Description
ANTON KARAS plays “The Third Man Theme”
& other Original Recordings CD
The First Man of the Zither
25 TRACKS ON 1 CD. Play length approx: 61 minutes.
Indelibly associated with the classic 1949 British film, The Third Man, which starred Orson Welles as black marketeer Harry Lime, the haunting zither music of Anton Karas also helped to make the film memorable. In the summer of 1948, director Carol Reed was preparing to shoot the film in Vienna, but he needed a theme tune. One day he chanced on a tavern, where he heard simple zither melodies being played. Reed asked the musician, Anton Karas, if he would compose the music for the film, thereby changing the musician’s life forever. Karas was reluctant, since it meant travelling to England, but he finally accepted. He wrote and recorded the 40 minutes of music heard in The Third Man over a six-week period, after the entire film was translated for him at Shepperton Studios. It is remarkable, that a humble musician, trying to survive in post-war Vienna, came from nowhere and, in 1950, topped the U.S. charts for eleven weeks with his theme for a British film. Instantly recognisable 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. This 25 track collection of original recordings includes all the main music from the film plus other zither gems. Songstress Kay Armen is delightfully featured on two songs; and the sleeve notes by Paul Pelletier give the full background of the man, the film and the music.
Track Listing:
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 v. Kay Armen / WHERE DO I GO FROM YOU? v. Kay Armen / 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 brief reprise
