Well..theres so much great music missing on the MCA recording that this score would be worth an expansion. I remember the "Horse sequence" for example when Dracula arrives out of the mist..excellent Williams!!!!!
There was a Hollywood Bowl CD conducted by John Mauceri that featured a nice recording of some Dracula music. I think the CD was called "Nightmares." But my very cursory look at soundtrackcollector.com doesn't show such a CD as existing. I know it does.
EDIT: Oh, here it is on Amazon, but without a track listing. I guess you'll have to buy a used copy for 19ยข to find out more.
Ah, it was on Phillips! (I shelve my collections -- always a challenging task! -- by label and hadn't thought to look at Phillips.) Thanks to all for the reminder. Actually I found the piece myself a few hours earlier. "Hollywood Nightmares" is a mixed bag, like most such collections, but it contains a wonderful SUNSET BOULEVARD "Sonata [well . . .] for Orchestra" that represents the score far better than the Gerhardt suite. As for DRACULA, I now hear so many connections with other Williams scores that were not obvious in 1979. It's like hearing with new ears. As the sage once said, you cannot wade into the same river twice. I'm not yet convinced that the score is top-drawer Williams but I would certainly like to hear more of it.
I'm not yet convinced that the score is top-drawer Williams but I would certainly like to hear more of it.
The Varese album didn't do much for me and its does remind me of Williams dense dark writing chords from THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK (as it is from the same time frame) The film on the other hand reveals a lot more about the score in most of the unreleased material. So there is great promise in a expanded complete set (if it happens !)
There was commentary by John Badham on the LP sleeve notes, which I vaguely recollect. Badham assumed JW had seen a vampire flick before and was surprised to be told that no, JW had never seen an example of the genre before - no Gothic horror romances, if that is the correct category.
So JW must have scored the film with a fresh perspective. There is some commonality with Jane Eyre, which is obvious - the scherzo "To Scarborough" having commonality with "To Thornfield" - both being examples of thrifty flights through the English countryside.
Slightly off topic, but I've just been listening to the late James Bernard's Hammer Film work...which I love, especially his wonderful 'Dracula' scores...very underrated Film Composer !
Ah, it was on Phillips! (I shelve my collections -- always a challenging task! -- by label and hadn't thought to look at Phillips.) Thanks to all for the reminder. Actually I found the piece myself a few hours earlier. "Hollywood Nightmares" is a mixed bag, like most such collections, but it contains a wonderful SUNSET BOULEVARD "Sonata [well . . .] for Orchestra" that represents the score far better than the Gerhardt suite. As for DRACULA, I now hear so many connections with other Williams scores that were not obvious in 1979. It's like hearing with new ears. As the sage once said, you cannot wade into the same river twice. I'm not yet convinced that the score is top-drawer Williams but I would certainly like to hear more of it.
Highlight of the "Hollywood Nightmares" CD is Waxman's Jeckyl and Hyde. What a score ! (and beautifully recorded).
I have it today on very good authority that if there is an new recording or re-release of DRACULA then nothing will be done without John Williams' being involved himself. So that certainly means no new recording unless conducted by John.
I have it today on very good authority that if there is an new recording or re-release of DRACULA then nothing will be done without John Williams' being involved himself. So that certainly means no new recording unless conducted by John. And that goes for any of his music ......
Great. Now forget DRACULA (which has a perfectly fine album already) and get yourself into the recording studio and conduct a version of STORY OF A WOMAN, Mr. Williams -- the one true, unreleased score in your canon that TRULY deserves it.
Let me second Governor's comment concerning Waxman's great score for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The Christopher Palmer suite heard on the Hollywood Nightmares album was also included on a Decca Phase 4 recording called Satan Superstar that I believe was only released in England, and was reissued on a Silvia Screen collection entitled 50 Years of Classic Horror Music. In some ways the Phase 4 version was better, and in other ways the Hollywood Nightmares version is better. Serious Waxman fans will want both because of the differences. The Phase 4 has tremendous mid range clarity and inner detail and Hollywood Nightmares has more bass. Unfortunately, neither use the organ for the ending. We desperately need a complete recording of this great score.
JamesFitz: I have it today on very good authority that if there is an new recording or re-release of DRACULA then nothing will be done without John Williams' being involved himself. So that certainly means no new recording unless conducted by John. And that goes for any of his music ......
This is the best news in the soundtrack biz since the Arista Star Wars box. I've always felt that JW wouldn't tolerate less than the max for this inevitable album. Hooray! I want Dudamel and the LA Phil.
JamesFitz: I have it today on very good authority that if there is an new recording or re-release of DRACULA then nothing will be done without John Williams' being involved himself. So that certainly means no new recording unless conducted by John. And that goes for any of his music ......
This is the best news in the soundtrack biz since the Arista Star Wars box. I've always felt that JW wouldn't tolerate less than the max for this inevitable album. Hooray! I want Dudamel and the LA Phil.
You did of course notice the word "if" in James' massage?
