Cover versions of film music

[PJL]

Gerald, interesting too that we share the same surname!



Yes, it is strange indeed when a composer re-records one of his own scores and seems to get it terribly wrong. One can only speculate on why this should be. There are of course many examples, but since you mention Bernard Herrmann it reminded me of the recent Laurie Johnson sets on the Edsel label, the two composers were apparently very close friends. Laurie's own re-recordings of 'The Professionals', 'The Avengers' and 'The New Avengers' are pale representations of the TV soundtrack versions - much less exciting and with slower tempos. Fortunately these sets give us the original TV soundtrack versions for the first time, as well as the re-recorded versions, and I think they are great value. One disappointment for me though was that none of the music from 'And Soon the Darkness' was included - I think this is one of Laurie's most evocative and haunting scores.



All the best,



Peter

[Gerald Lovell]

name='PJL' date='23 July 2010 - 12:58 PM' timestamp='1279886289' post='455310']

Gerald, interesting too that we share the same surname!



Yes, it is strange indeed when a composer re-records one of his own scores and seems to get it terribly wrong. One can only speculate on why this should be. There are of course many examples, but since you mention Bernard Herrmann it reminded me of the recent Laurie Johnson sets on the Edsel label, the two composers were apparently very close friends. Laurie's own re-recordings of 'The Professionals', 'The Avengers' and 'The New Avengers' are pale representations of the TV soundtrack versions - much less exciting and with slower tempos. Fortunately these sets give us the original TV soundtrack versions for the first time, as well as the re-recorded versions, and I think they are great value. One disappointment for me though was that none of the music from 'And Soon the Darkness' was included - I think this is one of Laurie's most evocative and haunting scores.



All the best,



Peter

Hello, Peter. I have quite of lot of Laurie Johnson's work too. I think there's an album of Herrmann music conducted by Johnson, but I have not listened to that so don't know close it is to the originals. I much like Laurie's score for First Men in the Moon; it's quite Herrmann-esque at times, probably deliberately given the identity of the producers!



I have no problem with cover versions, but so many of them are just "duff", despite the pedigree of the orchestra or conductor and yes, it certainly is worse when the person with the baton is the composer!



I attended a concert of Jerry Goldsmith music a few years ago, and Jerry was conducting, but some of the arrangements of his television themes were awful. I'd heard that Jerry greatly disliked the Lalo Schrifin arrangement of the theme from THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E., on which all subsequent television versions were based, but he dutifully conducted a version of that at the concert.

[PJL]

name='Gerald Lovell' date='23 July 2010 - 01:42 PM' timestamp='1279892524' post='455354']

Hello, Peter. I have quite of lot of Laurie Johnson's work too. I think there's an album of Herrmann music conducted by Johnson, but I have not listened to that so don't know close it is to the originals. I much like Laurie's score for First Men in the Moon; it's quite Herrmann-esque at times, probably deliberately given the identity of the producers!



I have no problem with cover versions, but so many of them are just "duff", despite the pedigree of the orchestra or conductor and yes, it certainly is worse when the person with the baton is the composer!



I attended a concert of Jerry Goldsmith music a few years ago, and Jerry was conducting, but some of the arrangements of his television themes were awful. I'd heard that Jerry greatly disliked the Lalo Schrifin arrangement of the theme from THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E., on which all subsequent television versions were based, but he dutifully conducted a version of that at the concert.

Hello Gerald,



Like you I have no problem in principle with cover versions, and many of them can be great fun even if they do stray from being carbon-copies of the originals. But, as you say, many of them, sadly, are just plain duff and pointless.



In my experience many TV themes in particular translate very badly into concert-type arrangements. This seems to be esecially true where the originals incorporate electronics into the mix - these are usually abandoned altogether or at least very severely toned down due to the difficulties in blending the electronics with a live orchestra, and the results can be truly dire. I was very surprised and impressed at one of the John Barry concerts my wife and I attended at the Albert Hall some years ago. On glancing through the program I saw that we were to be treated to 'Theme from The Persuaders'. As I'm sure you know, the original makes heavy use of electronics, and having heard several recorded cover versions using 'orchestral only' arrangements which were utterly pointless, frankly my heart sank. I need not have worried. The piece was presented complete with synthesisers beautifully integrated with the English Chamber Orchestra, and the result was stunning and received rapturous applause.



ATB,



Peter

[Timmy_Lea]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLgJ7pk0X-s

[Gerald Lovell]

name='PJL' date='23 July 2010 - 06:51 PM' timestamp='1279907460' post='455458']

Hello Gerald,



Like you I have no problem in principle with cover versions, and many of them can be great fun even if they do stray from being carbon-copies of the originals. But, as you say, many of them, sadly, are just plain duff and pointless.



In my experience many TV themes in particular translate very badly into concert-type arrangements. This seems to be esecially true where the originals incorporate electronics into the mix - these are usually abandoned altogether or at least very severely toned down due to the difficulties in blending the electronics with a live orchestra, and the results can be truly dire. I was very surprised and impressed at one of the John Barry concerts my wife and I attended at the Albert Hall some years ago. On glancing through the program I saw that we were to be treated to 'Theme from The Persuaders'. As I'm sure you know, the original makes heavy use of electronics, and having heard several recorded cover versions using 'orchestral only' arrangements which were utterly pointless, frankly my heart sank. I need not have worried. The piece was presented complete with synthesisers beautifully integrated with the English Chamber Orchestra, and the result was stunning and received rapturous applause.



ATB,



Peter

The original DOCTOR WHO title music was entirely - and revolutionary - electronic and the latest versions have been orchestral with sampling from the original. (The current version is pretty hopeless, mind you!). Live renditions of this music were usually purely orchestral and somewhat lucklustre. I was surprised at the last concert they did for WHO music that they actually mixed in the electronic sampling, timed very well, and as a result was far better. A friend who attended told me it was overwhelming, almost moving, to hear Delia Derbyshire's original "whoops" booming out over the orchestra. I don't know if they'll try that again at today's Prom concert.

[PJL]

name='Gerald Lovell' date='24 July 2010 - 12:47 PM' timestamp='1279975659' post='455729']

The original DOCTOR WHO title music was entirely - and revolutionary - electronic and the latest versions have been orchestral with sampling from the original. (The current version is pretty hopeless, mind you!). Live renditions of this music were usually purely orchestral and somewhat lucklustre. I was surprised at the last concert they did for WHO music that they actually mixed in the electronic sampling, timed very well, and as a result was far better. A friend who attended told me it was overwhelming, almost moving, to hear Delia Derbyshire's original "whoops" booming out over the orchestra. I don't know if they'll try that again at today's Prom concert.

That's interesting. Possibly as technology and experience improves, making it easier to integrate electronics in a satisfactory way with a live orchestra, we will see a lot more of this happening.



ATB,



Peter