The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes
© N/A
The Adventure of the Preserved Score
By: Randall LarsonDate: Thursday, April 05, 2007
THIS WEEK’S RECOMMENDATION
England’s Tadlow Music has released a splendid new recording – and world premiere of the complete score – of Miklós Rózsa’s elegant music to Billy Wilder’s 1970 introspective drama, The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes. The director, who intended the film to be a very personal 3-hour epic only to see it emasculated and improperly promoted by unsympathetic businessmen at United Artists, was a fan of Rózsa’s Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, which had been commissioned by Jascha Heifetz in 1956, and Wilder asked Rózsa to adapt the concerto into a score for the film. The result was a compelling and thoughtful score that reached behind the famous detective’s deerstalker cap and calabash pipe to warmly illuminate the tortured soul of the inner man, much as Wilder had tried to do with his film (and hopefully one day a fully restored preservation of Wilder’s original cut will make its way into availability).
The score has been available only in parts until now – a 14-track bootleg with the score conducted by Rózsa (unclear if it’s the original soundtrack recording or another recording conducted by the composer) from “Quality Sound” in 2001 and suites on various compilation recordings. Tadlow’s new recording (released to coincide with what would have been the composer’s centenary), masterfully presented by the capable City of Prague Philharmonic, conducted by Nic Raine and featuring solo violin from Lucie Svehlová, provides 19 tracks of score plus three alternate variations of Rózsa’s scene-setting “Castles of Scotland” cue (including one mesmerizing take featuring the sinewy drone of bagpipes interlaced through Rozsa’s galloping orchestral rhythm), and the original version of the Main Title with slower pacing and more of a concert-styled finish. The CD package includes a lengthy booklet with thorough notes on Rózsa and the score by Steve Vertlieb, including a track-by-track analysis of each cue, and notes on the new recording by album producer James Fitzpatrick.
The score is brilliant, a captivating yet complicated – far out of tune with what was happening in movie music in 1970 but perfect accompaniment for Wilder’s unique take on the subject matter and very much in keeping with Rózsa’s legendary legacy of film music. The film was the culminating collaboration between a director who had placed his unique stamp on Hollywood cinema since the early 1940s and a composer who had similarly left his personal signature on film music since the mid 1930s (the two had begun working together in 1943 with Wilder’s second film, the excellent wartime drama Five Graves to Cairo – and their final collaboration would be Wilder’s second-to-last film, 1978’s Fedora). The Private Life score effectively transforms music written in the abstract - Rózsa’s Concerto – into music that is perfectly linked to the characterizations and storyline we see in Wilder’s film, no small feat to accomplish (far beyond “elementary,” we might say). The music becomes the psychological mirror of Holmes’ inner man – Svehlová’s intricate violin performance speaking the soul of Holmes’ personality and musically delineating his private addictions and his lost love while the larger orchestra speaks in broader terms and later provides resounding accompaniment as Holmes goes to solve a most provocative mystery: that of the Loch Ness Monster. The music - what Fitzpatrick aptly describes as “achingly poignant writing for solo violin and orchestra” – is beautifully fitting, its fluid rhythms and compelling melodies marvelously effective. Tadlow’s recording is completely splendid, an excellent preservation of one of the best “golden age” scores of an era where few of them were heard.
FILM MUSIC NEWS
Prolific composer John Debney is going to write the music for Jon Favreau’s upcoming sci-fi adventure Iron Man, according to the agency’s new roster for the composer. Not a big surprise, since Debney has scored Favreau’s previous films, Zathura and Elf. Iron Man is based on the Marvel comic book and stars Robert Downey Jr. as the hero, supported by a cast including Gwyneth Paltrow and Jeff Bridges. The film will premiere in May next year. According GSA, Debney is also attached to the two upcoming Sin City sequels directed by Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller, as well as Big Stan, a comedy produced by Crystal Sky Pictures and directed by and starring Rob Schneider. – via filmmusicweekly
The Classical Brit Awards have become a highlight of the British music industry calendar and the event takes place once again on May 3rd at London’s Royal Albert Hall. Although the awards are dominated by classical music, there is one category that interests the film music community, that of “soundtrack composer of the year.” It’s a strange category as it seems unclear if the award is for the composer or the album/label, all of which are given a nod in the nomination. This year sees three composers up for title, but I am extremely confused. John Williams is nominated with reference to Decca’s Munich soundtrack; it seems even though it is well over a year since the album first appeared, Mr. Williams is still making it onto nominations lists. Even stranger than that is James Newton Howard’s nomination for The Village which was released by Hollywood/EMI… in 2004! (the Awards may have meant Lady in the Water). Joining those Hollywood giants is George Fenton, who is nominated for his wonderful music for the BBC series Planet Earth. - via Michael Beek/musicfromthemovies.com
Dennis McCarthy, who is best known for his Star Trek music, is currently scoring A Modern Twain Story: The Prince and the Pauper, a modern day retelling of the Mark Twain classic starring Cole and Dylan Sprouse, Kay Panabaker and Dedee Pfeiffer. Actor/filmmaker James Quattrochi (True Friends) directs and the film is produced by Oak Films. Dennis McCarthy, who won an Emmy for his Star Trek: Deep Space Nine theme in 1993, is also doing the music for a musical play by Quincy Long, The Only Child, which will premiere at the South Coast Repertory Theater on June 8. – via filmmusicradio.com
Grindhouse: Death Proof © 
In June, Perseverance Records will issue a special limited edition soundtrack to Bloodsport, Jean-Claude Van Damme's first American movie, about a secret contest where boxers fight to the death. The CD is limited to 3,000 pressings and will feature the score by Paul Hertzog (Kickboxer). www.perseverancerecords.com
Inon Zur has scored the new original CBS webisode series Ghost Whisperer: The Other Side, based on the successful CBS-TV series starring Jennifer Love Hewitt only told from the ghosts’ point of view. A new episode of the series posts at cbs.com/ghost every Friday at www.cbs.com/ghost
Warner Bros. Records will release the original soundtrack from the new Harry Potter film, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, on July 10. The album presents the original score composed by Nicholas Hooper, who was hired to score the film at the insistence of director David Yates, whose working relationship with the composer dates back to the early 1990s. The recording of the score began in London at Abbey Road Studios on March 19 and the orchestral sessions will continue next week. – via Mikael Carlsson/filmmusicweekly
FILM MUSIC ON DVD
Anchor Bay’s new 20th Anniversary DVD of Re-Animator includes among its special features an Interview with composer Richard Band. Recorded in his studio, the composer discusses how Gordon and Yuzna brought him on board and how Empire worked as a distributor on the movie. Band talks about the funnier aspects of the movie and how they appealed to him and what he was trying to get across with his score. He admits to borrowing heavily from Psycho and goes so far as to say that he thought it was obvious he was using those cues in order to twist them. A second music documentary, Music Discussion with Richard Band allows the man to talk about the music used in various parts of the movie by introducing and talking about various clips from the movie. All the key cues from the score are discussed here, including the memorable main theme. –via dvdtalk.com
Recommended Soundtrack sources:
www.arksquare.com/index_main
www.intermezzomedia.com/ (Italy)
www.moviemusic.com
