A Christmas Carol: Suite for Orchestra After Dickens (1938)

The 1938 Joseph L. Mankiewicz’ production of the Dickensian classic A Christmas Carol, starring Reginald Owen as Ebenezer Scrooge, was directed by Edwin L. Marin for MGM. The fifty-minute score contains ten themes incorporated into twenty-three orchestral numbers and seven choral selections. Waxman had to whip all of them Into shape within five days! The recording session began at five in the afternoon and ended at nine the following morning. The composer noted: “High pressure has no ill effect on the inspiration but it’s pretty hard on the body.”