They've already put out a budget label Adventures of Mark Twain but are adding to this some great titles.

So, if you were curious about say The Egyptian or Objective Burma but didn't want to fork over $16 for them, how about $6?

In addition to these two soon out will be Red River, King Kong, Auric's Beauty and the Beast, Honneger's Les Miserables, the Deutsch compilation with The Maltese Falcon, the Kilar compilation with Dracula, the Skinner & Salter Wolf Man disc, and the Swashbuckler's compilation which had Captain Blood, Scaramouche, The King's Thief, and The 3 Musketeers on it.

And I presume Naxos will put even more of the Marco Polo CDs out in the future.

And yes, all of the series will eventually make it to Naxos.

quote:

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Originally posted by John Morgan:

And yes, all of the series will eventually make it to Naxos.

John

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Anyway, I've been enjoying this lively score immensely, and just had to comment on this fine production, John. Bill Whitaker's liner notes are consise and informative and I enjoyed your notes as well. I look foward to finding more of these treasures in the future. Keep up the good work, and thank you!

Good to see the Marco Polos getting the Naxos treatment however. Liner notes are always good to have, but really, it's the music I want. At the Naxos price, there's no excuse for not getting the whole series.

THIEF OF BAGDAD
ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN
NIGHT OF THE HUNTER
MYSTERIOUS ISLAND
DEVIL AND DANIEL WEBSTER
SHE
HORN BLOWS AT MIDNIGHT
SGT. YORK
CURSE (Night) OF THE DEMON
THE SEA HAWK
FLESH AND FANTASY
DEVIL BAT

A few titles you suggested doing that I'd pick up in a heartbeat...

Thief of Bagdad
Mysterious Island
Devil and Daniel Webster
Sea Hawk

quote:

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Originally posted by John Morgan:
THIEF OF BAGDAD
ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN
NIGHT OF THE HUNTER
MYSTERIOUS ISLAND
DEVIL AND DANIEL WEBSTER
SHE
HORN BLOWS AT MIDNIGHT
SGT. YORK
CURSE (Night) OF THE DEMON
THE SEA HAWK
FLESH AND FANTASY
DEVIL BAT
[/B]

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As much as I love Herrmann, I'm not as keen to see you do these over some others, simply because we already have decent versions of them. Though if you did Devil & Daniel Webster you'd be able to record that great cue towards the film's end where Jacob tries to catch up with Mary's carriage.

I'd love to see you do a Thief of Bagdad. In my opinion it's Rozsa's best score, much better than Ben-Hur and others that people tend to rank as their number ones. The best conducting Bernstein did in his old series was probably on this score but even so we could still get closer to the mark.

I love Parker and wasn't 100% thrilled with the Chandos CD. It would be great to see you guys tackle a whole Night of the Demon, but I'm a little disappointed that you don't seem to want to follow through on The Red Shoes and/or other Easdale which strikes me as the more important British score/s to go for.

A She would be nice, especially after Kong, Son of Kong, and The Most Dangerous Game. A complete Sea Hawk is a no-brainer. I love the Night of the Hunter score as many of us do. However, when it comes to Hawks and Steiner, I'd much rather see you re-record a complete The Big Sleep than Sgt. York. When it comes to Waxman, even if there have been a number of recent releases and re-recordings, there are still so many better titles to do over Horn Blows at Midnight. Again my opinion, but we need a good, complete Destination Tokyo long before this other one. Also, no offense, but you've done enough Universal/40s/Skinner/Salter/Monster music for a while. Come back to it in 5 years after you've tackled other things.

Which brings us to Devil Bat. I love this film, but don't remember the music. I'm sure it's a B-score along the lines of the Salter & Webb you've done but I can't even think of who scored it. What attracts you to this one?

And lastly Flesh & Fantasy. I love this film and I've been playing that Scherzo cue from it that was issued on a 50s RCA/Camden LP now for years. Marco Polo has actually issued other classical works by Tansman and this would be really great to have in addition. By the way, did his rejected score for Since You Went Away survive?

In any case, trying to pick just two from this list sounds like more effort than the actual orchestrations and conducting. I know Marco Polo would rather you did the Korngold. My pick of all these would be Thief of Bagdad even though there are a number of different versions of it already in existence.

I actually came close to recording THE BIG SLEEP. I took the film and put all the music together, but just felt it was too repetitious for a complete stand-alone treatment, although it works superbly with the film. Gerhardt's suite pretty much covers most of the main musical elements.

I put DEVIL BAT in for a kind of joke, but I do love those PRC and MONOGRAM films. And yes, if I was running things and had all the money in the world, I would do a nice suite from these films.

