From all of the unreleased Bernstein scores I've heard (there are so many I haven't heard yet), "The Amazing Mr. Blunden" (1972) is my favorite. A masterful and beautiful work, it's well worth watching the movie just to hear Bernstein's score.
Has anybody heard "Saturday's Hero" (1951)? It's Bernstein's first score, and I'd love to know what some think of it. The film isn't easy to track down but it has been broadcast on TV.
Has anybody heard "Nightmare Honeymoon" (1974)? Seems to be of the few horror films Bernstein scored, I would love to know how it is. The film is available on Warner Archive.
On YouTube I found some excerpts from unreleased scores. A little something for everyone: a romantic and intense 1950s noir score, a 1970s pop-influenced score with Elmer's trademark rhythmic writing, and a glorious symphonic 1980s score. All three of these, if they exist, ought to be released!
I saw "Gulag". There's nothing of note in the score and quite frankly a skipper. I dont' recall it being very long, either.
When you say "there's nothing of note in the score" are you also talking about the End Title above? I think it's quite terrific, quintessential '80s symphonic Bernstein.
"The Amazing Mr. Blunden" (1972) is on YouTube. Go to the 5:53 mark for a lovely and mysterious cue that underscores a discussion about ghosts. But there are many brilliant and lovely, sensitive Bernstein cues in this score, which for me is the zenith of his unreleased work (that I'm familiar with, at least - going through his filmography it's staggering how many I haven't heard, but this is the cream of what I've heard).
Roger Feigelson has written on the Intrada boards about this: "I've located elements but the licensing issue is extremely challenging. But I keep trying." That was almost two years ago. Hopefully this will see a release someday.
Wanted to bump this to show support for unreleased Bernstein.
"Class" is available as an isolated score on the Twilight Time Blu-Ray. Haven't seen the film and I'm not familiar with this unreleased score. Anybody have comments on this score? How long is it?
Dylan, I am not aware of any Twilight Time release on Blu-Ray of this film, especially one with an isolated score...
It's nice, warm stuff, typical Bernstein. This effort on Youtube is badly presented; suggest you watch the main titles then skip forward to the end titles round about 1hr and 20mins...
I made a few minor updates/changes to the first post here, with the first in particular worth a bump of the thread: according to James Fitzpatrick in this thread, he is working to license a release of Elmer's final score, for this fine Cecil B. DeMille documentary:
In response to the latest inquiry he wrote: "Still in negotiations ........ but will be sorted one way or the other this year!"
So after having the definitive Ten Commandments from Intrada in 2016, we may finally have a release of its "companion score" from the end of the maestro's career in 2017!
And yes, I'm currently in the process of extending the first post to cover the first half of Elmer Bernstein's career.
Ratatouille, I love the A River Runs Through It theme at 15:40. It will remind you of his other scores. It bears his signature rhythms and themes. I really wish this rejected score would be released.
This thread deserves a bump even though I shamefully haven't completed the first post as I'd planned (I got a new job roughly around the time I was going to finish it).
This is amazing news as it is a bookend of sorts, with Intrada's recent definitive Ten Commandments release which pushed his career into the A-list. If you want to preview this music, the entire documentary film is up on YouTube:
