, represented one of the peaks of the silent era in movies -- and one so elevated that its appeal has lingered well into the 21st century. There is precious little information about the score presented here, in terms of its degree of authenticity in relation to any sheet music sent out with the movie on its original release in 1927, but one assumes it is true to the materials of that era. In any case, it's a charming pastiche of Civil War-era traditional songs and instrumental music that flows, dramatically and humorously, across 75 minutes of screen time and is worth hearing even without the film to view. Played by a pianist accompanied by a small orchestra, the music has a lean, unpretentious quality and rough-hewn elegance (contradictory as that may sound) that make it bracing and charming as a listening experience. The production is first-rate as far as the sound, though the annotation is a bit generic and unfocused -- one wishes that instead of focusing on Keaton's overall life and career, the notes referred more to the actual making of The General and the history behind it (the movie was based on a true story), as well as the score. But in the end it's the listening that matters, and that's beyond reproach, in terms of pleasure. ~ Bruce Eder