I just did a long-delayed A/B between my original soundtrack CD (Columbia/Legacy) of John William's gorgeous Reivers (1969) score and the suite he recorded with narration by Burgess Meredith for Sony Classical (1990-91) Much to my delight - it appears there at least three cues in the suite not on the original Lp. Two of them fully minus narration and very beautiful (3:06-5:27 and 14:35-16:42) The finale of the suite is also different from the Lp. Does anybody know any more about this? Are these cues from the film or written expressly for the suite, etc.? The sunny music Willaims wrote for this film not only evokes the turn-of-the-last-century for which it was written - but my own wonderful summers of 1969-71. It's such heartfelt stuff.
I've wandered that myself, I've never seen the movie, but I find it hard to belive that such wonderful pieces "The First Car In Town..." and the Race between the car and the horse (from the suite) were written for the film AND NOT included on the original soundtrack!!!
Could be wrong!!! Really I have no idea. Oh and I wonder why that lovely waltz theme didn't make it onto the suite???????
Anyone here seen the movie and knows the music in the film?????
but I find it hard to belive that such wonderful pieces "The First Car In Town..." and the Race between the car and the horse (from the suite) were written for the film AND NOT included on the original soundtrack!!!
The Reivers desperately needs to be released on dvd! (with an isolated score, of course).... it would also make a good FSM title!
FYI, folks there already was an expanded edition released several years ago by SONY with never-before-released music that I think might still be in print.
As for an isolated score.....
A very bad business idea, but that is another topic.
Yeah the Sony CD, has 1 extra track and the Finale starts slightly different from the Varese Special release, When I bought My Varese CD about 9 years ago in Sydney the shop had about 20 of them in stock --- never thought to buy them!!! Wish I had---what are they worth these days??????
I remember seeing the sony Cd in quite a few shops, not too long ago, so it should be around if anyone missed it, And the Main Title (the highlight of the CD appears on the 1969 - 1999 Williams Greatest hits CD -released by Sony.
If your a Williams fan and haven't heard any Reivers music yet - I highly recomend it
So back to the 2 instrumentals from the Suite???? Anyone know if they were in the film???? I don't know why I need to know this...but I do need to know this!!
I have the Sony Classical "Music for Stage and Screen" w/John Williams and the Boston Pops - The Reivers 18'42 (with the Meredith narration). Also includes "The Red Pony" by Aaron Copland (one of my favorite soundtracks) and Suite from "Born on the Fourth of July". Is the the same one you're referring to?
It's been a while since I've seen the film, but I'm fairly certain that the "First Car in Town" and the "Horse Race" cues are not in the film and were written for the suite. The horse race in the film was a slow-motion sequence, under narration; the music was slow-paced with some curious bowing echo effects to match the character of the scene (nostalgic remembrance was more the point than the actual race). It's a great cue. As for the suite's finale, that was written for the suite, not the film.
I have the Sony Classical "Music for Stage and Screen" w/John Williams and the Boston Pops - The Reivers 18'42 (with the Meredith narration)...... Is the the same one you're referring to?
Yes that's the suite we are talking about......not to be confused with the 2 original soundtracks - 1) by Varese sarabande and 2) Sony / lagacy with an extra track,
The suite was arranged (and possibly extra material composed???) was made by John Williams in 1980 for his debut with the Boston Pops, (I think) and recorded 10 years later for Sony Classical and released on the Stage & Screen CD.
"The horse race in the film was a slow-motion sequence, under narration; the music was slow-paced with some curious bowing echo effects to match the character of the scene"
I just played the Sony expanded disc today for the first time in a while and if it had that piece of music (quoted above) on it, it would be perfect. It's pretty close to perfect now, with the added cue and snippets, but that piece is fantastic and would be the cherry on the pie.
In 1981, 12 years after the release of the motion picture, Reivers, John Williams assumed conductorship of the Boston Pops. The first piece he composed for the Pops was, The Reivers suite. At the time he told me that he had written the tuba solo in "The First Car in Town," portion especially for me. I was the tuba player in the Pops at that time. We recorded in for Sony a few years later, I think. I'd have to check. Really good stuff. In 1985 he wrote a tuba concerto for me, which we premiered with the Pops. And he wrote much more. A fun era, following the glorious era of Fiedler.
I came accros the cd and I am thinking on buying it. Do you think guys this will get rereleased or expanded?
It certainly could use it, as the music from the horse-race is dying to be issued. Also, I find the Masters Film Music CD to be superior (hiss and all) to the Sony CD, which is filtered with noise reduction to the degree where some of the dynamic range is cut off.
