The music score was recorded at Anvil, Denham so I assume the material was possibly bulldozed, along with other priceless scores, in the early eighties when the music stage was destroyed. I worked on the film at Pinewood and was one of the lucky ones to see most of the cut footage. I almost went to the scoring sessions but Ernie Walter, the editor, thought it wouldn't be advisable for some reason. The main title I think is edited. In the bonus section on the laserdisc special edition there is an audio only version of the opening which features audio of a scene that was cut from the film and the main title is longer, probably because it features credits pertaining to the long version. I gave some LP's to Maggie Miller, the assistant editor, for Miklos Rozsa to sign. By chance as I was leaving the dubbing stage I ran into Maggie as she was taking Mr. Rozsa onto the stage and she introduced him to me and I thanked him for signing my LP's.
I have both the Tadlow edition and the original music stream now released by Quartet, normalized in levels on my own years ago, and I can say this: I listened to the very well-done Tadlow recording one or two times, just to make experience, but ever I returned to the original recording, because there I felt the subliminal presence of Rozsa! The HOLMES score, directly derived from the Rozsa's "Violin Concerto", is an out of the ordinary experience, from the musical point of view, not only for its propulsive force in the film, but also for being the best example of trade-union between film-music and classical-music, much above the cases of Vaughan-Williams "Sinfonia Antarctica" (Scott of the Antarctic) or Villa-Lobos "Forest of Amazons" ("Green Mansions" part music used by Kaper).
At first glance, the Quartet one looks like a very good job. I noticed a couple of differences, compared with my copy, so I cannot wait to get it and listen again to this wonderful work!
much above the cases of Vaughan-Williams "Sinfonia Antarctica" (Scott of the Antarctic) or Villa-Lobos "Forest of Amazons"
I'm glad you like the Holmes score, but aren't we dealing with apples and oranges here? RVW and HVL wrote their music to accompany the movies (though before actually seeing the visuals). Then they fashioned their material into the symphony and the tone poem. Holmes was more of a "temp track" situation. The director liked the concerto, had it in mind all along, and ultimately asked Rozsa to retrofit the music for his new film. Having the composer around to supervise guaranteed a better result than some other temp track situations. But it was a very different kind of process. Have there been other such instances? I believe that some filmmakers wanted Stravinsky to rework his Rite of Spring for this or that movie, but it never came to pass.
...But it was a very different kind of process. Have there been other such instances? I believe that some filmmakers wanted Stravinsky to rework his Rite of Spring for this or that movie, but it never came to pass.
No, in fact. But I know Stravinsky himself composed another score before seeing the movie, in the case of "Commandos Strikes at Dawn", 1942, with his material never used and subsequently gained in "Four Norwegian Moods". But I just wanted to allude only to the contamination of genres, while coming from the same head, and not to debate a question in source, details and inspiration. In the end, Rozsa is always Rozsa. Who would say that "Overture to a Symphony Concert" is not film music and that dozens of his scores are not classical music?
but also for being the best example of trade-union between ilm-music and classical-music, much above the cases of Vaughan-Williams "Sinfonia Antarctica" (Scott of the Antarctic) or Villa-Lobos "Forest of Amazons" ("Green Mansions" part music used by Kaper).
Those two examples are different: first there were the film scores, THEN the concert work.
In the end, Rozsa is always Rozsa. Who would say that "Overture to a Symphony Concert" is not film music and that dozens of his scores are not classical music?
I remember using "Overture" to introduce an Hungarian lady to Rozsa's work. Her name was Bartok, and she loved her namesake's music as much as she loved Beethoven and Brahms. Not sure what she'd make of Rozsa I remarked that "Overture" was rather more like his film music than most of his other pieces, but in fact she couldn't hear anything 'filmic' about it; she was more intrigued by its Hungarianisms.
I agree that Rozsa is always Rozsa, and I think the fact that there isn't a huge divergence between his film and classical music is part of the reason he seems to have fallen out of favour in recent years even with some ardent Golden Age filmmusic lovers. Those of us who came to Rozsa in the late 50s, early 60s did so in a period when most people were much more familiar with tonal contemporary music. Works like Shostakovich's 7th Symphony had been played regularly throughout the war. Radio broadcasts of classical pieces were common. Animators even regularly used familiar classical works in their cartoons, and there seemed nothing odd in assuming everyone would know who Stokowski was when Bugs Bunny affectionately parodied him. Nowadays the man in the street hardly ever hears classical music of any kind, and even film scores that use a conventional tonal language do so in a much more superficial way, with very little sense of real gravitas and virtually no development, so people take it as just something to be dialled in or out at appropriate (or, more often, inappropriate) moments. Given that, it's not surprising Rozsa's archly-classical, formalist style should seem a little stuffy even to those who came to film music through Bernstein, North and Goldsmith, let alone our younger members who consider even those musical giants 'old hat'. I guess appreciation of Rozsa requires the sort of investment few are willing to make today, and since he tends not to instantly appeal to modern ears I don't suppose many are even going to bother.
..."Wow, I wonder what made me write an essay?"...
Simply, the love for Rozsa! I fully agree, of course, and I told "en passant" something of that "parallax" of musical culture in the OK CORRAL thread. And even today I wonder if someone is aware of, and is going to understand, what Kubrick did from "2001 Odyssey" on, in film music!
Nowadays the man in the street hardly ever hears classical music of any kind, and even film scores that use a conventional tonal language do so in a much more superficial way, with very little sense of real gravitas and virtually no development
The Zimmer factory in a nutshell.
Given that, it's not surprising Rozsa's archly-classical, formalist style should seem a little stuffy even to those who came to film music through Bernstein, North and Goldsmith, let alone our younger members who consider even those musical giants 'old hat'.
Nowadays the man in the street hardly ever hears classical music of any kind, and even film scores that use a conventional tonal language do so in a much more superficial way, with very little sense of real gravitas and virtually no development.
The Zimmer factory in a nutshell.
Given that, it's not surprising Rozsa's archly-classical, formalist style should seem a little stuffy even to those who came to film music through Bernstein, North and Goldsmith, let alone our younger members who consider even those musical giants 'old hat'.
Nowadays the man in the street hardly ever hears classical music of any kind, and even film scores that use a conventional tonal language do so in a much more superficial way, with very little sense of real gravitas and virtually no development.
The Zimmer factory in a nutshell.
Given that, it's not surprising Rozsa's archly-classical, formalist style should seem a little stuffy even to those who came to film music through Bernstein, North and Goldsmith, let alone our younger members who consider even those musical giants 'old hat'.
The Tadlow recording is splendid of course but no mattter how good, there is no substitute for having Rozsa conduct his own score with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. It's a pity - and not a little baffling - that the film was such a colossal box office flop. United Artists were apparently all set to release an LP when the film was first released but due to the film's failure the copies were destroyed. Ah well, better late than never.
The Tadlow recording has a much more attractive violin soloist in the shape of the magnificent Lucie Svehlova !!!
The Tadlow recording is splendid of course but no mattter how good, there is no substitute for having Rozsa conduct his own score with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. It's a pity - and not a little baffling - that the film was such a colossal box office flop. United Artists were apparently all set to release an LP when the film was first released but due to the film's failure the copies were destroyed. Ah well, better late than never.
The Tadlow recording has a much more attractive violin soloist in the shape of the magnificent Lucie Svehlova !!!
