Elmer Bernstein conducted a re-recording of this score which is available on Varese Sarabande VSD-5754. Tapes of the "original" soundtrack album (Ava A/S-20), released at the time of the film's release, apparently are either no more or are so deteriorated as to be unlistenable. Mainstream released a CD from those tapes a few years ago, and one can hear the sound quality go progressively south as it gets into some of the truly memorable tracks ("Footsteps in the Dark," "Scout and Boo," "Summer's End"), to the point of being tragically unlistenable. While the Ava LP was apparently not actual tracks, it was true to the feel of the music heard in the film. The Varese Sarabande re-recording, while lovely in its own right, is more of a concert presentation (echoey, paced more slowly than the music in the film) and consequently is somewhat unsatisfying for admirers of the actual soundtrack. It misses the simplicity and genuineness of the film and Ava tracks.

The whole score is wonderful. My favorite theme is when Scout looks
in the corner of Jem’s room and sees Boo. Bernstein perfectly underscores
Boo’s own innocence, inner beauty, and the characteristics that make
him a mockingbird.

obviously the sound is not up to snuff, but the performance is immaculate. One of the most beaufitul and engaging themes ever written for a film.

the Varese re-recording is very good, indeed.

as a companion score, I would also like to recommend Bernstein's Frankie Starlight, a more recent score also on Varese. good shtuff

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"God is dead" -- Nietzsche
"So is Nietzsche" -- God

The point is, if you listen closely to the syncopated rhythms of "To Kill A Mockingbird," you can here all of Bernstein's jazz influences come together as a huge jazz suite. This is an inspired work of genius, and, indeed as Joan related above, the soundtrack is the soul and heartbeat of this classic film

The Main Title can be heard on a Sony comp, "Themes By Hollywood's Great Composers" (Sony Music Special Products AK 47019), which, having been released in 1991, may well be out of print at this time.

Significantly more difficult to find is another CD, "Elmer Bernstein - A Man and His Movies," released a couple years ago by Mainstream (MDCD 601). This is substantially a re-release of a Bernstein comp LP by the same title. It includes another excellent track, "Tree Treasure". (The rest of the CD is unfortunately a fairly horrid mix of OST and jazzed-up covers from some of EB's film scores.)

Good news is that Bernstein has announced he is looking seriously at a possible CD release of albums from the Elmer Bernstein Filmmusic Collection. One of these is a re-recording of Mockingbird (briefly available also as a Warner Bros. LP in the 70's) which, while not as true to the film as the original Ava LP, is much more faithful than Bernstein's disappointing recent Varese version.

The worst thing about that Mainstream CD of the original album is that it DELETED one of the most beautiful tracks, the penultimate music of the film in which Scout comes face-to-face with Boo for the first time. Why this wasn't included on the cd when the disc was padded out with miscellaneous bits of other people's movie music escapes me, but it was a tragic waste. The selection is included on Bernstein's invaluable Varese cd, of course, but I think his conducting fails to bring out all the emotion that he put into the original track. I haven't heard his version for the Filmmusic Collection for a long time, but if he re-releases it, you can be sure I'll be buying a copy.

NP: Tree Treasure

I should be too ashamed to admit this, but until reading this thread I'd never noticed the sound deterioration on that Mainstream CD. At the time I got it, I guess I was simply too thrilled to be playing this magnificent score again -- my LP equipment being on the fritz, and this being years before the appearance of the Varese CD -- and too disappointed by the exclusion of that penultimate track to notice the less-than-sterling sonics. But I played it again last night, and of course, you're right, it's obvious and it's lamentable. And yes, they certainly should have commented on it in their otherwise informative liner notes. In retrospect, I wonder if all this had something to do with that missing track -- maybe the deterioration on that one cut was even more severe than what we hear on the tracks they did include. (If they'd had to eleminate a track for timing purposes, it would have made much more aesthetic sense to drop the schmaltzy theme-with-chorus rather than the dramatic cue they did eliminate...)
But ah well, we'll probably never know now. And Mainstream has at least paid for their sins, being long since defunct. (Too bad. In addition to Bernstein soundtracks, they had some really interesting jazz albums.) (TRIVIA note: Mainstream was originaly AVA, Fred Astaire's label, named after his daughter. Check out the photo of Fred and Elmer on that MGM Musical/Conrad Salinger CD conducted by E.B. from restorations by Christopher Palmer.)

I remember one of those "Great Hollywood Themes" albums of the 60s that contained the "schmaltz" but the melody was carried by harmonica instead of chorus. I think the arrangment gave it a much more appropriate folksy, down-home quality.

Another Bernstein score I love, which often brings Mockingbird to mind, it "Summer and Smoke." If you liked TKAM, you'd like that one too. A decent sounding release of "Birdman of Alcatraz" would also be appreciated. Although not as sweet as Mockingbird, it is another (appropriately)sparely orchestrated score, one of the most underrated of Bernstein's efforts. (The Tsunami disc is a "filler" and nothing more!)