Topic: FULL CIRCLE (Read 3766 times)

elmore3003 · « **Reply #30 on:** July 16, 2016, 06:11:59 AM »

I need to vacuum this morning. Badly.

elmore3003 · « **Reply #31 on:** July 16, 2016, 06:12:32 AM »

!! 2 !!

elmore3003 · « **Reply #32 on:** July 16, 2016, 06:14:12 AM »

I had one doozy of a dream that I cannot put together now: something with the idiot Man From Philadelphia, closing the office, finding an apartment, and discovering that I had been deceived and other people were also living there, I was on the phone with the broker when I woke.

elmore3003 · « **Reply #33 on:** July 16, 2016, 06:15:22 AM »

Today, I have to tackle Sky's trip to Havana with Sister Sarah, the longest thing in the first act. I'd like to finish it by tomorrow night.

Jrand74 · « **Reply #34 on:** July 16, 2016, 06:20:06 AM »

DR CHAS SMITH was Footloose last night and now he is at ANOTHER Book sale.

elmore3003 · « **Reply #35 on:** July 16, 2016, 06:20:13 AM »

Soundtracks:
I really like Rozsa, and in high school, I played BEN-HUR, KING OF KINGS to death, along with that first Warner Brothers recording of the GWTW score. I also played DOUTH PACIFIC, KING & I, GYPSY, BYE BYE BIRDIE.

These days, hen I listen to a soundtrack, it's JULIET OF THE SPIRITS for Grandpa's elopement with the ballerina circus music, NORTH BY NORTHWEST, or PSYCHO, since Herrmann is so fantastic.

Jrand74 · « **Reply #36 on:** July 16, 2016, 06:20:44 AM »

We had a good audience last night. In fact, audience reaction added five minutes to our run time.

Things were better cue wise and entrance wise, so that is a good thing.

elmore3003 · « **Reply #37 on:** July 16, 2016, 06:23:04 AM »

I always liked the film KING OF KINGS, more than BEN-HUR. I did enjoy the BBC mini-series of B-H and I like the silent film version. There were several sequences in the mini-series that were not in the film, and I kept thinking, was that in the book? I read the book fifty years ago, so I bought another copy last year. I'll get to it.

Speaking of Rozsa, it's time for a good recording of THE THIEF OF BAGDAD score.

Jrand74 · « **Reply #38 on:** July 16, 2016, 06:23:22 AM »

TOD:

Valley of the Dolls
Star Wars
Harlow (Carroll Baker version....Neal Hefti)
The Ten Commandments

elmore3003 · « **Reply #39 on:** July 16, 2016, 06:57:02 AM »

Quote from: Jrand65 on July 16, 2016, 06:23:22 AM

TOD:

Valley of the Dolls
Star Wars
Harlow (Carroll Baker version....Neal Hefti)
The Ten Commandments

Yep! In the 1970s, I played STAR WARS to death.

Ginny · « **Reply #40 on:** July 16, 2016, 08:04:10 AM »

Saturday morning greetings! I skipped a trip to the busy northern Cincinnati 'burbs for an art supply demo this morning, because I was #5 on the waiting list for a seat. Didn't want to gamble that 9 people would be no-shows and decided to stay home and play with the art supplies I already have.

elmore3003 · « **Reply #41 on:** July 16, 2016, 08:06:53 AM »

The floor is vacuumed. I listened to the new cast recording of TUCK EVERLASTING, which I liked more than I expected. My friend John Clancy's orchestrations are quite lovely.

Amy · « **Reply #42 on:** July 16, 2016, 08:40:30 AM »

TOD:
Growing up, we had the albums for the movies, "West Side Story" and "Sound of Music", which we played over and over for many years. But since those were Broadway musicals first, they really don't count.
I got the soundtrack to the Woody Allen movie, "Manhattan", which is all Gershwin music, but I hardly played it.
I also got the soundtrack for one of the "Batman" movies because it had a couple songs on it I liked, including "Kiss From a Rose" by Seal, but didn't play it much.
So, I guess there aren't any soundtrack albums I played a lot.

ChasSmith · « **Reply #43 on:** July 16, 2016, 10:04:51 AM »

Back -- with just a handful of things that I wouldn't exactly call Treasure (and neither would you), but good stuff at great prices. Not a bad haul for only browsing a couple of sections.

ChasSmith · « **Reply #44 on:** July 16, 2016, 10:19:24 AM »

It's amazing that with all of BK's early exposure and access to things, that we run nearly parallel on KING OF KINGS and BEN-HUR and their scores.

It was a little bit serendipitous that I fell in love with KING OF KINGS like I did. We were in one of our temporary houses in Fort Lauderdale prior to buying one, and for a year, we were renting a small but charming house ten blocks from the very center of town. And though small, it was still a bustling downtown then. I was ten or eleven and permitted to walk hither and yon, and it was no more than a 12-block walk to either of the two main downtown theaters. I don't remember what first got me to seeing KING OF KINGS -- quite possibly the family went -- but a junior high school friend and I found we were both quite taken with it, and its music, and we walked to it more than a few times.

