MOTM

In a message dated 4/15/2000 2:12:05 PM, ken.tkacs@... writes:

>There are actually two albums of unused 2001 music that are of interest.

>I think the one you are refering to is "Alex North's 2001" conducted by
>Jerry Goldsmith. That came out relatively recently (5 years ago?).


Yep! That's the one! I recognize the name of North (TV soundtracks I think).

>(Frankly, while I sympathize fully with North, and am glad to have a
>recording of this fine music, the liner notes' assertion that 2001 would
>have been better with North's score and not the 'cheesy needle-dropping'
>is
>ludicrous. For my money, 2001 as it is comes about as close to perfection
>in
>cinema as I'm ever likey to experience in my lifetime. Seeing it when I
>was
>10 years old was a truly religious experience, and kick-started my love
>for
>classical and avant-garde orchestral music...and sci-fi soundtracks...)


Without knowing the North score, I can't imagine an improvement. The way 
Kubrick used the Ligeti stuff was amazing. I was ten in 68 when it first came 
out and had no idea what I was hearing (couldn't tell it was voices). And the 
Strauss waltzes were the perfect antidote (orbital mechanics as a ballet) for 
the previous decades music with "space as majestic orchestra." I seem to 
recall that Ligeti tried to take legal action against Kubrick for the way his 
pieces were cut up and used (all without his permission?). I guess this goes 
around in the biz. 

>North's 2001 has a "Sixties idea of space music" quality that reminds you
>of
>World's Fairs of the time, but it is actually quite good! It was composed
>late enough in post production that it synchronizes well to the film---in
>fact, since there's no dialog in the first half of 2001, I've always wanted
>to throw the laserdisc into Adobe Premier and synch 'em up and see what
>2001
>*would* have been like.


Of course, I do kind of like cheesy "modernist" music as well.

>As he usually does, Kubrick hired a talented artist, forced him to write
>something that conforms almost beat-for-beat to his temp track (you should
>hear North's Main Title---it's the "Also Sprach Zarathustra" sideways...it's
>a mindbender to listen to it!), then rudely dismisses the artist and
>needle-drops the score anyway. He once commented that he has the world's
>finest compositions on vinyl, why should he pay these bozos to write
>second-class stuff? Real nice man. He treated composers the way Hitchcock
>treated actors.


And Hitchcock with Hermann for Torn Curtain(?). And didn't something like 
this happen with Apocalypse Now too?


>Side two was a suite of the best excerpts of the space Opera ANIARA by
>Karl-Birger Blohmdahl, without singing, just orchestral and the three
>musique concrete "Mima Tape" sequences. It was hearing that on this
>particular album that sent me on a decades-long quest to find Aniara (see
>my
>review of the book on Amazon if interested).


I'll have to look for this in used record stores unless Columbia re-releases 
it. I will try to find your review at Amazon. I don't know the space opera.


In a message dated 4/15/2000 3:39:10 PM, mach25@... writes:

>A bit off-topic, but I have the LP of this "alternate" 2001 music.  It
>is 
>not directly related to the movie, but rather a spinoff album.  Or perhaps
>it did pre-date the movie. 


Good to know that this kind of movie/music exploitation ("if you saw the 
movie, and have the soundtrack, then you'll love these other albums written 
for similar instruments!") has been around for that long.

>Columbia Records has been awful about rereleasing a lot of their past 
>catalog.  There are many classical and modern albums from them on LP that
>I 
>would love to have on CD some day.  This is one.


Thanks for this information Fred. I know what you mean about Columbia. I've 
been trying to find a copy of Ornette Coleman's Skies of America since about 
77 or 78 (only about 2 or 3 years after it came out).


In a message dated 4/15/2000 7:45:28 PM, ken.tkacs@... writes:

>Oh well; back to restoring the "Andromeda Strain" soundtrack.


I know you mentioned this, but tell me more.
BTW, does anyone happen to know if the boxed set of Conlon Nancarrow's work 
(maybe 5 discs) is the complete works? I saw it too but it was like $60 so I 
want to make sure it is complete.
JB