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Re: SUPERMAN: The Music... 8 CD Limited Edition Box Set
for more informatio
The Complete Superman Soundtrack BOXSET
Quote:
Q. Why weren't scores for Superman Returns, Superboy and Superman: The Animated Series (Shirley Walker) included?
A. Mike Matessino: We started the project BEFORE Superman Returns came out and the licensing deal was already locked. As a brand new release there was no way we could have even discussed the possibility of doing anything with it, and as has been pointed out the union fees for something brand new would have been prohibitively expensive. The other thing that Superman fans may not realize is that our release is FSM's second box set. The first was "The Elmer Bernstein Film Collection," which had the same physical design but is 12 discs instead of 8. In trying to create a product line FSM wanted to follow the same design format, so when we started and realized we needed seven discs to present the four films, Lukas Kendall asked me if I had any ideas for an eighth disc in order to fill up the second clamshell case. A lot of ideas were thrown around Superboy, Supergirl, Smallville, the Shirley Walker scores, etc. but they were either too expensive and/or problematic to make happen |
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Re: SUPERMAN: The Music... 8 CD Limited Edition Box Set
A Long-But-Fascinating Interview With The Folks Behind The New 8 CD Boxset Of SUPERMAN Scores!! -- Ain't It Cool News: The best in movie, TV, DVD, and comic book news.
A Long-But-Fascinating Interview With The Folks Behind The New 8 CD Boxset Of SUPERMAN Scores!!
Dharmesh over at SUPERMAN Cinema (
Superman Cinema)conducted an interview between Mike Matessino and Lukas Kendall; the two producers involved in creating the SUPERMAN: THE MUSIC (1978-1988) 8CD box set.
Quote:
DHARMESH: You extracted quotes from previous interviews, some unreleased. Who did you interview for this release? Who couldn’t you get?
MM: Because of all the activity going on with Warner's DVD release, especially "The Donner Cut" of Superman II, the cast and crew were very much available and in particular Tom Mankiewicz, Ilya Salkind and Ken Thorne all became involved and contributed many recollections over several conversations. John Williams gave us a brief quote about Sandy Courage for Superman IV.
I also interviewed Eric Tomlinson, John Richards, Margot Kidder, Leslie Bricusse, Richard Donner, Pierre Spengler, Stuart Baird and a few others, but for some we didn't end up using direct quotes in the book.
As it evolved, Lukas sought to increase the amount of composer quotes and he got the okay to use the uncut Williams interviews done for all of the DVD documentaries. There was really no one I went for that I didn't get, although naturally I would like to have gotten something from Richard Lester or Sidney Furie.
Sandy Courage, unfortunately, is not in the best of health but he is very happy about the release and with the help of his daughter we located some important documentation about his work on Superman IV.
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Quote:
DHARMESH: John Williams wrote two themes for Superman IV that we knew of, “Lacy’s Theme”, which harkens back to his jazz days, and the villainous “Nuclear Man Theme”. What’s surprising is that he wrote a third theme, one which was a precursor to the sound of Hook
- a revelation for you?
MM: Absolutely! I first heard "Jeremy's Theme" when we found the master for the aborted Superman IV album release, which was before I'd seen any documentation or heard the complete elements that I later worked with.
I love that no one really knew about it. It's a gem and I wanted it to be a surprise just like it was for me. If it's a precursor to Hook, that could partially be attributed to the fact that some of the themes for that film were written in the mid-1980s, when Williams and Leslie Bricusse (lyricist of "Can You Read My Mind") were developing a musical Peter Pan for Steven Spielberg that the director aborted sometime during the making of Empire of the Sun.
It's also been recently pointed out to me that "Jeremy's Theme" bears some resemblance to "Jim's New Life" from that project, which Williams worked on right after Superman IV.
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there is so much more
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Re: SUPERMAN: The Music... 8 CD Limited Edition Box Set
some additional news
Quote:
Mike Matessino, producer of Film Score Monthly's /Superman: The Music (1978-1988)/ is the guest on the radio show "Celluloid Dreams" on Monday, March 3rd.
This edition will be entirely devoted to the music of Superman and will feature the premiere broadcast of music from /Superman IV: The Quest for Peace/. "Celluloid Dreams," hosted by Tim Sika and now in its 12th year, is dedicated to the art of film and the moviegoing experience, and is heard each Monday at 5:00 p.m. Pacific time on KSJS, 90.5 FM in San Jose, California.
The station does not stream live but for those not in the listening area the entire program is posted after the broadcast at http://www.celluloiddreams.net and is both listenable and downloadable for one week. |
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Re: SUPERMAN: The Music... 8 CD Limited Edition Box Set
I am watching Superman The Movie along with the Isolated music track.
I had forgotten how powerful the music of John Williams is
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Re: SUPERMAN: The Music... 8 CD Limited Edition Box Set
Can we buy this set anywhere else? $120 plus $10 shipping is steep, especially when I already own S1 on double-CD. I'd love to get SII, and the others just to complete the collection.