Would also love to do PETER IBBETSON, THE BANDIT OF SHERWOOD FOREST, and just about another 100.
So much to do, so little time.
John

quote:

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Originally posted by Lou Goldberg:
Any of the scores you mentioned would make great recordings.
As much as I love Herrmann, I'm not as keen to see you do these over some others, simply because we already have decent versions of them. Though if you did Devil & Daniel Webster you'd be able to record that great cue towards the film's end where Jacob tries to catch up with Mary's carriage.

I'd love to see you do a Thief of Bagdad. In my opinion it's Rozsa's best score, much better than Ben-Hur and others that people tend to rank as their number ones. The best conducting Bernstein did in his old series was probably on this score but even so we could still get closer to the mark.

I love Parker and wasn't 100% thrilled with the Chandos CD. It would be great to see you guys tackle a whole Night of the Demon, but I'm a little disappointed that you don't seem to want to follow through on The Red Shoes and/or other Easdale which strikes me as the more important British score/s to go for.

A She would be nice, especially after Kong, Son of Kong, and The Most Dangerous Game. A complete Sea Hawk is a no-brainer. I love the Night of the Hunter score as many of us do. However, when it comes to Hawks and Steiner, I'd much rather see you re-record a complete The Big Sleep than Sgt. York. When it comes to Waxman, even if there have been a number of recent releases and re-recordings, there are still so many better titles to do over Horn Blows at Midnight. Again my opinion, but we need a good, complete Destination Tokyo long before this other one. Also, no offense, but you've done enough Universal/40s/Skinner/Salter/Monster music for a while. Come back to it in 5 years after you've tackled other things.

Which brings us to Devil Bat. I love this film, but don't remember the music. I'm sure it's a B-score along the lines of the Salter & Webb you've done but I can't even think of who scored it. What attracts you to this one?

And lastly Flesh & Fantasy. I love this film and I've been playing that Scherzo cue from it that was issued on a 50s RCA/Camden LP now for years. Marco Polo has actually issued other classical works by Tansman and this would be really great to have in addition. By the way, did his rejected score for Since You Went Away survive?

In any case, trying to pick just two from this list sounds like more effort than the actual orchestrations and conducting. I know Marco Polo would rather you did the Korngold. My pick of all these would be Thief of Bagdad even though there are a number of different versions of it already in existence.

In the end, do what you want (and what they'll let you get away with).

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But Yikes! I have to disagree with you about The Big Sleep. If I felt the Gerhardt suite was enough I wouldn't be pushing for you to record all or more from it. But I'm glad you at least considered it. A royal shame the old Steiner Library didn't have original acetates for this one although a seemingly original suite slightly longer than the Gerhardt with a lot of the same material was bootlegged on Cinema Records back in the 70s. I suppose the best place for it would have been on your Film Noir cd. Maybe you could still do a 30 minute suite of it in conjuction with something else some day. As for A&B Meet Frankie, I can understand if you're obligated to people.

I have some music from Devil & Daniel Webster from acetates (mainly repeated takes of a few cues rather than a complete score, which nevertheless probably exists somewhere). It would be great to have a complete of this with orchestrations matching the film score. I certainly wouldn't sneeze at it. I realize that it would be fun to take Mysterious Island to Moscow and have them play all those wild cues but I'd mch rather see a D&DW instead.

As for Waxman, I don't want to diss Horn Blows At Midnight. I also have to agree with you about Edge of Darkness, though I think Destination Tokyo is one of the best things Waxman ever did, much better than Objective Burma & Mrs. Skeffington. And speaking of Waxman from this period, I'd love to see you guys do the few brief cues there are in To Have and Have Not and then match those on an album with Confidential Agent which uses the TH&HN motif throughout its score. But I guess there's no end to the wish list of things fans would like to hear again someday.

And the music.... it's way better than $7!!!

In the MovieMusic store this week:
http://www.moviemusic.com/search/label.asp?id=204

But I'll put in my two-cents worth for a complete THE HORN BLOWS AT MIDNIGHT. Terrific Waxman and the film contains a TON of music. Watched it the other night and was reminded once again of how many large swaths of Waxman there are with little or no dialogue and/or sound effects.

Even though the score isn't 100 percent original Waxman, it still merits the total John and Bill Treatment.

Any hints about what's upcoming...tickets in hand for another Russian journey, perhaps?

quote:

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Originally posted by Dinko:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/07/arts/music/0 7score.html

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Wow, John Morgan makes the NY Times. That's awesome!

quote:

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"The orchestral world is clearly trying to break out of its old and prescribed box," said Deborah Borda, the president of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
...
The New York Philharmonic performed an evening of movie music last month for the second season in a row.

