this is the first i've heard of this. as far as i know, legrand was always the composer for this movie and there was hardly anything original score in the film. I know it's the main theme which is played over and over throughout the score along with a symphony he had composed. it's beautiful quite frankly, but i really doubt there was a rejected score by someone. if i had a guess if there was a rejected score for this and wouldn't ever tell, it would be John Williams. Other than Legrand I could see this movie easily scored by Henry Mancini, John Williams or Jerry Goldsmith.
Johnny T. Williams was never approached for this project. Johnny T. Williams has never been "FIRED", "REJECTED", or ask to leave any projects. THE END.
Johnny T. Williams was never approached for this project. Johnny T. Williams has never been "FIRED", "REJECTED", or ask to leave any projects. THE END.
YOU DON'T KNOW THAT! Every composer has had at least one score rejected unless you're John Barry who probably owns the record right now.
To my knowledge John Williams has never had a rejected score. He was asked this an interview at some point (in recent memory) and politely explained (he is always polite) that he has never had that misfortune.
It seems like the King of rejected scores has to be Elmer Bernstein. I went to an early screening of a River Runs Through it with the Bernstein score (very much like To Kill a Mockingbird). The films was much better with the bernstein.
According the Rejected Scores website (http://rejectedfilmscores.125mb.com/list.html), the rejected "Summer of '42" score was composed by Dave Grusin. If true, does anybody know what it sounded like? It must have been very different from Legrand's - for some reason I feel it may have been a jazz/big band score.
According the Rejected Scores website (http://rejectedfilmscores.125mb.com/list.html), the rejected "Summer of '42" score was composed by Dave Grusin. If true, does anybody know what it sounded like? It must have been very different from Legrand's - for some reason I feel it may have been a jazz/big band score.
There would've been some jazz yes, but not a big band score.
I could picture this more so like The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter and what he would later write for Racing With The Moon, which ironically takes place right around the same time as "Summer of 42" albeit two years later. My guess would be the latter score more prominently but it would've been more acoustic sounding like "Lonely Hunter" minus the harpsichord in that score and the synths Grusin would employ in Racing With The Moon, 12 years later.
If this is true, hopefully this rejected score would see the light of day which would be an amazing comparison to Legrand's mini masterpiece.
"The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" is by far my favorite Dave Grusin score, and it's very possible than this rejected score reflected that style rather than an authentic 1942 pop music style (of course, Legrand's "Theme From Summer of '42" is technically a romantic big band source cue, but it also sounds more contemporary [as in early '70s] compared to something like "Moonlight Serenade"). I do feel like Grusin's score was very different than Legrand's, but it's anybody's guess what it sounded like.
There isn't an entry in Gergely Hubai's book "Torn Music" about "Summer of '42," so if this rejection is indeed true it remains strangely elusive considering this was a very popular film.
