I also really enjoy Silva's re-recordings of Barry's scores for WALKABOUT and THE LAST VALLEY. The orchestra and choir performances are top-notch, full of depth and passion.

And Silva did a good job with their suite from Goldsmith's UNDER FIRE on their 2-CD set of his music. They also nailed the overture for GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY.

I love John Williams' original score for SPACECAMP, but still ONLY the Cincinnati Pops re-recording of the End Title sends shivers in my spine.

I simply adore John Williams' original score for FAMILY PLOT, and yet ONLY the Utah Symphony Orchestra re-recording (with faster tempo) makes me to soar.

I like all the flying cues on John Williams' original score for HOOK (especially the End Title), but ONLY the Boston Pops expanded re-recording of the End Title has the power to get me breathless.

And I do enjoy all the original and lesser-original versions on John Williams' "Ewok Celebration ('83)" for RETURN OF THE JEDI, and yet ONLY the National Philharmonic instrumental re-recording of it makes me wanting to dance wildly around my flat.

...Thus Spoketh Kenzuhustra who claims to prefer the ACTUAL movie music...

I find rerecordings interesting to hear, listen or have. But most of the time, I find the originals to be superior, performance-wise, which is what matters most to me, besides the music itself. There are rerecordings which I find are superior to originals, but not that many.

My only regret with many originals, is their sound. Either because the composer did not have sufficient budget to afford a good studio and good engineer, or mostly, because the music was recorded pre-1980, and no matter how much it is remastered, it cannot sound like a new recording, be it digital or analog.

The disc By Request... The Best of John Williams and the Boston Pops has some great performances, and I enjoy their rendition of the "Imperial March" more than that of the OST recording! ( )

The couple of E. W. Korngold re-recordings done by the Utah Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Varujan Kojian in the 1980s are fantastic things. I must admit I haven't heard the original recordings, but I feel I don't need to, since the re-recordings are so well done.

I really like most of the stuff on Jerry's Film Music disc. I think Papillon and A Patch of Blue are two small pieces that, while good on the original recordings, are even more fantastic with the different arrangements and a supurb reading by the London Symphony Orchestra. Some other pieces are highly disappointing, like Wind and the Lion and Star Trek, but I think that the very few negatives on the disc are greatly offset by the addictive "TV Themes" medley.

I find that the Goldsmith Patton/Tora! Tora! Tora! re-recording with the RSNO provides a better listening experience then the FSM releases of the original tracks. Even though the volume levels thoughout the Varese disc are a bit strange, the performance is generally strong and very enjoyable.

The Imperial March on the Star Wars Trilogy album (with the Skywalker Symphony orchestra) is my favourite rendition, but I STILL haven't heard the Gerhardt recording. Unfortunately, the Skywalker disc has Shawn Murphy's trademark sound "quality".

Funny enough, Kojian's recording of Sea Hawk is FASTER than the original, although usually the historical recordings are faster than today's interpretations.

Goldsmith's & the LSO's performances of Blue Max, Planet of the Apes and particularly Supergirl in London earlier this year all make the original recordings pale in comparison. Likewise, Barnaby Jones was better than on the Suites & Themes compilation. Great Train Robbery was a little different in tempo from the original - not better, but not worse, either.

Of course, Williams' recording of the Scherzo for Motorcycle and Orchestra for the Spielberg/Williams Collaboration album is absolutely stunning.

quote:

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Originally posted by JJH:
the Varese re-recording of [b]Last of the Mohicans is light years better than the OST CD (though the solo fiddle stuff could be more fluid).[/B]

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Unfortunately the release of the "expanded" OST buried the original album.

I'm always right.

SFT

quote:

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Originally posted by Lou Goldberg:
I've always maintained that even though he took the quirkier aspects of the original orchestrations out and streamlined the re-record, that Laurie Johnson's re-record of First Men in the Moon took a likeable original and turned it into a masterpiece.

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Some film music aficionados always prefer the OST recording. Out of principle. I think that's fine. But let's not overlook the fact that this attitude isn't based on musical reasons, but perhaps on a sentimental or nostalgic attachment to a certain recording or movie, or it stems from the collector's mentality to collect and own actual OST recordings, not unlike a stamp collector is usually more concerned with the origin and originality of a certain stamp, and not so much about the picture that's actually on there. It's fine to have a collector's mentality, it's also fine to always prefer the OST recording, but again: let's make it clear that the reasons for this are not musical reasons. One may argue that film music is not concert music, and this is certainly true, but the moment it comes as a CD into my CD player it has to hold up as music first and foremost, so a musical examination of the music is justified as well. I have many film scores in my collection, OSTs or re-recordings, to films which I have never seen (and sometimes I have no intention of ever watching). So why should I care if it sounds like the OST if I've never even seen the movie? I think it's a valid point of view to prefer OST recordings just because they are OST recordings, but again: this preference is not based on musical reasons. It cannot be.

