Casablanca

Michael Curtiz’s 1942 film about two lovers reunited in French North Africa has become an outright classic of its time.  One of the jewels in the Warner Bros. crown, Casablanca has it all – action, drama, despair and of course romance.  Max Steiner’s Oscar-nominated score remains one of his most enduring and this suite, developing right out of his ‘Fanfare’, manages to convey just about the entire story in almost seven minutes.  From the tumultuous brass refrains of the opening (borrowed from his 1936 score for The Lost Patrol) to the lilting piano of »As Time Goes By« – given a more intense emotional rendering later in the string section – it truly is a rollercoaster ride of emotions.  Peppering the suite also is »La Marsellaise«, which features heavily in the larger score, and builds to a rousing finale.