The old man and the sea

Intrada and Volta Music present a brand-new recording of Dimitri Tiomkin's 1958 Oscar-winning score to The Old Man and the Sea. The album was recorded with regular Intrada favorite, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, under the baton of Richard Kaufman. The Old Man and the Sea was a golden opportunity for a composer. Rife with atmosphere and notably short on dialogue, the picture called for a composer who could “think big” and create a sprawling musical canvas reflecting the film’s theme of man vs. nature. In the mid-1950s, few (if any) film composers were routinely producing large works on the scale of Dimitri Tiomkin.

Tiomkin composed nearly 80 minutes of rich orchestral underscore. His music encompasses a wide range of moods, including passages that reflect the lush seascapes and breathtaking sunsets of Howe’s cinematography with Impressionistic tone color and rhythm; bold dramatic cues for Santiago’s struggle with the marlin; periodic references to Latin-American rhythms for the film’s Cuban setting and quiet moments of repose to depict the tender relationship between Santiago and Manolin. Inspired by Hemingway’s story, Tiomkin crafted a score that supports the drama, in his words, “in the style of a symphonic poem for concert.” Five principal themes unify the mammoth composition.

Featuring gorgeous cover art by Stéphane Coedel and liner notes by Frank K. DeWald, Warren M. Sherk and Patrick Russ, the CD includes nearly 130 minutes of music—the complete score plus additional arrangements. Remarkably, the original full-score manuscripts have survived for nearly 70 years thanks to Dimitri Tiomkin’s own preservation efforts. He donated all his music to the Dimitri Tiomkin Collection in the Cinematic Arts Library at The University of Southern California in Los Angeles, and the Warner Bros. Archives, also located on the USC campus.

The Old Man and the Sea is a film adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's novella, directed by John Sturges and starring Spencer Tracy as the aging Cuban fisherman Santiago. Struggling with a long stretch of bad luck, Santiago embarks on a solitary fishing expedition, determined to catch a giant marlin that has eluded him. After an epic battle lasting several days, he successfully catches the fish but faces new challenges as he struggles to protect his catch from sharks on his journey home. The film explores themes of perseverance, human dignity, and the struggle between man and nature. Spencer Tracy's performance was widely praised, earning him an Academy Award nomination.

Tracklist