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Exciting news! A top 5 Golden Age composer for me, but a very underrated/overlooked composer who deserves more attention. I remember the old defunct Friedhofer site (which had that live recorded Joan of Arc performance) looking pretty good. Is this somehow a reboot of that?
Yavar
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Is Thierry S. aware of this book by George Burt?
Graham Watt loves this book ... and so do I. Goldsmith's name is not on the cover, but just add David Raksin to the other 3 you cite and I think you would find this very interesting.
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I quite agree, Cody, and I also think that of all Friedhofer's output that could be newly recorded, Joan of Arc has the best sales potential to justify the expense (maybe barring The Mark of Zorro, if it counts, which he co-composed with Alfred Newman who received the primary screen credit). If I know one thing, it's that EPIC scores sell well to film music fans, and I'm pretty sure Joan of Arc is the only project Friedhofer ever tackled which quite fits that word.
I have recently put my focus on Friedhofer and I just love his RAINS OF RANCHIPUR/ MARCO POLO album from Kritzerland as well as the Stromberg rerecording of the same.
This is will be very helpful in learning more about this underrated composer in my collection.
So glad you're getting into Friedhofer, Amer! The great Kritzerland threefer album was complete remastered expansions of Rains of Ranchipur and Seven Cities of Gold (previously released by Varese), plus a premiere of The Blue Angel. I'm pretty sure that The Adventures of Marco Polo, Friedhofer's very first onscreen composer credit in Hollywood, only exists on the Morgan/Stromberg Friedhofer album, which ironically they did for the record label Marco Polo (owned by Naxos) in the 1990s. Being that the film is from 1938, it seems quite likely that the original film recording is lost. I for one would love a new recording of the *complete* score, but barring that the Stromberg-conducted suite is great to have.
Yavar
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I'm pretty sure that The Adventures of Marco Polo, Friedhofer's very first onscreen composer credit in Hollywood, only exists on the Morgan/Stromberg Friedhofer album, which ironically they did for the record label Marco Polo (owned by Naxos) in the 1990s. Being that the film is from 1938, it seems quite likely that the original film recording is lost.
That´s not quite true. At least a few tracks with a bit more than 6 minutes from the original 1938 recording of ADVENTURES OF MARCO POLO exist which have been circulating among collectors for several years. Maybe even a bit more material has survived, but these 6 minutes are the ones which I had received on a CD-R long ago.
There are a few more Goldwyn titles from the 30s of which original recordings still exist, for example Alfred Newman´s STELLA DALLAS.
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Thanks for that correction and the ray of hope, Stefan. I hadn’t run across those 6 minutes but I hope I do, and maybe everything surviving from the score could be released on album some day.
Yavar
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I'm pretty sure that The Adventures of Marco Polo, Friedhofer's very first onscreen composer credit in Hollywood, only exists on the Morgan/Stromberg Friedhofer album …
That´s not quite true. At least a few tracks with a bit more than 6 minutes from the original 1938 recording of ADVENTURES OF MARCO POLO exist which have been circulating among collectors for several years. Maybe even a bit more material has survived, but these 6 minutes are the ones which I had received on a CD-R long ago.
There are a few more Goldwyn titles from the 30s of which original recordings still exist, for example Alfred Newman´s STELLA DALLAS.
I just joined this afternoon on something of a whim. I am a Friedhofer in law and my mother and I personally saved his scores and a lot of other material from his apartment after his death. Most materials were given to Brigham Young University, but I have the acetates of the recording sessions for Adventures of Marco Polo. These were Hugo’s personal copy, retained with pride for so many years.
The performance is blazingly good and puts the re-recording to shame. And it’s fascinating to hear Alfred Newman encouraging (as in sometimes swearing at) the orchestra. Inimitable Felix Slatkin violin solos.
Maybe someday I can find a company that can take care of the licensing, do a great booklet with photos, and most important knows the score backwards and forwards to assemble what I have into a suite. It needs to get out there but I wouldn’t settle for anything less.
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I'm pretty sure that The Adventures of Marco Polo, Friedhofer's very first onscreen composer credit in Hollywood, only exists on the Morgan/Stromberg Friedhofer album, which ironically they did for the record label Marco Polo (owned by Naxos) in the 1990s. Being that the film is from 1938, it seems quite likely that the original film recording is lost.
That´s not quite true. At least a few tracks with a bit more than 6 minutes from the original 1938 recording of ADVENTURES OF MARCO POLO exist which have been circulating among collectors for several years. Maybe even a bit more material has survived, but these 6 minutes are the ones which I had received on a CD-R long ago.
There are a few more Goldwyn titles from the 30s of which original recordings still exist, for example Alfred Newman´s STELLA DALLAS.
I joined earlier today on a whim and my first post was eaten somehow. I'll save it offline this time just in case!
I'm happy to say that the original soundtrack recording of Adventures of Marco Polo survives (with multiple takes). I am an in-law of Hugo Friedhofer's. After his death my mother (at the behest of Hugo's daughter Karyl) and I drove her Volkswagen Squareback down to Hollywood and did our best to haul off scores, recordings, and other materials that were in imminent danger of being discarded.
Most of this material was then donated to Brigham Young University, but I have the acetates of the Marco Polo recording sessions that had been saved by Hugo as a prized possession for all those years.
The acetates preserve a blazing performance by an orchestra that to my mind outdoes any performing today, in any context, plus incomparable violin solos by Felix Slatkin and passionate encouragement (and occasional swearing) by Alfred Newman. Once heard, never forgotten.
It has been on my "to-do" list for years to get this soundtrack out there as a tribute to Hugo, but it's complicated. I would need to find a label that is prepared to put out a CD with appropriate and professional notes and photographs, will handle all the necessary licensing, and most of all knows (or can learn) the film and the score well enough to put together a suite. To my mind the CD release would include the suite along with some bonus rehearsal tracks.
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Thanks for that correction and the ray of hope, Stefan. I hadn’t run across those 6 minutes but I hope I do, and maybe everything surviving from the score could be released on album some day.
Yavar
I joined earlier today on a whim and my first post was eaten somehow. I'll save it offline this time just in case!
I'm happy to say that the original soundtrack recording of Adventures of Marco Polo survives (with multiple takes). I am an in-law of Hugo Friedhofer's. After his death my mother (at the behest of Hugo's daughter Karyl) and I drove her Volkswagen Squareback down to Hollywood and did our best to haul off scores, recordings, and other materials that were in imminent danger of being discarded.
Most of this material was then donated to Brigham Young University, but I have the acetates of the Marco Polo recording sessions that had been saved by Hugo as a prized possession for all those years.
The acetates preserve a blazing performance by an orchestra that to my mind outdoes any performing today, in any context, plus incomparable violin solos by Felix Slatkin and passionate encouragement (and occasional swearing) by Alfred Newman. Once heard, never forgotten.
It has been on my "to-do" list for years to get this soundtrack out there as a tribute to Hugo, but it's complicated. I would need to find a label that is prepared to put out a CD with appropriate and professional notes and photographs, will handle all the necessary licensing, and most of all knows (or can learn) the film and the score well enough to put together a suite. To my mind the CD release would include the suite along with some bonus rehearsal tracks.
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As Steve has used this thread to promote his tribute to Hugo Friedhofer, I will do the same in posting a link to my newly revised review of One-Eyed Jacks. It's only taken me 10 years (!) to update the review to take into account Kritzerland's re-released CD as an 'Encore Edition' which, remarkably, is still available to order.
https://cnmsarchive.wordpress.com/2024/04/06/one-eyed-jacks/
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