 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Are you talking about the Disney?
I thought that was written by Frank Churchill?
Tragic man, a reported genius of melody, able to just tinkle them out on piano keys, virtually at will, but shot himself to death, right around the release of BAMBI, as I recall.
I love the choral work, especially in that incredible tracking shot at the beginning, where the chorus is introduced as the voice of the forest. Amazing. I think Ken Darby had a hand in that, too. He worked for Disney for a while.
Sad, that on the extended CD release, they don't include that choral cue of the animals, safe on their island, looking up at the panorama of the burning forest. As I recall, that was on the old Disneyland lp release, but not, curiously, on the CD. Oh well.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cool! Bambi came out at the height of WWII right? 1942? How did WWII impact production?
Churchill wrote the songs and Edward Plumb the score.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
An examination of the score was done in the book "Wonderful Inventions", by Ross Care, published by The Library of Congress.
from: http://www.rosscare.net/html/Bibliography.htm
Wonderful Inventions: Motion Pictures, Broadcasting, and Recorded Sound at the Library of Congress. Iris Newsom, editor, The Library of Congress, Washington, DC, 1985
Article:
Care, Ross Threads of Melody: The Evolution of a Major Film Score — Walt Disney's Bambi - — From the study of two rare scores in the Music Division of the Library of Congress the author discusses the several-years development of composer Frank Churchill's original material into the final symphonic score as arranged and refined by orchestrator Edward Plumb and a staff of Disney studio musicians. Article includes original film and production stills, composer portraits, and rare printed musical excerpts from the Library's piano conductor's score and the first draft manuscript score.
NOTE: A short version of this article originally appeared in The Quarterly Journal of the Library of Congress, (Spring, 1983)
I haven't pulled this off the shelf in a while. Maybe I should, just before I see the film again.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Are you talking about the Disney?
I thought that was written by Frank Churchill?
Tragic man, a reported genius of melody, able to just tinkle them out on piano keys, virtually at will, but shot himself to death, right around the release of BAMBI, as I recall.
I love the choral work, especially in that incredible tracking shot at the beginning, where the chorus is introduced as the voice of the forest. Amazing. I think Ken Darby had a hand in that, too. He worked for Disney for a while.
Sad, that on the extended CD release, they don't include that choral cue of the animals, safe on their island, looking up at the panorama of the burning forest. As I recall, that was on the old Disneyland lp release, but not, curiously, on the CD. Oh well.
Very sad indeed. I'm guessing he was a genius as many genius have a VERY hard time living life. I know as I'm married to one. Ordinary people get under their skin much worse than others. People don't understand you and quite often you think your the only sane one around.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I guess Plumb wrote the score and Churchill the songs.
Are you talking about the Disney?
I thought that was written by Frank Churchill?
Tragic man, a reported genius of melody, able to just tinkle them out on piano keys, virtually at will, but shot himself to death, right around the release of BAMBI, as I recall.
I love the choral work, especially in that incredible tracking shot at the beginning, where the chorus is introduced as the voice of the forest. Amazing. I think Ken Darby had a hand in that, too. He worked for Disney for a while.
Sad, that on the extended CD release, they don't include that choral cue of the animals, safe on their island, looking up at the panorama of the burning forest. As I recall, that was on the old Disneyland lp release, but not, curiously, on the CD. Oh well.
Very sad indeed. I'm guessing he was a genius as many genius have a VERY hard time living life. I know as I'm married to one. Ordinary people get under their skin much worse than others. People don't understand you and quite often you think your the only sane one around.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Love the Bambi score!
I guess Plumb wrote the score and Churchill the songs.
Are you talking about the Disney?
I thought that was written by Frank Churchill?
Tragic man, a reported genius of melody, able to just tinkle them out on piano keys, virtually at will, but shot himself to death, right around the release of BAMBI, as I recall.
I love the choral work, especially in that incredible tracking shot at the beginning, where the chorus is introduced as the voice of the forest. Amazing. I think Ken Darby had a hand in that, too. He worked for Disney for a while.
