"I sometimes think to myself if I were to put together a Star Trek VI concert, would those fans show up and hear it? Maybe one day I will try to do something like that."
I hope the demos he did can be included on some Trek set eventually, since as he stated there wasn't enough room on the Intrada expanded release.
Interesting note I'd love to find clarification on one day: he said other composers had sent in demo tapes to potentially get the job. I'm curious who they were, and if any of them -- like Cliff -- did original stuff for consideration -- that would be nice to hear, too.
I doubt that will ever happen since he is no longer active scoring films (his last was in 2012, though maybe he'll do the upcoming Kwapis-directed third Sisterhood film?)
But perhaps he could get a TV gig? Imagine 13 Star Trek: Discovery scores...by Cliff Eidelman!
Cliff was very helpful when we did the Intrada CD. I know we definitely did a new mix of the 2" 24-track multitrack tape for the trailer. Neil Bulk would remember exactly what we got from Cliff and what we got from the studio.
As for Cliff's demo, here's the complete story that was probably a little too convoluted for the Trekmovie audience. Cliff does have the demo, but only on a 1" 16-track analogue master tape that is a very rare format. The machine needed to play this back today is hard to find and although Cliff still has his original one from 1990, it is no longer functioning. We talked about finding the money to have it restored and the tape transferred, but on top of the technical problems, Cliff thought long and hard about it and finally decided he'd rather the demo not be on the album. It was never meant to be heard by the public, is compositionally incomplete and represents his home production using outdated technology. So while I would love to hear it, I totally respect where he is coming from as the artist.
Strangely we had a little bit of a Rashomon situation when working on the liner notes for Star Trek VI. Nick Meyer, who is very open and accessible, was remembering the timeline differently from Cliff and from the paperwork. The accurate chronology is that Cliff was interviewed and hired prior to production (I saw the memos at Paramount to confirm this) and it was only during production that talks with the Holst people broke down over money (the Holst people actually came to the set one day) and Nick abandoned his idea to have the score by an adaptation of The Planets. The way Nick tells the story, he wanted it to be based on The Planets and then when the Holst talks fell apart he moved on to an original score. But Nick's other big suggestion—Stravinsky's Firebird—is very much an influence on the score:
I doubt that will ever happen since he is no longer active scoring films (his last was in 2012, though maybe he'll do the upcoming Kwapis-directed third Sisterhood film?)
But perhaps he could get a TV gig? Imagine 13 Star Trek: Discovery scores...by Cliff Eidelman!
Yavar
Probably true Yavar, just a dream I guess. Yeah, at least a main title score for Discovery would be pretty great.
