Beyond the Cape, Behind the Score...
...A look at the Rhino Superman Score Interview
by the Superman Cinema Team
Putting together an original soundtrack album can be, at best, a challenge.
But no matter what, listening to a score outside of the film is, in itself,
an experience.
The story of John Williams' score for "Superman" is already
legendary. As we have mentioned so many times before on many Superman-related
sites, the original soundtrack album was released in 1978. Then, last year,
Varese Sarabande decided to commemorate the 20th Anniversary of the film's
release by producing a re-recording by John Debney and the Royal Scottish
National Orchestra. In many respects, the Varese CD is a companion disc
to the existing OST.
When Warner Bros. and its Rhino Records subsidiary finally decided to
produce a definitive soundtrack album to "Superman", they called
upon two men who are experts in soundtrack recordings.
Michael Matessino and Nick Redman have an incredible track record on
special projects. Redman has done an excellent job on soundtracks for 20th
Century Fox, Warner Home Video and MGM/Turner (such as "Planet of
the Apes, The Wild Bunch and Poltergeist) while Matessino has produced
many supplementary materials for both LaserDisc and DVD (such projects
have included "The Sound Of Music" 30th Anniversary Box Set and
the recently released "Alien" DVD). Their most recent project
together was the "Star Wars Trilogy Special Edition" CDs.
The Rhino "Superman" expanded soundtrack is one of the most
complicated and challenging soundtrack re-releases ever put together for
the commercial market. While the new release is currently projected for
a 2000 release, Superman Web Central, in association with its sister sites,
SUPERMAN Cinema and The Unofficial John Williams Home Page, thought it
would be nice to go behind the scenes at the making of the new CD by way
of an Internet interview with Matessino and Redman, conducted by myself,
GandAlf DC (SUPERMAN Cinema webmaster) and Scott Hanson (proprietor of
the Williams Home Page). In this interview both Matessino and Redman revealed
many things about the new Rhino release that could not be mentioned publicly
before. For example, they mentioned the complications in getting an expanded
soundtrack re-release (in fact, many recent expanded soundtrack re-issues
such as "Raiders Of The Lost Ark" and the aforementioned "Star
Wars Trilogy Special Edition" CDs had many hurdles to cross before
they finally came together).
They also revealed that Warner Bros. went through great lengths to provide
whatever best materials were available to assure that the entire score
would be presented for the first time, including those cues that have never
been heard in any version of the film. This includes alternate versions
of the familiar "Superman" march, and a version of "Can
You Read My Mind" (from the "Flying Sequence") without Margot
Kidder's vocal.
Also, they revealed that Rhino Records are taking great steps to make
sure that their soundtrack release would be markedly different from last
year's Varese release. For instance, titles for many of the "previously
unavailable" cues will be changed...for example, the cue almost everybody
knows as "To The Lair" (when Superman is drawn to Lex' lair via
a high-pitched frequency) will be retitled "Sonic Greeting."
They also explained the digital remastering process used for the new
Rhino CD set, using the Pro-Tools system, a system Matessino normally uses
for second audio tracks of special edition LaserDiscs and DVDs.
For Matessino and Redman, working on the "Superman" project
was very difficult indeed. But when the remastered set is finally released
I'm sure the work put into it will be worth it...as well as the long wait
"Superman" fans are having to endure.
The entire text of this interview is currently available at the SUPERMAN
Web Central site ( http://members.aol.com/hiphats/superman.html
) until June 26th. It will also be available at the SUPERMAN Cinema site
( http://members.aol.com/dsupermanc/index.htm
) for an indefinite period of time.
MailBag@filmscoremonthly.com
| 
