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I just scored a copy of this soundtrack on cd for less than 2 smackers, on the RCA release that was coupled with Sondheim's "Follies in Concert" recording.
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Oddly....
Nobody seems to have discussed this title on the board yet (under this thread title, anyway).
and
This particular release has gotten past the normally-efficient folks over at Soundtrack Collector.
http://www.soundtrackcollector.com/title/2516/Stavisky...
It's an interesting score for a smaller ensemble, and I guess Sondheim's only complete score for a film. I'd like to see it. Has anybody here seen it?
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A 'grail', if you will, of mine. I have not seen the film but I did have the Album which I put on cassette decades ago. I love this score. I wish it would be re-released by CAM Italy (then), I've no idea who owns the rights anymore.
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It's an interesting score for a smaller ensemble, and I guess Sondheim's only complete score for a film. I'd like to see it. Has anybody here seen it?
Here's the review I wrote for a blog after watching the R2 DVD:
"The last few months in the life of a con man/swindler (Jean Paul Belmondo) with a mysterious past who has acquired and squandered a fortune. His influence has reached into powerful social and political circles and when he goes down, he's not going down alone. Based on the 1934 scandal known as the Stavisky Affair which lead to riots in the streets and the fall of the French government at the time, the film's prologue tells us that the film makers aren't trying to be historians and reserve the right to take creative liberties. In that case, it's a pity the director Alain Resnais and his screenwriter Jorge Semprun (Costa Gavras' Z) didn't do a roman a clef and call the film Semyonov or something. Resnais' Stavisky remains as mysterious to us at the film's closing as he was at the beginning though I suspect that was something Resnais intended. I'm not sure there's a way of whitewashing Stavisky anymore than if Scorsese made a film called Madoff and tried to make Bernie Madoff a tragic figure. There's also a subplot involving Trotsky (Yves Peneau) in exile that seems awkwardly inserted. But where the film triumphs is in style over substance and this is one ravishing looking movie, impeccably shot by Sacha Vierny (Belle De Jour). The seductive underscore is by Stephen Sondheim, one of his rare original film scores. With Charles Boyer (who steals the movie), Gerard Depardieu, Michael Lonsdale, Claude Rich, Francois Perier and Anny Duperey.
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Wonderful film and score. It's had the two releases. I'm not at all CAM really owns this lock, stock, and barrel. It was originally released on LP on a French label.
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Very pleased about this.
Will be playing from this album in anticipation: Liaisons - Re-imagining Sondheim from the Piano. Wonderful collection of pieces based on Sondheim songs by all kinds of different composers.
http://www.liaisonsproject.com/
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I'll get it, of course, but I find the description a bit weird. The score itself is not expanded at all - just compared the track lists and timings - and I'm not sure why you'd say remastered from the first generation tapes - which I presume means the album master that would have been used for ALL releases - unless they went to the multitrack and if they did that it would be a remix and they're not saying that. So, the expanded part is all the bonus material, which are variations on what's on the CD. I'm sure those will be interesting to hear. But for those who like the score only I think what's been out is probably good - this score has always sounded good on disc, save for the RCA version that's with the Follies in Concert - that mastering is terrible - harsh, ugly and completely digital-sounding in the worst way. The two CAM releases sound much better, and if this sounds better than those, that will be good, too.
For those who don't know the score, snap this up right away - it's very beautiful, orchestrated by Steve's longtime orchestrator, Jonathan Tunick. The fact is, most of the themes in the film are based on cut songs from Follies, so that's interesting, too. But it's a wonderful listen.
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I'll get it, of course, but I find the description a bit weird. The score itself is not expanded at all - just compared the track lists and timings - and I'm not sure why you'd say remastered from the first generation tapes - which I presume means the album master that would have been used for ALL releases - unless they went to the multitrack and if they did that it would be a remix and they're not saying that. So, the expanded part is all the bonus material, which are variations on what's on the CD. I'm sure those will be interesting to hear. But for those who like the score only I think what's been out is probably good - this score has always sounded good on disc, save for the RCA version that's with the Follies in Concert - that mastering is terrible - harsh, ugly and completely digital-sounding in the worst way. The two CAM releases sound much better, and if this sounds better than those, that will be good, too.
For those who don't know the score, snap this up right away - it's very beautiful, orchestrated by Steve's longtime orchestrator, Jonathan Tunick. The fact is, most of the themes in the film are based on cut songs from Follies, so that's interesting, too. But it's a wonderful listen.
No remixed. The album master was transferred in the early nineties by CAM, and after that, the tape has been lost or, most likely, destroyed, as it happened with some others (a shame, I know). The only element available for the album was a DAT with the CAM CD mastering, which was encoded with the uncomfortable (at least for me) Dolby Surround. So we went back to the (first generation) complete session masters, which was happily there, and we have rebuilt the album from those elements. The sound is now a bit more wide and clear, although the original recording and mix was not specially brilliant, it's a bit flat for my taste. We found in the session about 20 minutes of unreleased material, and interestingly some of them was the version and orchestration used in the film, even if it was recorded as "alternate", Resnais, the editor, or whoever decided to use some of these takes instead the originally selected by Sondheim. Because of publisher and copyright restrictions we had to sequence the CD with the original album first and the bonus at the end. Any change in the order of the original program produced by Sondheim (or whoever) wasn't allowed.
Anyway, it's a superb score, and one of my favorites ever.
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Sounds good to me - I ordered the second it went up.
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To date I have always preferred listening to the suites on the Sondheim at the Movies album that you produced, Bruce. But I only had the version that came with the Follies in Concert Album, perhaps I will have to pick up this reissue. It's been a while since I bought a new Sondheim recording.
I was very pleased with the way the suites were done on our album and Sondheim liked them, too 
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According to Quartet's own site, their disc on Stavisky is already sold out (!)
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According to Quartet's own site, their disc on Stavisky is already sold out (!)
Presumably still available at SAE (who haven't received their shipment yet) and possibly other outlets, but a sell out on this title is great. I've heard the composer himself ordered 5 copies!
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