Sad, that on the extended CD release, they don't include that choral cue of the animals, safe on their island, looking up at the panorama of the burning forest. As I recall, that was on the old Disneyland lp release, but not, curiously, on the CD. Oh well.
Very sad indeed. I'm guessing he was a genius as many genius have a VERY hard time living life. I know as I'm married to one. Ordinary people get under their skin much worse than others. People don't understand you and quite often you think your the only sane one around.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cool! Bambi came out at the height of WWII right? 1942? How did WWII impact production?
Churchill wrote the songs and Edward Plumb the score.
For Bambi Plumb adapted some of Churchill's original themes (including the song melodies) and also composed some of the more complex sections of the score. He did the same with Leigh Harline's themes for the Whale Chase cue in Pinocchio. Churchill & Harline wrote some of the best Silly Symphony shorts in the 1930s.
His major cue in Bambi (IMHO) is the beautiful autumn sequence.
He was primarily an orchestrator/arranger. Did some great arrangements for The Three Caballeros. He also worked on a lot of B films in the '40s, doing some composing.
Charles Henderson, who worked for 20th Century-Fox (The Gang's All Here, etc) arranged the choral passages. Ken Darby's work was alleged rejected but he worked on some later Disney films in the mid/late '40s.
+++++++++
Churchill committed suicide in 1942. From IMDB:
Frank Churchill's tragic death at the age of 40 occurred on 14 May 1942. He was found with fatal gunshot wounds at his ranch near Newhall, 40 miles north of Los Angeles. Deputy Sheriff John Morrell told press reporters that the death was a suicide. Churchill had been working at the Disney studios and told colleagues only the previous day that he was returning to his ranch "for a rest." Born in Rumford, Maine in 1901, Churchill began as a theater pianist in Ventura, California. His brilliant career as Disney's greatest songwriter started in 1930.
Ironic. I'm now living in Ventura.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
Posted: |
Jan 30, 2016 - 12:36 PM
|
|
|
|
By: |
Jim Doherty
(Member)
|
After the recent SNOW WHITE thread, detailing some of the differences between the newest CD and the old Disneyland WDL-4105 LP, I decided to give various versions of BAMBI a spin to see if I could turn up anything.
Number one: As stated by others above... what a fantastic score! If you took out the songs, most of this score sounds like it could have come out of some live-action drama (or even noir) feature of the time.
Number two: There are a few major moments missing on every release of this score, namely the scene right after the "I Bring You a Song" sequence, where Bambi wakes up at night and spots the hunters' campfire; Bambi's battle with the hunting dogs; and the short beautiful choral/orchestral piece that accompanies the long shot of the island of refuge with the burning forest in the background.
Number three: As of yet, I really haven't found any cues on the WDL-4010 LP that are not not on the Walt Disney expanded CD. HOWEVER... there is one interesting difference. It involves differences between the track "Bambi Hunted" on the old LP and the corresponding track on the Walt Disney CD, "Man Returns" (track 14). Although the timings are the same for the LP and CD versions, the mixes are not. The CD features the music as heard in the film, while the LP offers alternate takes or mixes (I can't say which).
On the CD, the first 1:23 of the track has a noticeable tympani beat throughout, while the LP version does NOT have that tympani. The second half of the track (from 1:24 to 2:05), while being the take used in the film, is missing a peculiar "sproing" effect (possibly executed on a steel guitar, like the opening of Warner Brothers cartoons), which is quite noticeable on the LP version.
Does anyone know of any more differences?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Slightly off-topic, but after reading Jim's post, I'm beginning to notice a pattern with these Disney CD's where a good chunk of music from the films' climaxes are left off. In addition to this one, Snow White has most of its climactic music missing (although in the aforementioned Snow White thread, I found an article confirming it only survived as an MFX track), Pinocchio is missing most of the music after the Monstro chase, and a good portion of the missing music from Sleeping Beauty occurs near the climax. Anyone else notice this and on any other CD's I didn't mention.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Churchill's and Plumb's work on this one is amazing. I just thought that the first part of the score was a bit too dark to fit with the movie (or the first part of the movie was too light