Excerpt: Film scores using bass oboe (chronological)
by Peter Hurd; reorganized and amended by Holger Hoos, editor-in-chief since 2020
version 2 (1 February 2022)
This collection is based on the catalogue of musical works requiring heckelphone or bass oboe instrumentation assembled by Peter Hurd beginning in 1998. For this new edition, the original version of the repertoire list has been edited for accuracy, completeness and consistency, and it has been extended with a number of newly discovered pieces.
Some entries could not (yet) be rigorously verified for accuracy; these were included nonetheless, to provide leads for future investigation, but are marked clearly. Pieces were selected for inclusion based solely on the use of heckelphone, bass oboe or lupophone, without any attempt at assessing their artistic merit. Arrangements of pieces not originally intended for these instruments were included when there was clear evidence that they had found a significant audience.
We gratefully acknowledge contributions by Crawford Best, Ulrich Brokamp, Michael Finkelman, Francis Firth, Alain Girard, Thomas Hiniker, Robert Howe, Gunther Joppig, Georg Otto Klapproth, Mark Perchanok, Andrew Shreeves and Michael Sluman.
Waxman, Franz (1906-1967): Objective Burma! (film), 1945
Publisher: Warner Brothers
Remarks: the original score (with arrangements by Leonid Raab) used heckelphone, while the 2005 Naxos re-recording (arranged by John Morgen) used bass oboe instead
Duration: 142min
Tags: heckelphone, bass oboe; film music
Additional information can be found here; a recording is available here.
Herrmann, Bernard (1911-1975): Anna and the King of Siam, 1946 [?]this entry is only partially verified
Publisher: Twentieth Century Fox
Duration: 128min
Tags: bass oboe; film music
Additional information can be found here; a recording is available here.
Newman, Alfred (1900-1970): Love is a Many-Splendored Thing (film), 1955
Publisher: Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation
Remarks: bass oboe played by Vincent Schipilliti
Duration: 102min
Tags: bass oboe; film music
Additional information can be found here; a recording is available here.
Rosenman, Leonard (1924-2008): Rebel Without a Cause (film), 1955 [?]this entry is only partially verified
Publisher: Warner Brothers Pictures
Duration: 111min
Tags: bass oboe; film music
Additional information can be found here.
Gold, Ernest (né Ernst Sigmund Goldner) (1921-1999): The Screaming Skull (film), 1958 [?]this entry is only partially verified
Publisher: American International Pictures, Madera Productions
Duration: 104min
Tags: bass oboe; film music
Additional information can be found here; a recording is available here.
North, Alex (1910-1991): Cleopatra (film), 1963
Publisher: Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation
Remarks: orchestrations by Alex North, Edward Powell and Henry Brant
Duration: 151min
Tags: bass oboe; film music
Additional information can be found here; a recording is available here.
Raksin, David (1912-2004): The Redeemer (film), 1965 [?]this entry is only partially verified
Publisher: Empire Pictures
Remarks: Re-edited American version of the 1959 Spanish film "Los Mysterios Del Rosario"; orchestrations by Hugo Friedhofer
Duration: 85min
Tags: bass oboe; film music
Additional information can be found here.
North, Alex (1910-1991): Dragonslayer (film), 1981 [?]this entry is only partially verified
Publisher: Paramount Pictures
Remarks: orchestrations by Henry Brant
Duration: 73min
Tags: bass oboe; film music
Additional information can be found here; a recording is available here.
Davis, Carl (1936-): Intolerance (film), 1989
Remarks: new score for the 1916 film by D.W. Griffith
Duration: 75min
Tags: bass oboe; film music
A recording is available here.
Isham, Mark (1951-): Next (film), 2007
Publisher: Paramount Studios
Remarks: the bass oboe part in the film is played by Chris Bleth
Duration: 96min
Tags: bass oboe; film music
Additional information can be found here.
Isham, Mark (1951-): Once Upon a Time (TV series), 2011-2018
Remarks: the bass oboe part in the series is played by Chris Bleth
Tags: bass oboe; film music
Additional information can be found here.