veröffentlichung Dragon's Domain: THE BASIL POLEDOURIS COLLECTION: VOL. 4 - THE BLUE LAGOON: PIANO SKETCHES

[Alexander Grodzinski]

Zitat

Dragon’s Domain Records, to be distributed through buysoundtrax.com, presents a very special release of composer Basil Poledouris’s original piano sketches and demos that were recorded in his home studio as he was creating the score for 1980’s THE BLUE LAGOON. With this unique release, listeners are given the unprecedented opportunity to listen, like a fly on the wall in Basil Poledouris’ home studio, as the composer works through his themes and musical interludes on the piano in 1979. Via cassette recordings made by the composer while working, the creative process of developing this film score from his initial piano noodlings to his far more developed and confident treatments is audibly documented. As themes both familiar and unrecognized are created and discarded during the course of composition, a major film score is born.

Released in 1980, Randal Kleiser’s THE BLUE LAGOON was Poledouris’ second major film score and largest breakthrough, leading to his magnificent score to CONAN THE BARBARIAN in 1982. Basil’s score for THE BLUE LAGOON was straightforwardly romantic and tropically lush, recorded with a full symphony orchestra. It provided an eloquent, yet far from pretentious, melodic sound that treated the characters’ emotional drama quite honestly and sympathetically. With this remarkable opportunity to hear the late composer at work, you’ll hear the score come together as it happens through these preserved and meticulously mastered recordings.

As a bonus track, we’ve included a 10-minute recording of Basil and Randal Kleiser working over music a significant moment in the film with Emmeline’s theme, which is a fascinating glimpse into the interaction between composer and director during the creation of this score.

Dragon’s Domain Records is proud to present this unique behind-the-scenes examination of the creation of Basil Poledouris’ THE BLUE LAGOON score. Mastered by James Nelson at Digital Outland and with exclusive liner notes by author Randall D. Larson, aided by the memories of Basil’s daughter Zoë Poledouris, is released in a limited edition of 500 units. The CDs, to be distributed through buysoundtrax.com, are expected to begin shipping on the week of November 1st.

01. Emmeline (Demo) (2:57)
02. Sketch #1 - Main Theme (3:03)
03. Baroque Motif (12/5/79) (4:28)
04. Sketch #3 - Two Takes on a Theme (3:06)
05. Sketch #4 - Two Takes on an Alternate Theme (1:17)
06. Sketch #2 - Main Title (4:51)
07. Main Title (Demo for Director) (1:02)
08. Sketch #5 - Part 1, Full Tonic Statement (2:27)
09. Emmeline (Demo for Director) (2:27)
10. Sketch #6 - Shark Scene (2:41)
11. Main Title A Section Demo (3:55)
12. Main Title B Section Demo (2:56)
13. Sketch #5 - Part 2, Dramatic Motif (6:32)
14. Main Title Full Demo (3:28)
15. Alternate Main Theme Demo (5:14)
16. Emmeline Full Demo (3:01)

BONUS TRACK
17. Composer and Director Interact (10:48)
Total Time: 64:58

 

[Gast Der Archivator]

Mit der Jenson-CD heute zusammen bestellt. Dadurch günstiger. Glücklicherweise. Wohl nur etwas für harte Basil-Fans. Sind klanglich etwas schwache Klavier-Demos, sogar mit Kommentaren von Poledouris. Ich mag den Score sehr, aber das hier ist etwas langatmig.

[Alexander Grodzinski]

Ohne Poledouris jetzt zu nahe treten zu wollen (und für das Album kann er ja nix), aber das hat schon etwas den Geschmack von "The Basil Poledouris Collection Vol.5 - Orchestral silence between the takes from "Conan the Barbarian".

[Gast Der Archivator]

Dann lieber den Jenson kaufen. Klasse Musik! ?

[TheRealNeo]

Also das finde ich schon etwas grenzwertig.

Ja die Auflage ist nicht groß, aber es sind ja auch nur Demos. Sind daran die Rechte so teuer gewesen und hätte man das Fans nicht einfach als zweite CD zum Original-Album hätte mitgeben können?

Klar wird das mancher auch ganz spannend finden den Entstehungsprozess auf diese Weise nachzuvollziehen, aber naja...das ist schon kurios irgendwie, aus meiner Sicht.

[Gast Der Archivator]

Ein bißchen Text aus dem Booklet:

Zitat

With this unique release, we’ve given the listener
the opportunity to participate as a fly on the wall, while Basil works
through his themes and musical interludes for THE BLUE LAGOON on
the piano in his home studio in 1979. Through cassette recordings made
by the composer, the creative process of developing this film score from his
initial piano noodlings to his far more developed treatments, is
documented. As themes both familiar and unrecognized are created and
discarded during the course of composition, a major film score is born. 

The recordings on this album were made with a
small, flat cassette recorder which was sitting on top of Basil’s studio piano,
so the fidelity is limited, although the music is effectively close-miked and
quite clear. The sketches were archived at the UCLA music library and
were provided to us in digital format. Each track has been carefully edited
and mastered by James Nelson of Digital Outland for the richest clarity
and to eliminate external room noises and a few false starts and sudden
stops. Basil was a proficient pianist but inevitably when improvising and
amending new ideas into previously devised melodic conformations therewill 
be the inevitable pauses, missed keys, starts and stops and the like;
these errors are simply part of the creative process, as these performances
were certainly not intended to be perfected recitals. 

We haven’t tried to correlate these early sketches
and demos with their finished orchestral representations in the film, as
these piano pieces are very early attempts at sculpting the score and its
themes, and would be refined greatly during this process into the finished
orchestral renderings you’ll hear on the film’s final soundtrack. Some of
them are obviously recognizable in early form, such as the “Emmeline”
theme, which Basil had pretty much fleshed out from the start. The
dramatic “Shark Scene” (track 10) begins with a fairly innocuous bit of
melodic phrasing, but after c. 1:06 Basil imparts the 3-note dramatic
melody that is familiar with the opening segment of the “Shark/Hand of
Fate” cue in the film.

The score’s “Main Title” went through a number
of changes, as you’ll note on the developing tracks, which we have tried to
sequence from earliest sketches and revisions to near-final demos, although
of course the music would have changed greatly when further enhanced by
new countermelodies and modifications subsequent to input from the
director – and of course when transcribed for full orchestra. The earlier
Main Title/Theme sketches largely focused on two different melodies that
would later be reduced to the title theme’s B-portion, while the theme’s A-
section, the majestic trumpet, horn, and string motif cresting over the
waves – heard as we first see the square-rigged schooner Northumberland
accompanied by the film’s title credit, embarking around Cape Horn into
the South Pacific, does not actively appear on these early sketches and was
apparently developed at a later stage in the compositional process. 

As a bonus, we’ve included a track we found of Basil and Randal Kleiser working
over music cues in the Emmeline theme, which is a fascinating glimpse
into the interaction between composer and director during the
creation of this score.

Much of their discussion has to do with the music for the scene in the small
boat near the end of the movie, after their escape from the shark. There’s a
bit more inherent room noise in this track, including the sounds of a
portable movie projector running the film, and you’ll also detect the voices
of an energetic six-year old Zoë Poledouris and her younger sister Alexis
happily cavorting in the background from time to time.

 

[TheRealNeo]

Steht doch fast genau schon oben.

[Gast Der Archivator]

Ja, fast. Sind auch nur ca. 30% des Booklets.