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Roger Feigelson writes:
Golden Agers delight with this double header CD featuring the quintessential Americana composer. Expanded LP program for one, rounded out by premiere release for the other.
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Whatever or whoever it is, it sounds like I am most certainly in!
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The Red Pony coupled with Our Town?
I suppose it will rather be RED PONY coupled with THE HEIRESS. THE HEIRESS comes from Paramount where Intrada had also dug up the Rozsa scores from the 40s. Probably again part of "Paramount`s ongoing historical CD preservation efforts". So it would fit much more.
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Jerome Moross, Virgil Thomson, and Leonard Bernstein are quintessential American composers. I can't think of anyone who'd be called "the" quintessential American composer, besides Aaron Copland. I mean, *maybe* Samuel Barber but he never wrote a film score (what a pity, though his two grand operas have a lot of parts that feel like film music). Aaron Copland wrote a number of film scores, so this has to be him.
I don't think the other score "could be anything". I'm 98% sure it'll be The Heiress. Going through his other scores right now (there aren't too many, unfortunately!) just to check, but it is from the era of Paramount which Intrada has been dipping into lately.
Yavar
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I just meant that the simple math of the clue leaves any other Copland score open. I do agree that "The Heiress" seems most likely given other factors. Any of them would be wonderful.
But you have to consider that the few other Copland scores from the 30s/40s were for films produced by (mostly smaller) companies where it is a well known fact that no original music tracks have been preserved. Therefore THE HEIRESS from Paramount is really the most appropriate title.
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Here are all of Aaron Copland's film scores:
The City (1939, first score, for World's Fair documentary) -- original recording unreleased, newly recorded suite from the score conducted by film composer Jonathan Sheffer (In a Shallow Grave, Omen IV: The Awakening):
https://www.amazon.com/Celluloid-Copland-Music-Sheffer-Orchestra/dp/B0000584Y7
-- It *won't* be this as it wasn't produced by a Hollywood studio and almost certainly is lost.
Of Mice and Men (1939, first Hollywood score) -- original recording unreleased aside from dialogue LP:
http://soundtrackcollector.com/title/79515/Of+Mice+And+Men
Luckily this received a complete new recording from Naxos, although it was never released on CD:
http://filmscoreclicktrack.com/2010/01/cd-review-of-mice-and-men-our-town/
-- The film recording of this is almost certainly lost as UA rarely saved anything, but who knows if something turned up in somebody's attic.
Our Town (1940, second Hollywood score) -- this was also included (complete!) on the same new Naxos recording above, but Soundtrack Collector also has a mysterious LP listing for it, with the composer conducting the LSO:
http://soundtrackcollector.com/title/12513/Our+Town
However, I'm pretty sure this is just the same 9 minute concert suite that was later conducted by Slatkin and others.
-- Thank goodness Naxos picked these first two scores to record, as this is also a UA property.
The North Star (1943, third Hollywood score) -- a suite (a little over 17 minutes) was included on the same Sheffer-conducted Celluloid Copland album as The City:
https://www.amazon.com/Celluloid-Copland-Music-Sheffer-Orchestra/dp/B0000584Y7
-- The film recording is probably lost as the studio was RKO, but *perhaps* since it was Copland, it was preserved on acetates by someone, like Herrmann's On Dangerous Ground which Lukas released on FSM. If something did manage to survive, Intrada does have a relationship with Warner Bros. (current owner of the RKO stuff).
The Cummington Story (1945, documentary short film) -- Sheffer-arranged 10 minute suite included on Celluloid Copland
-- it won't be this; IMDb doesn't even have any info on what company produced or released the film
The Red Pony (1949, fourth Hollywood score) -- I'm fairly certain that this is the only Copland score to receive an official LP release, which was surprisingly not done at the time of the film but finally only in the mid-80s by Varese:
http://soundtrackcollector.com/title/14683/Red+Pony%2C+The
-- This is almost certainly one of the titles due to Roger's "expanded LP" clue. Sadly it sounds like the complete score didn't survive, but apparently more was preserved than made it on to the Varese album. The film was a Republic Pictures production (like It's A Wonderful Life) -- I'm pretty sure Paramount took control of that catalogue in the 90s.
The Heiress (1949, fifth Hollywood score) -- Though each of Copland's first three Hollywood scores received Oscar nominations, this significant fifth score was his only win, and it's shockingly completely unreleased aside from the 8 minute concert suite (conducted by Slatkin and perhaps others). The reason I am 99.9% sure this is the pairing with The Red Pony is because the film was a straight-up Paramount release, so licensing-wise, it really is the only thing that makes sense with The Red Pony.
