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^ I agree. But this re-recording is the exception. It's a phenomenal!

Today in the mail and now playing:

Les Incontournables Vol. 1-3 - Vladimir Cosma

A collection of tunes and songs by the French composer. Most of it is easy listening, but man, has Cosma written some beautiful melodies!

Volker

In orchestral re-recordings I appreceate divergent interpretations. In a way it's not film music any more when recorded independently. Often, re-recordings are a bit slower than the originals. That makes the symphonic textures more transparent. I like that. Imagine we had recordings of Beethoven conducting his own music. Would conductors forever have to try to imitate those recordings? Great music is open to many interpretations.

Volker

From my own perspective, I put great weight on the fact that an album is the original soundtrack recording.

Yes, limitations such as poor sound quality (Thor, you cite Steiner's King Kong as an example. For me, it's Steiner's She: the BY/FMA OST release for this does such a poor service at highlighting Steiner's music (rectified by TFC's wonderful re-recording) and poor orchestra playing do affect the listening experience. But this negative is offset partly by the fact that this is what the original filmmakers had to work with.

Re-recordings are examples of how the music "lives and breathes on its own" but are removed from what was created for the OST. The OSTs also live and breathe on their own too.

Whilst writing this I'm thinking of all the various versions of several Herrmann scores there are around. Yes, I prefer the OSTs in the majority of cases. But there are re-recordings that are almost up there with the OSTs - and these tend to be the scores that are as like the OSTs as possible. The 4 different versions of Psycho I have each have their own merits, but the OST tracks are the one I tend to return to most often. Yes, the sound quality may be the worst of the 4 versions I have, but the sound doesn't make them unlistenable. And it reflects the age of the source material and the limited technology available to the filmmakers. The Elfman/Bartek version for the 1998 remake is a favourite because it is the closest to the original there is - and the sound is great. The 1975 Unicorn-Kanchana release of the music (conducted by Herrmann himself) is very different from the OST. But this is an interpretation of the score by the composer for an environment away from the film - and therefore he changes a lot of the tempo. Liking this one too may go against what I may have said earlier about my like/dislike of re-recordings but in this case it's what I originally came to on record and it's the composer's own version of the OST.

I admit, I have a very complicated like/dislike state with film music - but I know what I mean!

Indeed. My "reliving the film" concept works best with C&C presentations of the original recording. Re-recordings are another matter altogether. I appreaceate those albums as philharmonic concept albums, just as you do.

Yes, I can see how that is important when the film plays a part in one's enjoyment of soundtracks -- the original "source" of the thing. This is where I depart from most people, though, since neither film nor questions of 'original source' play any role in my appreciation of soundtracks.

Except for certain electronic scores, of course, but in that case it's less the case of the film and more a case of the sound elements being so idiosyncratic in the first place.

I hope so too, but I doubt it.

There's going to be ancillary films?

I'm so confused...

me too!

I like dark, particularly if it's done by a competent composer like Desplat.

Marie Ward - Elmer Bernstein

The recording is ordinary which is a tragedy as this is surely one of the greatest film scores of all time. Would love to hear a re-recording.

Hamlet - Ennio Morricone

The first 12 cues are wonderful, the rest I'd be fine without. Especially good are the Hamlet and Ophelia themes, the 'King is Dead' piece - and one of the best damn 'Banquet' cues you'll ever hear!

I love all of it!

If you wanted a sing-a-long surely any right minded individual would have opted for The Omen not Empire of The Sun.

I'm not sure what you mean with "not the biggest karaoke classic". It's a Disney like classic!

Anyway, since I'm quite nervous ...

KUIFJE | john williams

Good stuff too!