Just about this time my dad and mom bought their first real stereo (a floor model console), and one of the first new records I got for myself was that wonderful blue MGM box set. And did I wear that record out? You better believe it. The copy I still have now is easily my third or fourth.

So, BEN-HUR as a film had completely passed me by because I simply wasn't of an age then to be interested in it. I don't remember how long it was before I finally saw it, or where, but I could never quite love it -- and I hate to say it, even Rozsa's score -- as much as KoK. Even now, I still feel I owe it a fair shake, and the big box Blu-ray set is sitting here waiting for me.

Someone mentioned the silent version, and I've really become interested in silents these past few years, so I very much look forward to getting to know both that and the Heston. I also have the silent KING OF KINGS, an old Criterion release, that I have yet to properly watch.

ChasSmith · « **Reply #45 on:** July 16, 2016, 10:29:15 AM »

So just to split this up a little bit (if I did it right we'd be on page 103 by now)...

To me, for years, Miklos Rozsa meant Biblical epics, and KING OF KINGS was so thoroughly in my bloodstream that none of the others have managed to made a dent. Of course now I admire him for many other films than these, but for a number of years these were it.

In 1977 or thereabouts I attended a small series of film seminars, all very informal, and one of those evenings was dedicated to Rozsa who was there to talk to us. They always showed a movie and then had their guest speak and take questions, but I don't remember what the movie was. It wasn't one of the epics, though. Anyway, the thing I always remembered him telling us, which was shocking even then, was that at some point they wanted to re-record all of his "epic" scores...and the scores themselves had been lost or destroyed, so he (and possibly others) sat down with the damn soundtrack records and the films and started transcribing as best they could. I believe the recordings got made, and these reconstructions might be what anyone who does these now is playing from.

I hope I'm not misremembering any crucial facts there, but I suppose it can be checked out pretty easily now.

ChasSmith · « **Reply #46 on:** July 16, 2016, 10:34:54 AM »

I have a PDF of the entire BEN-HUR condensed score, and I've always wanted to find one for KING OF KINGS. I was surprised to find this piano selections book had existed, because I surely would have bought it back in the day. I at least have a PDF of it now. (Making a JPEG of it to post here.)

FJL · « **Reply #47 on:** July 16, 2016, 10:37:19 AM »

Quote from: elmore3003 on July 16, 2016, 06:11:59 AM

I need to vacuum this morning. Badly.

Reminded of the quip from the play MONEY TALKS: "Nature abhors a vacuum, and so does my cleaning lady."

ChasSmith · « **Reply #48 on:** July 16, 2016, 10:56:13 AM »

Ben-Hur certainly has a great pre-curtain opening statement.

ChasSmith · « **Reply #49 on:** July 16, 2016, 10:56:55 AM »

Finally (do I hear a sigh of relief?), a couple of lifelong favorite themes:

ChasSmith · « **Reply #50 on:** July 16, 2016, 10:59:44 AM »

Quote from: bk on July 16, 2016, 12:22:40 AM

And the word of the day: CAESURA!

Might even be a few of those in there if we look hard enough.

bk · « **Reply #51 on:** July 16, 2016, 12:05:39 PM »

I'm up, I'm up after about nine hours of sleep.

Ginny · « **Reply #52 on:** July 16, 2016, 12:08:35 PM »

TOD - I have a question about the term "soundtrack." Is there a difference between the soundtrack for a musical - essentially the cast recording for a movie - and the predominantly instrumental soundtrack for a drama or comedy? In the first category, my earliest recollection of a purchase is probably FUNNY GIRL on LP. In the second, it would be BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID, also on LP.

One of my favorites from the second category is the soundtrack from CHOCOLAT, which I have on CD and my iPod.

And what about the recordings from movies like THE BIG CHILL and OH, BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU? that are comprised of previously written/recorded music? Whatever those are, I like 'em both. In Nashville, we passed the studio where OH, BROTHER... was recorded.

Druxy · « **Reply #53 on:** July 16, 2016, 12:12:21 PM »

I just finished watching SAN ANDREAS on HBO.

My only comment:

If you live in California: MOVE!

Druxy · « **Reply #54 on:** July 16, 2016, 12:15:57 PM »

TOD:

RUN OF THE ARROW (Victor Young) was an early soundtrack I bought.

In recent years, I've probably listened to ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA more than any other soundtrack album.

vixmom · « **Reply #55 on:** July 16, 2016, 12:28:01 PM »

There was a little more excitement than necessary at the soup kitchen today

vixmom · « **Reply #56 on:** July 16, 2016, 12:35:43 PM »

But 81 were served and 80 were grateful

Ginny · « **Reply #57 on:** July 16, 2016, 12:43:25 PM »

Quote from: vixmom on July 16, 2016, 12:35:43 PM

But 81 were served and 80 were grateful

There's always one...

Jrand74 · « **Reply #58 on:** July 16, 2016, 01:33:48 PM »

Ain't it the truth DR GINNY. We usually have ONE at each performance.

Jrand74 · « **Reply #59 on:** July 16, 2016, 01:34:06 PM »

I shall soon be on my way to Performance Number Three of ON GOLDEN POND.....

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Author Topic: FULL CIRCLE (Read 3766 times)

FJL