The legendary Jerry Goldsmith's fourth film score, 1960's Studs Lonigan features many of the hallmarks that would define the composer's career, exhibiting a remarkable maturity and complexity that belie his relative inexperience. A rousing, deeply emotional work featuring stunning piano contributions from a young John Williams, Studs Lonigan boasts a pastoral beauty that anticipates Goldsmith's classic Western scores. Many themes hinge on melancholy harmonica melodies, conveying a rugged naturalism that perfectly captures the texture of James T. Farrell's source novel. Other themes like "Out of Work" and "A Game of Pool" are far more intricate and robust, galvanized by lush orchestration and frenzied percussion. Most telling is the concluding "Destitute Man," which climaxes on the kind of dissonant symphonic eruption that would become a Goldsmith signature. ~ Jason Ankeny
