Superman News: "The March"

By Mike Matessino, Album Co-Producer

By now everyone has probably seen the track listings for Rhino's upcoming release of SUPERMAN, published here at FSM on December 27th. As the February 15th release date approaches, I thought I'd elaborate with some brief explanations of some of the contents. This first one will address the various versions of the "march" or "main title" theme.

There are five different versions of the march presented on the 2-CD set. Each CD starts and ends with the march, and there is also the "end title" version in its proper sequence. Explaining how the march was originally recorded will clarify what the five versions are.

When the recording sessions for SUPERMAN began, the beginning of the film was not yet completed. A prologue was planned but not yet filmed, and the main title design was still a few months from completion. And so, the very first recording of the main title for SUPERMAN reflected where the film was at that point (July of 1978). This first version is presented as the opening of Disc 2 on the Rhino set. It begins with the brass fanfare as heard on the original soundtrack and in concert arrangements, but then leads to a quieter prologue section before building to a fanfare again. Then the march rhythm starts and the theme begins in full, sounding fairly familiar. The love theme appears briefly, with the melody in the brass section and introduced without a key change, and then the march continues and comes to a quick ending, clocking in much shorter than the version we're all familiar with. Ultimately, this version does not appear anywhere in the film, although it was used for the original theatrical trailer. Also, on last year's Varese Sarabande re-recording, it is this version of the prologue that starts the album off.

What happened next is that the main title credits were "timed out," and so Williams expanded his march to its familiar length and arrangement and recorded that. The intention was to attach it to the previously-recorded prologue music, although some correspondence suggests that dropping the prologue entirely was also being considered. This version in its raw form was used as the "end title" on the original Warner Brothers album, and features several bars at the beginning that do not appear anywhere in the film. On the Rhino release, this alternate is presented as the conclusion of disc one.

Then, the concept for the film's prologue was finalized, with the theatre curtain, comic book, etc. being filmed and edited... and so Williams then had to go back and record a new version of the prologue. This is heard in the film itself, and was then joined to the previously recorded longer version of the march. On the original recording sessions, the prologue is performed by itself; it does not continue into the main title, even though some copies of the score indicate that it does.

Although fans of John Williams and the film have long wanted this film-version opening, it was decided that the best opening for the soundtrack album was a combination of the fanfare from the very first recording combined with the main part of the revised main title march. This is what ended up on the original Warner album and this is also what appears on re-recorded compilations and on concert programs. And because it has this ubiquitous familiarity, we decided to include it on the Rhino set as the concluding track of disc two.

The "end title" heard in the film is a separate recording, one which was not used on the original soundtrack album. It has a slightly quicker tempo and some different modulations and orchestrations. It appears on the Rhino set in sequence, followed by the full version of the "love theme" (more on that next time).

The animated main title sequence was completed long after the scoring sessions were over, and some last minute music cuts were made at that time. The film starts with the revised prologue, and then, as Richard Donner's name appears, there is an edit to a short section from the "end title." This was necessary in order to accommodate the last-minute decision to put in the big red "S" emblem -- something which was not in the temporary version that Williams had during the recording sessions. Then there is an edit to the revised main title march. However, not only were two additional cuts made during the course of the sequence, but the entire thing was raised in pitch ever so slightly.

Despite this butchery, this is, apparently, what enthusiasts unanimously prefer as the opening of this score, and so, the Rhino CD presents as its opening track an editorial re-creation of the film version of the "Prelude and Main Title March." However, although the extension borrowed from the "end title" appears as it should, this CD version does not include the subsequent edits and the pitch change. Instead, it preserves the rhythm of the beginning of the film without tarnishing the natural flow of the composer's music. But for those whose familiarity with the original album is unshakeable, that version is also included, along with enough variations to keep you marching for several hours.

And if you followed all this, congratulations... your attention span and reasoning faculties are in great shape! Next time... well, read my mind.

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