Film Score Friday 9/11/98

by Lukas Kendall

Looks like James Horner's "Back to Titanic" concert at the Hollywood Bowl has been canceled. Don't know why just yet. Reportedly they were asking some $60 for the lousy bleacher seats. Wow.

In another concert update, Marvin Hamlisch's dates have changed; they are now Oct. 8, 9, 10 & 11. See our recent concert column for more info on what this is about.

Japanese FSM Site!

Attention Japanese readers: We are proud to announce a Japanese-language companion site to Film Score Monthly, with selected articles from the magazine translated by Nori Kuga. See:

http://home.earthlink.net/~akuga/index.html

We hope this is something that will continue for a long time. Check it out!

Superman Reaction

From: Zatzrite@aol.com

Having read your article this Friday I am pleased to know that there will finally be a release of some sort of the soundtrack to Superman - The Movie that contains the helicopter rescue. While some of this music can be heard on the Superman II soundtrack, I can't wait to hear the entire (I hope) scene played through.

I also hope that the opening pre-credit music is included.

Varese has not revealed what unreleased music has been recorded, but if I was a betting man, I'd assume that cool pieces like these are there. (Why record Superman and not do these?) Again, the new recording of Superman (a 2CD set, 83 min. total, cond. John Debney) is due Oct. 20 from Varese Sarabande.

From: Rgutowski <Rgutowski@nycds.org>

If I had hair on my head, it'd be standing up right now - a 2 CD recording of Superman - The Movie! Including Pa Kent's funeral? I'm really ecstatic over the news.

Warner's is supposedly releasing a remastered special edition DVD of the film at the end of the year. I wouldn't even want an isolated music track though, due to the many little trims and cuts in the score as used - a major chop in "Chasing The Missile," as well as the "Love Theme."

It'd be nice if the new recording's Main Title track, specifically the section where the strings and horns build to the first statement of the main theme, matched the film itself (or was this one of those cases where Williams was forced to track in a repeated bar or so to extend the music?) On Williams' own recording of the Main Title with the Boston Pops, there's slightly more of the build. Do any of you know what I'm talking about? Oh, obssession!

And it's time for a full recording of Somewhere in Time as well. I thought the first CD release of that lovely score would naturally include more tracks, including Reeve's death scene (it's included on John Barry's Moviola, in a gooshy, slow, self-reverential reading). Silly me. Same meager tracks. The new CD is definitely welcome.

What? Nice words from collectors about Varese. Wow. By the way, the Warners DVD of Superman that has been rumored ever since the inception of the format is still just that - a rumor.

Book Reports Needed

From: Eric McClellan, Andante7@aol.com

Know anything about these books? Are they recommended?

Soundtracks : An International Dictionary of Composers for Film by Stewart R. Craggs Our Price: $96.19 Hardcover (March 1998). Ashgate Publishing Company; ISBN: 1859281893

Keeping Score : Film and Television Music, 1980-1988 : With Additional Coverage of 1921-1979 by James L. Limbacher, H. Stephen Wright Our Price: $97.50 Hardcover (December 1991) Scarecrow Pr; ISBN: 0810824531

They are both listed at Amazon.com and sound interesting. I appreciate anything you can offer.

This is a good question. Soundtracks is something I've seen and it's pretty worthless, with regurgitated and partial filmographies for many composers -- and little more. I haven't seen Keeping Score but I do like H. Stephen Wright, moderator of the FILMUS-L discussion board, so hopefully it's good. Comments, anyone?

Things Scott Hutchins Can Tell Us

From: sahutchi@iupui.edu

Recently I got Michael Nyman's String Quartets 1-3 on CD. Nyman's notes say #1 was based on Schoenburg's 2nd String Concerto adn a collection of keyboard works by late-19th century comp John Bull, who borrowed a great deal from contemporary popular music. However, Part H, on track 16 is very clearly Alex North's famous "Unchained Melody," Nymanized but instantly recognizable to anyone familiar with North's tune.

I also bought the CD Michael Nyman Live, which erroneosly lists tracks 1, 2, and 3 as "Queen of the Night," "An Eye for Optical Theory," and "Chasing Sheep is Best Left to Shepherds," when they are actually "In Rei Don Giovanni," "Bird List," and "Queen of the Night," in that order. Thanks to ringing up low and Blockbuster's classcal clearance, I got this CD for a little over $8.00. The Barnes & Noble near my house has a corrected version for $10 more. Could this and the "Trever" _Dark City_ CDs be rare collectibles?

Yes. Check out their values in the new edition of Film Score Album Misprint Collectibles Monthly.

TV vs. Film

I got this from an aspiring composer and thought I would briefly address it today:

From: Stephen Lowell Brannen <slb2i@frank.mtsu.edu>

I am interested in writing music for both film and television. I have heard that TV music is somewhat looked down on - though I don't share this perspective (it's like comparing John Coltrane and Kenny G; their music has completely different functions, different messages, different audiences, etc). Can a composer realistically work in both media?

