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I thought I would chime in again....
I just watched this movie for the first time. I probably would not have if not for Goldsmith's music. The movie is very bad. Quite dull in fact...
The score works well. The performance and quality is much better ....
FROM TADLOW!
Yes, the re-recording is superior (in my opinion of course).
It sounds more lush, clear, and better performed.
Does anybody know what orchestra performed the original?
-Rick O.
Goldsmith recorded the original score in Italy; that's, pretty much, all we know about it. Whether it was performed by the Orchestra di Santa Cecilia di Roma (as per Leviathan) or just a studio orchestra; that remains unclear.
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Posted: |
Apr 24, 2013 - 7:19 AM
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By: |
RoryR
(Member)
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The function that music served for decades has become superfluous for many films as technology and techniques have advanced. For instance, pounding music no longer has to make a guy in a monster suit seem terrifying -- the effects do that on their own.
That's poppycock. Modern CGI SFX are about as soulless as it can get. There's more soul in the original KING KONG's little toe than in all the CGI creations of the last twenty years combined, and because of that the need for better, much more thoughtful scores has never been greater -- and we're not getting them. Is it because the current crop of film composers are mostly a bunch of hacks, or is it that they are hamstrung by studio suits and producers who just don't understand the importance of a score anymore, or is it the developments in sound effects and digital surround and their overuse that's hurting the art of filmscoring?
I just think we're in, and have been in for some time, a creative slump in our culture. We just don't get great films anymore, so we don't get great film scores. And where is the great popular music in general? Everything seems regurgitated pap. Same with plays and novels. You name it. We're in the age of mediocrity, and I think a large part of the problem is salary. Most everyone is so wildly overpaid for producing lackluster product (and now more than ever it's just simply product) that you really have to wonder if they really try very hard considering how well compensated they're going to be for producing stuff that's just good enough, and with an undereducated public that has about as much true aesthetic appraisal of the arts as they do for their diets,.... just face it, we're doomed.
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Posted: |
Apr 24, 2013 - 12:32 PM
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By: |
SchiffyM
(Member)
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RoryR, I appreciate your passion, but it really has nothing to do with what I wrote. Whether you love or hate CGI is irrelevant -- films are filled with more and more imagery explicitly showing you, often for nearly the entire duration of the movie, what once had to be merely suggested, or only shown in the occasional effects shot. So one function of film music -- to suggest what you're not seeing -- is rendered moot when you're seeing it non-stop.
Films are largely worse, yes, and money has something to do with it, but it's not because everybody's being wildly overpaid. (In fact, the number of people being paid well for writing and directing movies has shrunk to a tiny few.) It's because movies cost so much, and overhead for these multinational corporations producing them is so high, and most films get only one weekend to make a splash before they have to make way for the next blockbuster. If you're making a film for $500,000, you may be able to make personal creative choices because the film doesn't have to try to appeal to every human living on planet Earth. Even $10 million is considered low budget these days. But if you've got to make $400 million to break even, then every choice is going to be made for you. And that means testing every aspect of the film to make sure nobody is ever confused, or thrown, or bugged by anything.
And let's face it -- tastes change. Do you honestly believe that "Iron Man 3" should be scored the way Max Steiner would have scored it?
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I just want to say that I too think this is a wonderful release, I'm really enjoying it, what a great rescue from oblivion! Thanks to Prometheus, James and Nic, and of course the terrific City Of Prague Orchestra and Chorus!
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YOR agrees with babling fat guy!
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Babling fat guy is nice people!
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Just got it and am listening to it: What a wonderful score and what a wonderful production. Usually I dislike rerecordings, but THE SALAMANDER is really heartbreaking brillant! Thanks a lot to all that helped to make this possible!!!!
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Posted: |
May 25, 2013 - 10:28 AM
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By: |
Hurdy Gurdy
(Member)
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Just got my copy from Amazon and would like to join the chorus of appreciation for this one.
From that great opening title cue, it sounds pure 100% Goldsmith all the way.
What a fantastic job everyone at Tadlow has done on this lost/forgotten score.
It's great to hear all the traces of those other Goldsmith scores, written around the same era, that creep in and out of this one.
I only ever saw the film once and that was while I was transferring the music onto a cassette tape during the 80's. Even then it was excruciating sitting through it. I have similar memories watching Caboblanco and Breakout, two other terrible films with great Goldsmith scores.
Anyway, no longer will I have to hear that awful dialogue while trying to listen to Goldsmith's music, thanks to all the painstaking work put in by Leigh Phillips, James Fitzpatrick and Nic Raine (to name but three).
I haven't played the bonus tracks yet, but I'm really looking forward to hearing the Ransom suite, since the old CD release of it sounds terrible and I never play it.
Thanks to Prometheus for such a top quality job!
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Yes, despite my perhaps-foolish best efforts, I just haven't been able to get burnt out on this GREAT score! If anything, each time I listen I like it even better. Not a single track I find boring or feel like skipping -- it's just incredible all the way through. The people who think The Salamander isn't fit to stand in the likes of Lawrence of Arabia, El Cid, or Taras Bulba just because the film itself is obscure crap...are totally and completely wrong! Even for Goldsmith, this is honestly a MASTERPIECE and not just some obscure footnote that got a recording just because it was the most recent completely unreleased Goldsmith score...
Yavar
P.S. There's still "new" Goldsmith waiting to be discovered -- I hope Tadlow/Prometheus tackle a western twofer next with Goldsmith's first and third scores: Black Patch and Face of a Fugitive!
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Of course, I haven't checked how often I have listened to the two "Subway" tracks from the DIE HARD WITH A VENGEANCE album. 