2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY - THE ORIGINAL SCORE

Label: Intrada Special Collection Volume 38
Date: 1968
Tracks: 13
Time = 39:02

World premiere of original performance for Alex North score to legendary Stanley Kubrick sci-fi masterpiece, authored by Arthur C. Clarke, starring Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood. Presented through combined efforts of Stanley Kubrick estate, Alex North family, restoration authority Nick Redman, other persons related to project. Judiciously assembled from sole surviving mono mixdown safety master made by engineer Eric Tomlinson for composer during recording sessions. Relatively recent discovery of long lost tape allows original performance of vibrant, complex work to shine. Stunning orchestral textures; hugely expanded brass section; incredible array of timpani all get spotlight. In balance are reflective ideas, moments for intimate solo voice against vibraphone, harp, other subtle textures. Packaging includes definitive notes about legendary rejected score, researched in depth by writer Jon Burlingame, historian Nick Redman with additional comments from conductor Henry Brant, estate members plus musical score examples, more! Complete score as recorded by composer under baton of Henry Brant. Special Collection release limited to 3000 copies!

01. The Foraging 3:11
02. The Bluff 2:38
03. Night Terrors 1:47
04. Bones 1:41
05. Eat Meat and Kill 4:00
06. Space Station Docking 5:22
07. Space Talk 3:47
08. Trip to Moon 3:04
09. Moon Rocket Bus 5:19
10. The Foraging (alternate version)(aka The Dawn of Man) 3:08

Bonus Tracks

11. Eat Meat and Kill
(take 7-wild) 1:03
12. Space Station
(take 4-partial) 2:11
13. Docking
(take 2) 1:15

Due January 2007
Price: $19.99

James

Even if you have the Goldsmith version, like I do, I encourage all of you to purchase this CD.

To me North's music would have made the picture much better, I found the use of classical music to be a major flaw in 2001.

My advice is that if you have the recording and like it or you if like Alex North, you should at least listen to the clips on Intrada’s site before dismissing this as an unnecessary purchase or deciding to wait a year.

This is as historic a release as the Elmer Bernstein Box set and just as important. This is quite simply one of the most important rejected scores ever. Not just because it was North or even for a Kubrick film. It is a rejected score for a key film in cinematic history, a film that is certainly iconic and recognizable the world over.

If it’s not your cup of tea, that’s fine. But this recording is far more important than Goldsmith’s (which I do love) which was made solely because he believed that there was no way that anyone would ever hear his friend’s music because the session tapes were believed to be lost. He reconstructed the music from Alex North’s cassette tape copy (which was sorely lacking in dynamics and details) and while I certainly don’t slight his effort, I am positive that if he had to choose one, he would pick the original tracks.

One other question, and I am serious:

Would this film be iconic and recognizable the world over if Kubrick never rejected North's score?

I'd have to say no, with slight apprehension. The very deep impression Kubrick made on audiences with some of these classical pieces could never be matched. Imagine hearing the Blue Danube when seeing this for the first time in 1968. Talk about provocative! North's score is a fine piece of original music, but Kubrick gets a bigger emotional response by using something so well known and loved in an entirely foreign context.

My intent here is not to lessen the importance of North's work. I am not. It's a fantastic original score, and must have been the most brutal moment in North's career at the premiere when it wasn't heard. My intent is to be a little more objective. It's hard for us to do because we're all rooting for the composer, and we always scream foul when a composer's work is tossed... and we seem to lose some objectivity when doing so. I've not read the liner notes for this release yet, but I hope there's some serious objectivity presented.

I'd love the myths surrounding the legend be debunked or certified; like the one about Kubrick hiring a composer to keep the studios and production at ease, knowing full well he was going to use the classical music in the end? Especially considering that MGM just might want to view the picture before the premiere (did Kubrick have a cut of the movie in place that DID use all of North's music? That's the real treasure!!)? Why was North not shown the whole picture, or told music wasn't necessary for "beyond the infinite" scenes, and that "breathing effects" would be used? All that stuff.

It could be that we'll never know these answers, but at least some of us get to hear that original recording (the one North was brought to in an ambulance because we was sick due to stress, and a score he did NOT conduct... one of the few!).

In my opinion, the reason that those classical pieces resonate so closely with the film (to our minds anyway) is because they are well known because of the film, not the other way around. While I am reasonably sure that the pieces were well known to classical fans of the time, they were, with a few exceptions, not well known to the general public of the late 60’s. I believe it is the linkage the film and the music that has given them that status. I will grant that it is a gestalt of the all the elements that make 2001 what it is, but there is no way to know, for certain, that North’s score might not have become iconic, if he had score the entire picture.

Considers Max Steiner’s music for Gone with The Wind. It is extremely well known because of the picture it was attached to. Would another composer themes have become as well known if say, Korngold or Newman, had score it?

What remains is the fact that this is a rejected score from one of the most iconic films of the 20th century composed by one of the great Golden Age composers.

I don’t know what the exact deal that Intrada made with the studio and the estate. What I do know is that now that this has been produced, whether or not there is another edition produced, the music is out there. Collectors who are 12 now will have to do what I did with the original Varese Club CD’s, except CD-Rs until a new edition is produced. Not a perfect world but a better world where this music is not available at all.

PK, I think you know my feelings about limited editions and all the madness concerning them, so I won’t reiterate them. I don’t know whether this decision was market driven or just a circumstance of getting the music out.

From following the scene over the last few years one thing has become clear. Getting anything out, especially older scores is a potential nightmare. You can’t use stills without getting them cleared with EVERYONE from the studio down to the estates of the actor’s photographed. If it had to be limited to get it out then that is what has to be done.

In my mind, this isn’t like Inchon. That score had already been released and as nice as it is to have the remastered and expanded version, the music was available. Consider that far more limited things haven’t sold out yet, even with last minute warnings. Personally, I don’t think this is going to sell out in a few days. I think it will take a few weeks or even months. North is a hard sell for many despite the nature of the score.

Frankly, this is exactly the kind of score that I think of when I think of a true limited collectible score; limited appeal and esoteric.

1. that one cue sounds like the cue in Shoes of Fisherman
2 and another like Africa

same Africa cue in Good Morning America.

The Rocket Bus cue is interesting.

quote:

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Originally posted by John C Winfrey:
I listened to the clips over at Intrada. They arent too bad but two things:

1. that one cue sounds like the cue in Shoes of Fisherman
2 and another like Africa

same Africa cue in Good Morning America.

The Rocket Bus cue is interesting.

J.

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North would indeed use some of his compositions from 2001 in Shoes Of Fisherman as well as Dragonslayer. I think he may have used them in a few other films, not sure though.