You all know how there are message boards and sites where the preponderance of posters are pettily predisposed toward pissing on everything? (Alliteration is not my strong suit, so when I get the chance, I try to cut loose).
One of my interests is film music and there are sites where film music is the order of the day. And there are many worthy contributors, normally, toward discussion of same and some of them have extensively researched the subject and have fascinating things to share about the processes of film scoring, including soundstage anecdotes about specific scoring sessions, etc.
And we get something similar here and in Ken Mandelbaum's column, and elsewhere, about Broadway musicals and how scores are developed and shaped.
At any rate, one of the specialty labels that caters to the film music community is Varese Sarabande (for whom BK produced many of his wonderful theater recordings, as well as his Titanic opus). And our very own Nick Redman has -- for more than a decade -- been THE leader in the film score preservation arena and has helmed many hundreds of film score recordings from the gold and silver ages of Hollywood's great past.
One of Nick's first presentations, a decade ago, was the first-ever release of original music tracks, mostly in stereo, from one of Hollywood's greatest movie scores -- Alfred Newmans' "The Robe." At that time, Nick was working at Fox with folks in the music department trying to get as much done with as few dollars as he could amass in an attempt to get music out of the storied Fox vaults (probably the greatest music treasure trove in the world for variety of scores by a variety of composers) in a special series of recordings to be issued by Fox. Among them were "Laura" and "How Green Was My Valley." But for many of us, "The Robe" was the piece de resistance. For the most part this one-CD, 60-plus-minute recording was superb, but we all missed a significant cue called "Crucifixion." As the liner notes pointed out, though, this cue was available in a re-recorded form on the original score release on Decca (an album that never went out of print on LP) and subsequently issued on a Varese CD. Conducted by Newman himself, the album was a faster-paced presentation of the music, but that one cue was quite comparable to the original. At that time, to have acquired the missing cue, they would have had to go to much greater expense in researching and performiing preservation on the film's original master elements. This was not practicable at that time, as I understand it.
Now, 11 years later, Redman has overseen the restoration of nearly 500 (if I have the figure correct) Fox scores (around 200 have been issued on CD), and the Varese CD Collector's Club (established to provide limited runs -- less costly -- of CDs for fans of much-desired scores) has issued many of these treasures to the delight of collectors everywhere.
Sure, there are always a few sour grapes when someone doesn't like every one of the titles issued every three-four months, but mostly, raves ensue.
This week, Varese announced three new Club titles. One is a special treat -- a 50th Anniversary, 2-CD presentation of "The Robe" mastered from the film's original elements, and presenting an additional 30 minutes of music. This remastering from original elements means they've gone to the source and worked with the original recording, rather than using something mixed down by someone else (the source of the first CD was reportedly a two-track mixdown). So far as I know, all the cues are in stereo, and the score is 99% complete (if one film score fanatic who tracks such things is correct, citing two missing cues of a mere few seconds each).
For a film music lover, this is a cause for wild celebration and merriment. It's one of the true masterworks of cinematic music scoring by one of its greatest artists, Alfred Newman.
Today, I found a couple of items in my mailbox from a film music discussion list. One was by a member who legally represents film composers, and the other was by a man whose opinion I've respected for many years.
And both were bitching -- bitching because a label has the temerity to foist "another" recording of this score with just a few extra minutes (30 minutes!!!) of music on the CD-buying public. And what will happen in another 10 years, they asked? Will newer, better source material be found to warrant at 3-CD release?
Can you imagine this, my fellow Kimlets? BITCHING about something they've never had access to before -- a master-reference recording of a complete work NEVER before issued in its entirety and a good 33% longer than previous recordings? This would be the same, to me, of somone reissuing "Gypsy," but with the original performers singing different versions of some songs and including songs that were dropped! Maybe only 10 minutes of new material...BUT WOW! What NEW material!!!
I say to hell with bitch-slapping! I say call out the uzis and let's get this fershluganah firing squad all het up!
I want to be the one to call the "Fire" command and I deny them blindfolds.