For example: the original film performance of Rozsa's The Golden Voyage of Sindbad is simply underpowered and bad. If Intrada would give this the Excalibur/Broughton/Sinfonia of London treatment I'm sure we'd get a much more splendid performance, one which would do the music much more justice. But a collector of Rozsa OSTs would nevertheless still want to add this recording to his collection, even if he is very pleased with the re-recording. It's the recording tied to the film. It's the recording glued to the images on screen. The original soundtrack recording is usually also an important historical document, and as such it is always good when they are preserved and released. Often it is the composer's own only recording of a score. But let's not overlook the fact just because a composer has conducted his own work doesn't mean by default that it is the best or most truthful performance of the score, far from it. It does mean, however, that it is already of interest for no other reason than that it is the OST. So the call for OST recordings isn't always grounded in the wish for the best performance, but is pretty much a self-contained desire for OSTs. (That's also part of what to some collectors collecting collecting is about.)

Then there is the question sometimes about "definitive" performances. Now in my opinion it is a futile quest to go for a "definitive" performance in orchestral music. If a piece of music is worth anything at all, it is worth to be performed and re-performed, to be interpreted and re-interpreted. To claim of any one performance that it is the definitive performance, that all other performances must fall short because it is the etched in stone final word about this music that can be spoken, means to suffocate the music. It means to kill it. It means there cannot be much to the music if it can be looked at only in one way from one side.

But how so, some may ask? After all, aren't we out of the 19th century, when certain romantic conductors bend and twisted the music to their own liking and called it "interpreting" the music when they simply did with it whatever they wanted? Yes, we are. At the very latest since Toscanini we know what a good conductor should be about. If you know anything about performances of orchestral music, you know that the main intent of a good conductor is to do the justice to the music he is conducting. A good conductor is supposed to know the score, he should be faithful to the composer's intentions, a good conductor is supposed to realize the printed score to the best of his possibilities. In short, a good conductor must be truthful to the music. That's the bottom line. That's what conducting is about. But what is sometimes overlooked is that there is more than one way of being truthful to the score. In other words, two recordings of the very same piece of music can sound vastly different, yet they can both be truthful to the music, they can both be absolutely faithful, they can both have the unqualified approval of the composer himself.

A recording of a music score is not unlike an acoustical photograph. For the sake of an analogy here, let's say a photograph of a tree. Take an oak tree on a meadow. You can make a stunning photograph of the tree, a photograph that absolutely captures the essence of the tree, its branches, its shadows, its many facets, yet it is still just one photograph of the tree. Would you really say that no one else could ever take a faithful picture of the tree again? Couldn't somebody else come along and shoot a picture totally different from yours, yet in its own way be just as faithful to the tree, just as faithful to its many facets? One of the reasons why so many conductors like to conduct a Beethoven symphony cycle is because these symphonies are like diamonds: depending on which light you shine on them they sparkle and sprinkle in different ways. A good conductor let's the music reveal its own meaning, a good conductor lets the music shine, and a good conductor knows that there's more than one way to shine. And serious Beethoven aficionados will usually have multiple recordings – vastly different recordings – of all symphonies at home, because there is more than one way to let the music shine. Now one might object that a film score is not a Beethoven symphony to be sure and is unlikely to have as many facets -- quite true -- but we're not talking about recording Out of Africa eighty times here, something I admit would be silly. The best of film scores do hold up well enough on their own to warrant more than just one recording.

There may be good re-recordings or bad ones, but it's not a question of re-recordings being something to be of lesser interest to begin with. Let's be glad that there are re-recordings, and not just as substitutes in lack of original soundtrack recordings but as full fledged and valuable interpretations of the music. Poor is the music that can only be performed in one way.

Of course, as I've said, sometimes one is so used to hearing an OST recording from watching the movie many times, and one wants the OST recording. Fine. But then one should get the OST recording, and not a re-recording. One may criticize a re-recording for falling short, for not doing justice to the music, that's one thing, but it is unfair to criticize a re-recording for not being something it cannot be: the OST recording.

Of the re-recording CDs I have that top the OST releases I have as well, McNeely's recording of Herrmann's Vertigo and Williams' Jaws (both on Varese Sarabande) come to mind right away, and certainly Stromberg's take on Steiner's King Kong (Marco Polo) belongs into this category. They are definitively surpassing the OST CDs out there. There are a lot of other re-recordings I like, too, though they don't always "top" the original. Of course some re-recordings don't quite hit the mark. I was rather disappointed in the much lauded London Symphony Orchestra recording conducted by Goldsmith (Teldec); I've only sampled the disc so far and haven't heard all of it, but some of the arrangements sounded too glossy and much too sweet, as if Goldsmith had removed all the edge of these pieces. May be fine for a concert performance, but how well does it hold up at home? From what I've heard I prefer Frontiers as Goldsmith anthology.

NP: Bernard Herrmann The Snows of Kilimanjaro
Moscow Symphony Orchestra/Stromberg (Marco Polo)

May I suggest that you perhaps consider the possibility of submitting
the ideas in this article to a film music magazine for publication?
Clap, Clap, Clap.

One example I have is of the only recording there is of the score from The Little Mermaid. The score by Alan Menken is great, but I feel the recording, even if this is the only one I've heard, ikt still could sound better. ASgain, that's only my opinion.

So personally if all re-recordings are of this caliber, who cares.
If you are into nostalgy, this may be a big problem though.