Anton Karas - Third Man & Other Original Recordings [ORIGINAL RECORDINGS REMASTERED]
![Third Man & Other Original Recordings [ORIGINAL RECORDINGS REMASTERED]](/images/Third-Man-Other-Original-Recordings-ORIGINAL-RECORDINGS-REMASTERED-B00006J9M2-L.jpg)
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CD Details
Artist: Anton KarasEdition: Music CD
Format: Import
CD Release Date: 2004-04-05
Music Label: Jasmine Music
Soundtracks:
- The Third Man Theme (The Harry Lime Theme) Original Version
- Anton Karas Second Theme
- The Cafe Mozart Waltz Original Version
- The Carol Theme
- That Dear Old Song Original Version
- Rendezvous Waltz Previously Unissued
- Farewell To Vienna Previously Unissued
- Alt Wiener Tanz In C-Dur
- Visions Of Vienna
- Danube Dreams
- Anton Karas Medley, Part 1
- Anton Karas Medley, Part 2
- I'm In The Middle Of A Riddle
- Where Do I Go From You?
- Zither Rhythm Of Anton Karas
- Vienna , Women And Song Later Version
- Cherry Stones
- Wo Grunes Kranzel Hangt
- Silent Night, Holy Night
- Vienna, City Of My Dreams
- Vienna, Women And Song Original Version
- The Third Man Theme Later Version
- The Cafe Mozart Waltz Later Version
- That Dear Old Song Later Version
- Wenn Der Herrgott Net Will / The Third Man Theme
Music reviews of Third Man & Other Original Recordings [ORIGINAL RECORDINGS REMASTERED]
Music Review: perfect score for a perfect movie
Rating: 5 Stars
Carol Reed's veteran cinematographer Robert Krasker's quirky angles under Reed's direction perfectly framed the ready-made-for-an-art designer bombed out shadows and stark, isolated street lights of post-war Vienna and its underworld. Unique to cinema history the whole score (but for some canned incidental cafe music) was just the brilliant zither playing of Anton Karas, adding his nuances to every dramatic transition. Krasker won an Oscar, and Karas was nominated.
The "Third Man Theme" (also known as the "Harry Lime Theme") is alternately brittle, jaunty, bittersweet, romantic, wry, and even sardonic piece of music--which fits the mood of the story and the film perfectly -- that, once heard, can't be forgotten.
The "Third Man Theme" turned Anton Karas into a wealthy man after 28 years of toiling in obscurity an relative poverty in Vienna.
One night, Carol Reed was passing by a wine tavern where growers offer their own wines for sale directly, and heard Anton Karas's playing in the background. Reed had never heard a zither before and found the sound to be attractive. He approached Karas and persuaded him to play for him at his hotel, and made a recording, which Reed brought back to the studio to test. He liked the effect when the zither's sound was placed against the recorded dialogue and, ignoring the protests of many around him, hired Karas and brought him to London for 12 weeks.
Anton Karas screened the movie hundreds of times, devising music for each scene. The Third Man ended up with a vast amount of music, scored in virtually every scene of its 104 minutes. Ironically, the piece that became known as the "Third Man Theme" was something that Anton Karas had written two decades earlier and hadn't played in over 15 years. As he later explained to Reed, playing the zither for a whole night for tips was hard work, and one tended to play the easiest pieces the most often, to save the fingers.
Other zither players never got it to sound just right. The truth was that as recorded for the movie, "The Third Man Theme" was one of the first practical examples of overdubbing on a hit record, rivaling Les Paul's work--Anton Karas had gotten just the right effect working underneath Reed's kitchen table, and had gotten the piece just right by recording and mixing more than one zither part.
The Third Man was finished and prepared for release, and Reed and the production company, London Films, tried to raise interest in it through the music. None of the record companies, however, was interested in recording Karas or releasing the "Third Man Theme." The music was too strange and different, and although British movies had produced some soundtrack successes in the past, those were usually more conventional light classical pieces, not a jangly piece of music played on a central European folk instrument.
Description of Third Man & Other Original Recordings [ORIGINAL RECORDINGS REMASTERED]
Indelibly associated with the classic 1949 British film The Third Man starring Orson Welles in the key role of black marketeer Harry Lime, it was the haunting zither music of Anton Karas which also helped to make the film so memorable. The film theme went on to be a multi-million selling international hit, topping the American charts for weeks. At last JASMINE pays a fitting tribute to Karas with this 25 track collection of original recordings, including all the main music from the film (5 tracks) and other commercially released delightful zither gems. As a bonus, overlooked American songstress Kay Armen is delightfully featured on two songs, and the sleeve note by Paul Pelletier gives the full background of the man, the film, the music and the zither. Joel Whitburn, of American record chart book fame, describes Anton Karas as "the most remarkable of all one-hit artists". Remarkable indeed, how a humble musician trying to survive in post-war, partitioned (between the victorious Allies) Vienna came from nowhere and in 1950 topped the U.S. charts for eleven weeks with his self-composed theme for a British (albeit featuring American stars) film. His other claim to fame was introducing a hitherto obscure musical instrument, the zither, to the world of Popular music, although it has to be said its impact was not as enduring as the film theme it gave a voice to. Instantly recognisable, atmospheric and brilliant in its deceptive simplicity, "The Third Man Theme" (known as "The Harry Lime Theme" in Britain) remains both a 'Pop' and film theme classic. How it came to be allows use of that splendid word, serendipity.International CDs
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