03/05/2026
Our very own Maestro Frank Collura!
Best Years of Our Lives Soundtrack CD (SACD) Hugo Friedhofer LIMITED EDITION Super Audio CD: $25.99
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Quartet Records, in collaboration with Fifth Continent Music Classics, presents a remastered reissue of the acclaimed 1978 recording of Hugo Friedhofer’s classic, Academy-Award-winning score for William Wyler’s THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES (1946), performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Maestro Frank Collura.
Considered one of the best film scores ever composed, Hugo Friedhofer’s music was revolutionary at the time. Far from the prevailing influence in Hollywood in the 1940s with the sound brought by European composers, Friedhofer opted for music with a profound American influence, especially Aaron Copland. In addition to economy of means, he preferred an orchestral color palette closer to chamber music than to the grand symphonic sound that prevailed at the time.
He was also economical in the amount of music he wrote for the film. Instead of wall-to-wall music, as was the norm in huge productions, he chose to write around 50 minutes for a three-hour film, which was tremendously effective and opened a new way forward where music could contribute a psychological factor beyond the merely descriptive.
In the 1970s, producer John Lasher attempted to release the original score, which he considered his personal favorite, but the tapes had disappeared. A new recording using modern technology, in stereo, was the only solution.
Tony Bremner reconstructed the score with Friedhofer’s approval, and the result was one of the best re-recordings ever made of a classic film score, which had the blessing of the composer and the entire film music industry.
The album has been remixed and remastered by Chris Malone on Super Audio CD at 32-bit/96 kHz from high-resolution sources transferred in two-channel stereo. This hybrid SA-CD can of course be played on any standard CD player, although those with an SACD system will be able to enjoy it in DSD.
The lavish 24-page booklet features detailed liner notes by film music writer John Takis, discussing the film and the score.
