The Philadelphia Story: Suite (for guitar duo) (1939)

Franz Waxman’s versatility can easily be appreciated when one considers that he wrote the scores for both Rebecca and The Philadelphia Story (M.G.M.,1940) almost simultaneously. Joseph L. Mankiewicz and George Cukor’s delightful film version of Philip Barry’s play (which later became the Cole Porter musical film High Society) was a tour de force for the star-studded cast - Katherine Hepburn, Cary Grant, and James Stewart. Stewart won the Academy Award, and Hepburn was nominated for the third time as Best Actress.

A virtuosic flourish dramatically heralds the ’True Love Theme’ – a bluesy tune in a Gershwinesque vain which takes its name from the sailboat on which Tracy Lord (Hepburn) and C.K. Dexter Haven spent their honeymoon. It is Waxman at his most sophisticated and stylish.

The Philadelphia Story was recorded as part of the CD You Must Remember This.