The Seven Lively Arts: The World of Nick Adams (1957, TV episode?) -- I'd never heard of this before thoroughly going through Copland's IMDb credits just now, but it's also listed on Copland's Wikipedia works list, so it's probably a real thing:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_compositions_by_Aaron_Copland
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0302046/?ref_=nm_flmg_com_7
Something Wild (1961, sixth and final Hollywood film score) -- As noted before, there was apparently an incomplete non-commercial LP release which facilitated Varese's release of the score on CD:
http://soundtrackcollector.com/title/38564/Something+Wild
-- I guess Roger's clue wouldn't explicitly rule this out, as the Varese CD could be considered an "LP program"; this seems very unlikely to me however. Since I believe the film is UA, this would mean that somehow the original recording of either Our Town or Of Mice and Men survived somehow, to be paired with it.
Yeah...I'm leaning towards 100% certain that this will be The Red Pony and The Heiress, which is AMAZING!
Yavar
P.S. To anyone wondering why I didn't mention From Sorcery to Science, the fourth score included on Jonathan Sheffer's Celluloid Copland album, and the only one there in complete form -- I'm pretty sure that it was not a film score but a theatrical score (for the stage...though maybe a puppet stage, IIRC??)
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Jerome Moross, Virgil Thomson, and Leonard Bernstein are quintessential American composers.
Yavar
the clue was "...Americana," not American. It makes a difference. Copland seems to be most associated with this.
Of course. I read it right; I just forgot to include the "a" at the end in my post. All three composers I listed are associated with "Americana" -- that is why I didn't include quintessential American composers like Charles Ives (or earlier composers like Chadwick) in the list.
If it is THE RED PONY and THE HEIRESS, it would be one of the greatest releases of 2017. And the year has just started.
Oh trust me, it IS those two scores, and it WILL be one of the greatest releases of 2017. And I'll bet Lukas Kendall was involved in getting this out to us, which guarantees that it will be as good as it could possibly be. RELEASE OF THE YEAR, I deem.
Yavar
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I thought you might have dropped the "a." But even if you meant "American" I dont think you would mention Ives since he's not known for soundtracks.
I would have mentioned Ives next to Barber, a composer who wrote some "Americana" but sadly no film music.
If this includes THE HEIRESS, I hope it's from the Paramount vault and not just a cleaned up version of the horrible acetate.
I don't think that would be the case. Other Paramount stuff from this exact era has been recently revealed to survive (hence the Rozsa-at-Paramount series from Intrada, and Kritzerland if you include Martha Ivers). We should note however: a number of the scores were only transferred years ago in partial form, for whatever reason. So acetates might be used to provide a few cues missing on better sources. (If so, I'd rather have the music than not have it, though if they really sound poor they might be best relegated to the "Extras" section rather than in the main music program.)
The Seven Lively Arts: The World of Nick Adams (1957, TV episode?) -- I'd never heard of this before thoroughly going through Copland's IMDb credits just now, but it's also listed on Copland's Wikipedia works list, so it's probably a real thing:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_compositions_by_Aaron_Copland
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0302046/?ref_=nm_flmg_com_7
I found the following about this work:
http://tinyurl.com/h7dk3n4
So apparently this is a true original score Copland wrote for television. I'm pretty sure it's his only work for television besides his opera, The Tender Land. Fascinating.
Yavar
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The curious aspect about THE HEIRESS original version was its darker sound. Paramount executives, along with director Wyler, reportedly cut out the Copland love theme in the middle of the main title, replacing it with an orchestral rendition of "Plaisir d'Amour," the song Clift sings to de Havilland. The same musical substitution is also made later in the film, during de Havilland's reunion with Clift, after her return from Europe. Apparently, the score was also re-orchestrated, to eliminate a spare sound which director Wyler found too dramatic.
Copland was incensed about these changes, feeling his score had been gutted. Though he was awarded the Oscar for his music, there are conflicting reports about whether he actually accepted it, and it's not listed among his honors on various biographical entries about him. (The win surprised everyone at the time, most of all Copland himself, who had become so disgusted with his treatment that he left film composition almost entirely, except for SOMETHING WILD some years later, which was an independent production.)
So, I wish that any release of this score would not only include Copland's original version of the score, but also the more romantic additions, in order to gain a more complete view of it.
It's a wonderful score, and much deserving of a long-awaited release.
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