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Alex North-one of his greatest unrecorded scores
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Topic: Alex North-one of his greatest unrecorded scores
John C Winfrey
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Like Herrmann, North did about 55 major film scores. Only on Herrmann we have seen many, many recordings of many of the same things over and over. However, both did lots of other things, some of which we are getting now. For Herrmann, the old TV and radio scores. We are seeing some of those now. For North, some of his ballets are still lost and many of those WW II docs not available yet.Of all the North stuff on CD and LP now I really love these:
1. Agony and Ecstasy-1965, listen to the club CD a lot, I love the main title, the pope battle music and all the painting cues. I really like the Agony cue where he goes blind. A very powerful piece of music. This is one great CD.
2. I love the Spartacus score and all the missing music not yet on a legimate CD. The MCA one is totally insufficient. All the great cues at beginning of film and the gladiator training music missing, as are many of the legions on march cue, Crassus music etc and the confrontation music at end. Also one great cue immediately after the march for the battle where legions come in. The cue where they are maneuvering is fantastic.
3. That Wonderful Country CD from the club is fantastic. And I love the square dance cue on King and Four Queens. Some of you may have noticed that one theme in this was reused in Rich Man, Poor Man later.
4. Shoes of Fisherman-I don't have the FSM CDs yet, but the old LP has some great cues on it too. This is an awesome score.
5. Misfits-I really like all the additional music on this CD that came out a few years back. The four piece part on the Round UP sequence is fantastic. I have always liked that famous Paddleball sequence cue and the main title and both versions of the Rosalyn jazz cue theme. Different one on the old LP than on CD. Both are good. Also, some of the cues near the end are exc. Great score.
6. Viva Zapata-I love the old LP from FMC on this and the opening cue on the re-recording on Varese CD too. Great score and great cues.
7. Death of a Salesman-the cue for the car crash is very rythmic and pulsating. A very nice driving cue.
8. Cleopatra-2 CD set-awesome all that extra music. Wow so much more there. Really great. This score is far too good for that boring talky film.
9. Cheyenne Autumn-once again some great cues and nice main themes. I love some of them on here. I like all the battle cues and the trumpet work.
10. Dragonslayer-really deep score.
11. and several others like Rose Tattoo. He reused a little from Viva Zapata in this and some of it reused again in Spartacus.
12. South Seas Adventure-nice-the surfing cue reused in Pocket Money many years later.
13. My favorite score not recorded by him is....................Penitent in 1987. The powerful music for the walk up the mt for the crucifixicion theme is powerful. A great piece.
14. Last Butterfly has a nice theme to it also.
J.
posted 07-02-2006 05:24 PM PT (US) Alexborn007
Standard Userer
I have really found myself enjoying North in the past year. "The Agony and the Ecstasy" really connected with me, and its scale is mindblowing. As a second favorite, it's probably "Shoes of the Fisherman". Again, huge scale and memorable themes, but so much of the music has a wonderful energy and nothing feels wasted."Cleopatra" is very good, but it's taken a few listens to really become immersed in it. Someone once described North to me as something of an acquired taste, and I have to agree. However, it's been a wonderful experience discovering his music.
"Pentinent" sounds very interesting. Is the only way to hear the score through the film itself?
[Message edited by Alexborn007 on 07-02-2006]
posted 07-02-2006 06:45 PM PT (US) Lou Goldberg
Standard Userer
Supposedly there was a Penitent bootleg but I've never seen it & don't know anyone who has a copy.I love North (and met him & his wife once). For some, I'm told, he can take getting used to, but both on record and in films, I can usually take to his music very quickly.
In addition to the ones John mentioned, I'm fond of the jazzy Four Girls in Town, The Long Hot Summer/Sanctuary CD, Bite the Bullet, The Sound and The Fury, and of course, A Streetcar Named Desire (pick up the North-conducted DRG release with the Steiner suites over Goldsmith's re-recording). There's also 2001: A Space Odyssey (Rejected). I'm not sure it would have worked better than what Kubrick finally settled on in the film, but I'm glad we have it to listen to it on its own.
posted 07-02-2006 09:35 PM PT (US) Old Infopop Software by UBB