|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
This is definitely a thread which originally slipped beneath my radar the first go-round. A lot of things did slip by me in those days when I was still recovering from my bus sucker-punch. Nice to discover it now, nice to note that brother Dana was the last to post (with thumb down) in 2012, and brother David the first to re-boot a post (with thumb up) this time around. Where to begin? Dana, you've probably already noticed that so far you're a minority of one in this thread, which doesn't necessarily mean anything about you or about the score, but I have to say I was genuinely surprised to read how this music which I've loved so much since childhood has failed to ingratiate itself with you. Surprised, in the first place, because I've long known you to be an appreciator of the finer things in life, and then because to me this very special jewel of a score has always been one of those finer things. How can it move me so much, I have to wonder, yet move you so little? This is one of those times when all I can do is sigh and remind myself that Mark Twain said it's a difference of opinion that makes horse races. Amazon sells an atrocious CD-R of the RCA LP which I certainly don't recommend. The original album does deserve a proper CD edition, but so far, alas, it has not been forthcoming. Thank God for John and Bill, who did a truly miraculous job with Sainton's one-and-only, expertly performing what must be very difficult music for an orchestra to play, and of course expanding cues and including selections for which there was no room on the soundtrack LP. That "Call me Ishmael" cue singled out above has always been a dear personal favorite -- a composer friend once presented me with a framed copy of Sainton's manuscript for it -- and it's been a magical discovery to learn from John and Bill that, in the vernacular, there's more of it to love. My only reservation about the Marco Polo album is that, whether due to a mistake in engineering or a performance problem (and I suspect it's the former), a crucial few notes are not really audible in the beautiful theme which rounds out the main title music. For this reason alone, I still hope the RCA soundtrack will some day find its way onto CD.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Dana, you've probably already noticed that so far you're a minority of one in this thread, which doesn't necessarily mean anything about you or about the score, but I have to say I was genuinely surprised to read how this music which I've loved so much since childhood has failed to ingratiate itself with you. Perhaps, Preston, he hasn't seen the movie yet. Perhaps like me, the score will ingratiate itself to him AFTER he sees the film.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Howard, thanks for posting that Youtube link! The magic still works, every time I see/hear it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Any day, PNJ! This was already posted to the "opening credits" thread but hey, what's good is good: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaFaA7GvyVg THANKS, HOWARD! Anyone who cares to catch this main title sequence will be able to hear that one brief moment of beautiful melody -- it comes when the credit for Sound Recording appears -- which I fear is muffled on the Marco Polo. (Again: I consider this the ONLY flicker of imperfection in the re-recording CD. Like the Faberge egg, where the artists used to put one deliberate flaw on the surface, because to be genuinely perfect would have been considered blasphemous.)
|
|
|
|
|
And, did you notice the Youtube Comments from the composer who says he first heard this music when he was four years old, ands it inspired him to devote his life to creating music? Quite a few other Comments attest to the special magic of Sainton's score.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|