I have been bugging John for years (obviously not enough, though) for a complete "Prisoner of Zenda" (Alfred Newman), but have another idea, too, that I haven't put forward:

One of the most glorious musical voices in movie music belonged to Bronislau Kaper, whose work is virtually ignored.

Come on, John -- give us a CD featuring some of his best -- The Swan, Auntie Mame, The Glass Slipper, Green Dolphin Street, Home From the Hill, Lili, The Prodigal, The Brothers Karamazov and Mutiny on the Bounty.

ROTFLMEO*

quote:

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Originally posted by Ron Pulliam:
Yep, John's right....that Choir did great on "The Egyptian" but it might not be so cool to hear their "they go up-tiddly-up-up, they go down-tiddly-down-down" rendition! : )

I have been bugging John for years (obviously not enough, though) for a complete "Prisoner of Zenda" (Alfred Newman), but have another idea, too, that I haven't put forward:

One of the most glorious musical voices in movie music belonged to Bronislau Kaper, whose work is virtually ignored.

Come on, John -- give us a CD featuring some of his best -- The Swan, Auntie Mame, The Glass Slipper, Green Dolphin Street, Home From the Hill, Lili, The Prodigal, The Brothers Karamazov and Mutiny on the Bounty.

Ron

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Hi Ron:
Well, list about 3 CDs worth of Kaper material! I think HOME FROM THE HILL and MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY will be in original tracks and in stereo. I have heard Home and it is beautiful.
Still looking for music for PRISONER OF ZENDA. The Selznick music ended up in Texas, but this title and SPELLBOUND are missing. My assumption on ZENDA is the score was sent to MGM for the remake, which reused the music, and they dumped it with all their other music. It is a shame.
David Schecter did a marvelous job on THEM!
And I adore GREEN DOLPHIN STREET. Yes, he did some great scores. Didn't he do that wonderful MGM spy adventure, ABOVE SUSPICION?
That too, is a fine score....

quote:

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Originally posted by Marc Flake:
John:

ROTFLMEO*

Marc

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Well, you got me Marc. What does this stand for?
Do you mean that classic score to:

(And my boss just walked by wondering why I keep laughing uncontrollably)

dave

Are you actually considering a Red Shoes CD or were you just being nice?

Can you tell us what selections are on the 3 upcoming David Schecter CDs?

Have you ever considered doing a complete Big Sleep? I know the Gerhardt suite is great but The Steiner Library doesn't have this so there is a lot of music nowhere to be found. I heard Theme & Variations was restoring the score but does that mean it will be recorded?

Although they are "minor" composers, I think Stevens, Parker, and Easdale did some great work and are woefully under-recorded.

[This message has been edited by Lou Goldberg (edited 18 March 2000).][/b][/QUOTE]

[This message has been edited by Lou Goldberg (edited 18 March 2000).][/QU

No, Lou, I really want to do a full album from THE RED SHOES. Of course we would include the often recorded ballet, but there is so much other fine music in that film that has never been recorded. In fact, I believe David Wishart is talking to the Easdale estate on our behalf.

As you know, we have releases a full album of Waxman's MR. SKEFFINGTON. From that great period, we have recorded a 70 minute album of music from OBJECTIVE, BURMA! and it is sensational. I love that period when Waxman got to Warners and was able to flex his musical muscles. DESTINATION TOKYO is a good choice, as is HORN BLOWS AT MIDNIGHT (with a bit of help from Carl Stalling), CRY WOLF and .... oh I could just go on and name about 8 films here!

As far as CURSE OF THE DEMON goes, I am sure it would have to be reconstructed, but with not a scrap of found written music yet, I wouldn't attempt it. It could never be very authentic. With soundeffects and dialogue, one misses too much of the interior detail of the music. Although I have down "take-downs," they have been isolated cues and only after I have orchestrated much of the music from sketches or conductor books. For instance in CAPT. BLOOD, there were two cues that didn't have conductor books or scores, so I had to do it by ear. Since I had already done most of the suite, and saw full scores for other Korngold music, I kind of knew what he would do. Anyway, to do an entire score as a "take-down" would just never be good enough.

Bill Stromberg had to do this on his suite to GUNGA DIN. THe main title only had a violin part!

Yes, Stevens and those wonderful Pal scores would be great. I think David Schecter is thinking seriously of doing these scores. Of the three CDs Monstrous Movie Music is readying for release, two of the contents have been annouced, but I don't want to open my mouth and name something on the third album! David would kill me. But I am sure he has already annouced Webb's MIGHTY JOE YOUNG, the MGM Tarzan music, and CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON.
Good things acomin....

On the other hand I would like to say that
composers when they record a suite or a score
of film music for an album,they often change tempos and balance.
The Herrmann recordings on London inmediately comes to mind.
The 3 Worlds of Gulliver,for example,is very different in time and interpretation than
the original sountrack;but both are lovely.

What I'm trying to say is that would be nice to hear a personal/own interpretation of Mr Stromberg.
In that way,instead of being a recreation
would be "his" personal version.
And that would be great too!

Also, I've never purchase a Marco Polo CD: what do you include in the booklets? All sorts of goodies on the score (and film)?

I think the liner notes are very important when you are dealing with historic and great Golden Age film music. Some of the music we do is from films that are hardly remembered, so I think a background is necessary. We have been lucky to get the caliber of writers that we have...historians such as Bill Whitaker, Brendan Carroll, Scott MacQueen, Jack Smith, the late Tony Thomas, Steven Smith, James D'arc...all these and more have contributed to our series.
My ideal is to have detailed writing on the film, production and music. I look for behind the scene stills and try to get in a sheet or two of music.
One of my favorite booklets is for KONG. We had so many famous people wanting to contribute, I was happy we had special writings from Danny Elman, Ray Bradbury, Ray Harryhausen, the late David Allen, and Louise Steiner, who was the harpist in the original Kong recordings and was married to Max from 1936-1946. That recording will always be special to me.

We are also lucky to have the "nuts and bolts" people like Josh Cheek, who is publicity director for the series. EVer since he came aboard, Marco Polo recordings have been really getting around...both in stores and in publicity. Josh is a damn good musician too and we are lucky to have his business and communication skills although, he should be more involved in the music itself...I hope he doesn't read this!!