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Yeah and the NY Philharmonic couldn't even program any Herrmann or Waxman for their concert. What type of movie music concert is that? Oh yeah, but it featured the suite from On the Waterfront. Big surprises and amazing "breaking out of the box" stuff is going on there.

A Label Puts Music From Films in Focus
By DANIEL J. WAKIN
Like the dribble of an automatic coffee maker, a stream of classic movie music is issuing from the Naxos record label.

They are not classical music staples like Leonard Bernstein's "On the Waterfront" score. The titles include the classic, the arty, the obscure and the Grade B: "The Wolf Man," "The Maltese Falcon," "The Invisible Man Returns," "Red River," "King Kong," "Captain Blood," "Les Misérables" and "Objective, Burma!"

Naxos released 10 albums in February. Another 3 are due this year, one each in May, June and September. Most are cheaper reissues of recordings previously on the company's more expensive Marco Polo label, which has put out some 30 recordings of film music in recent years. More reissues are expected.

The releases are shining light on the works of a generation of journeyman composers who worked in Hollywood starting in the 1930's.

These composers were masters of swelling romantic melody, scampering chase music, stirring chords of triumph, sinister forebodings - and plenty of musical filler with all the character of cardboard. It is an odd artistic position: the composers were shackled to a film's narrative while still striving to evoke emotions through the ear.

They include Max Steiner, Adolph Deutsch, Franz Waxman, Bernard Herrmann, Erich Korngold and Dimitri Tiomkin. The Naxos series also includes movie scores by well-known classical composers whose names in movie credits may be more surprising, like Georges Auric, Jacques Ibert, Dmitri Shostakovich and Arthur Honegger.

Sales have been tiny but not inconsequential. "There is a very well defined collector's market for soundtracks," said Klaus Heymann, the founder and chairman of Naxos. "There are some grand tunes that can come from a symphony or orchestral piece. And there are people who like to have every note."

Mr. Heymann said the film score series would account for less than 1 percent of the label's yearly worldwide sales, which he put at about seven million. "We do a lot of things that are not profitable," he said.

The releases by Naxos, known for classical music, are a small testament to how much a part of the American classical music scene movie music has become.

Other record companies, led by Sony Classical, have tilted toward soundtracks in recent years. The violinist Joshua Bell regularly performs a violin concerto based on John Corigliano's score to "The Red Violin." A symphony derived from Howard Shore's "Lord of the Rings" score is making the rounds of orchestras.

Film music programs have become entrenched in orchestra seasons as a way to draw ticket buyers.

"The orchestral world is clearly trying to break out of its old and prescribed box," said Deborah Borda, the president of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. "This has been seen as one way that orchestras in a fairly graceful way can reach out to new audiences. After all, so often the first music that people hear is film music."

At the Los Angeles Philharmonic, movie music was generally confined to the Hollywood Bowl until two years ago, when it was brought into the main subscription concerts at the recently opened Walt Disney Concert Hall.

The New York Philharmonic performed an evening of movie music last month for the second season in a row. Both years' concerts sold out, said the orchestra's spokesman, Eric Latzky, a rarity when the orchestra, on average, is selling only four-fifths of Avery Fisher Hall. Two movie nights are planned for next year.

"Obviously we have discovered a substantial general public that is interested in this music," Mr. Latzky said.

Much of the film music in concert-hall programs is by contemporary composers who have written for recent movies. Naxos is digging up more obscure archaeological specimens.

John Morgan, a 58-year-old film composer who grew up in San Diego, has recreated many of the scores for Naxos, which contracted the recordings to the Moscow Symphony Orchestra. Recording with the orchestra in Russia was a major cost-saver.

"The people that love this stuff, they can't get enough," Mr. Morgan said. "If you leave out one cue, the most mundane cue in the score, it's going to be someone's favorite cue, and you'll hear from them." Cues are passages of music often associated with specific scenes.

Given the fragmentary and ephemeral nature of film scores, Mr. Morgan's work is painstaking.

Movie composers often did not create full scores, and in those cases Mr. Morgan had to rely on a piano reduction or several individual parts to produce one. In the case of "King Kong," he obtained Max Steiner's original pencil sketches from Brigham Young University, which holds the composer's papers.

He examined the sketches and compared them to the soundtrack, which he listened to over and over to produce a complete picture of the music on paper. When there was a score in other cases, it sometimes did not match the finished product because of last-minute changes to match the images.

Reconstruction was not an easy task.

"In 'King Kong,' there's a lot of fast-running-around music," he said. "Millions of notes."

A pretty damn good one to those who were actually there!