Son, this is sort of like asking, if I win the lottery, should I spend the money now, or later? I think there are definitely composers who have succeeded in both media, but many others who have picked one or the other. Film composers like the prestige and large scopes; TV composers like the back-end royalties, job security (when it happens) and relatively quick turnover. I'd say, go with whichever one works for you.

Weekly Nice Letter

From: Adrian Zachow, boingo@spin.net.au

Hi, I'm writing from Australia and I just want to congratulate those involved in the production of the latest Paper Chase / Conrack / Poseidon Adventure CD. Good packaging, and all is well laid out, not to mention the best possible sound quality. What amazed me the most however was the mere four or five day turn over - including a weekend. In part that is due to good postal services on both frontiers, but also due to a speedy response, for which I am very grateful!!! Keep it up!

Thanks!

Pasadena Pops Night at the Movies

From: Justin Doring <BMW750iL@pacbell.net>

I attended last Saturday's concert with the Pasadena Pops at Descanso Gardens. Pops Night at the Movies featured a healthy sample of film music as well as some show tunes. Conductor Lucas Richman personally chose the material, which was both diverse and mostly satisfying. Unfortunately, the acoustics were very poor, even for an outdoor concert, and the engineers were experiencing numerous technical difficulties throughout the program.

The concert began with "Parade of the Charioteers" from Rozsa's Ben Hur. Although Richman and his orchestra showed enthusiasm throughout the entire concert, their performance lacked the sheer power needed to properly carry out the music. Most of this was attributable to the orchestra's small size (less than 50 players). This lack of power was not kind to Rozsa. Herrmann's complex "Overture" to North by Northwest was performed too slowly and with several mistakes. The divergence from the original orchestrations was apparant. Next came a Strauss waltz that sounded thin. Both Steiner's Gone With the Wind and Raksin's Laura were hideous arrangements with poor orchestration with not enough solo instruments. A suite by Gershwin and the unecessary music from Grease were accompanied by annoying dancers. These two pieces, due to the less demanding requirements, sounded better than anything else that evening. Waxman's Huckleberry Finn was a pleasant surprise that opened the second half of the concert. This was performed very well, and one did not miss the extra players as much.

Conductor Richman's father, who starred in Friendly Persuasion, shared some anecdotes about Gary Cooper until he was booed from the stage by the rather rude audience. Pat Boone then sang Tiomkin's Friendly Persuasion and Ernest Gold's Exodus. Boone has certainly given better performances, but one must applaud his courage and unwaivering charm.

The concert ended with a short performance of Star Wars. Once again, the orchestra's size was noticable. Horner's Titanic was scheduled to be performed, but due to time constraints this piece was not heard. All in all, the concert was fairly enjoyable. I suppose I'm being too critical when comparing this to the original recordings. For it's size, the orchestra did an admirable job. Richman could have picked less demanding pieces, however. Unfortunately the Pasadena Pops Night at the Movies pales in comparison to last year's concert they gave with Mr. Goldsmith, which benefited from better acoustics, a larger orchestra, and the maestro's baton.

Horner Pic

A few of you checked out the giant JPG we had of Horner last Friday on the site. (See the end of last Friday's column for the link.)

From: Jeffswim@aol.com

Very funny, guys, to entice us with a cool pic, only to have us download a scary close-up of that guy (I can't even type the name). You really know how to give a guy a near-heart attack.

Our pleasure.

Things That Are Not Happening

From: Jim, bobafett@otenet.gr

I heard that Lucas bought the rights of the Indiana Jones soundtracks from Warner and he'll release expanded editions or maybe a box set. Do you have any info about that (official or unofficial)?

By the way, I received today my copy of Poseidon Adventure/Paper Chase. Apart from the music, the general production of the CD is excellent. I wish all record companies made CDs like yours!

Cool! Thanks! About Indiana Jones, I have heard absolutely nothing about this - no movement on an Indy box or expanded Temple of Doom or anything.

From: Greg Frost <bgfrost@op.net>

Does anyone know if there's any likelihood that Henry Mancini's score for (okay, it's not a very good film) "99 &44/100% Dead" might ever see daylight? To my knowledge nothing from this film ever made it onto a recording, although the music as I remember it was a virtual grab-bag of Mancini's styles from the Peter Gunn-like opening to some goofy Clouseauish incidental music. The film bombed, the soundtrack never appeared - at least I've never heard a whisper of it.

Short answer is, I don't know, probably not, but as always, we register letters like this in the backs of our minds for our Silver Age Classics series.

Have a Nice Weekend!

There's a new Lee Holdridge interview at http://www.ccnet.com/~earlye/holdridg.htm about his work on the soap opera One Life to Live, conducted by Marg Harris.

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