Dan Szwarc
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Re: SUPERMAN: The Music... 8 CD Limited Edition Box Set
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Dan Szwarc
Can we buy this set anywhere else? $120 plus $10 shipping is steep, especially when I already own S1 on double-CD. I'd love to get SII, and the others just to complete the collection.
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You can buy it elsewhere, but it's the same price or more. You'll save a few bucks on shipping with Amazon, but it's the same retailer that's selling it. They're only making 3000 copies, so the price doesn't seem incredibly steep. Looks nice:
http://www.supermanhomepage.com/imag...heMusic-01.jpg
The man I loved - the man who vanished - he never came back at all. But maybe he's still out there, somewhere. Maybe some day, when Gotham no longer needs Batman, I'll see him again.
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Re: SUPERMAN: The Music... 8 CD Limited Edition Box Set
Oh dear, "Lacy (disco version)."
I can't believe it was even composed.
The man I loved - the man who vanished - he never came back at all. But maybe he's still out there, somewhere. Maybe some day, when Gotham no longer needs Batman, I'll see him again.
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Re: SUPERMAN: The Music... 8 CD Limited Edition Box Set
Any left Dharmesh ?
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Re: SUPERMAN: The Music... 8 CD Limited Edition Box Set
Hopefully I will be one of the lucky ones.
Just paid for this
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Re: SUPERMAN: The Music... 8 CD Limited Edition Box Set
There is a great new interview with the co-producer of the new CD Box, Mike Matessino at the John Williams fan site. The interview was conducted by a former Home Theater Forum member, Neil S. Bulk (who is also mentioned in the booklet that comes with the new CDs).
I found the interview to be extremely thorough and educational, it's a great read. There is a ton of great information about the history of these recordings and the work that went into the mastering process. Lots of background on the "deliberate creative decisions" that went into this massive project.
This is just part 1, looking forward to the follow-ups.
You can read it here:
JOHN WILLIAMS Fan Network - SUPERMAN: THE MUSIC (1978-1988) - INTERVIEW WITH PRODUCER MIKE MATESSINO, Part I
This Are Intentionally Left Blank
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Re: SUPERMAN: The Music... 8 CD Limited Edition Box Set
Thanks for the link to the interview.
Awesome
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Re: SUPERMAN: The Music... 8 CD Limited Edition Box Set
Just received an email that my copy has shipped.
Awesome
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Re: SUPERMAN: The Music... 8 CD Limited Edition Box Set
went to the postoffice this morning to collect the Superman Box set.
Very sweet indeed.
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Re: SUPERMAN: The Music... 8 CD Limited Edition Box Set
Part 2 Mike Matessino online
JOHN WILLIAMS Fan Network - SUPERMAN: THE MUSIC (1978-1988) - INTERVIEW WITH PRODUCER MIKE MATESSINO, Part II
very interesting indeed to read
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Re: SUPERMAN: The Music... 8 CD Limited Edition Box Set
Ken Thorne talks Superman 2 & 3
IFMagazine
fascinating indeed
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Re: SUPERMAN: The Music... 8 CD Limited Edition Box Set
| Monday, 16 June 2008 |
The second printing of Superman: The Music (1978-1988), featuring the complete scores to the four Superman movies starring Christopher Reeve, is now available and shipping (click here to order your copy).
The posting of the final segment of Neil S. Bulk's interview with album producer Mike Matessino, focusing on Superman IV, was postponed when it was learned that Alexander Courage was expected to pass away. The interview will be run at a suitable time, with the addition of some parting thoughts on the loss of one of film music's most prominent artists.
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Re: SUPERMAN: The Music... 8 CD Limited Edition Box Set
I bought this set after hemming and hawing about the price. Sometimes you just gotta spend it.
My comments:
I was very impressed by the work of Ken Thorne on the SII music. He was basically told to reuse all of JW's original material and rescore it with a small orchestra because of the small sound-stage. He did an excellent job.
SIII was good to hear again although I despised the movie. I wanted a Superman movie, not a Richard Pryor movie. This was the beginning of the end of the Superman franchise. The music was way too derivative of SI/SII.
I haven't actually seen SIV in years. The movie is awful and I blame the Salkinds. They had a great kickoff for a franchise but got greedy and cut budgets for sequels and allowed the material to get worse and worse. The SIV movie was the nail in the coffin and there was nothing Reeve could do to save it. I found the music to be too derivative of the original movie. It reminded me of how George Lucas borked AoTC and ROTS by reusing music from the previous film. It's one thing to reuse themes, but just a travesty to repeat all of the basic cues over and over.
This 8CD set was like only getting 4 CDs since the music was so repeated. I enjoy the themes a lot. Continuity is one thing, but the repetition of the music is almost too much to bear.
Side comment: Sometimes, a movie sequel has no connection musically to its predecessor (Mummy and Mummy Returns) and it works. I wonder what would have happened if JW was available to score them all?
Dan Szwarc
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Re: SUPERMAN: The Music... 8 CD Limited Edition Box Set
Thanks for the link.
Great read
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