I realise this has previously been posted here by Beardmoen, but I wanted to take a bash at it myself and fix some of the isolated score’s anomalies. It�s my favourite Richard Rodney Bennett score, so I figured it was worth the expense of buying the excellent Twilight Time Blu Ray with isolated score.
The first thing I noticed was that two significant tracks are entirely missing from the isolated score. The first is for the opening scene of the movie, where Nicholas and Alexandra are discussing the imminent birth of their baby. Fortunately this music appears on the original album (the track called �Nicholas and Alexandra�) so I was able to use that version. I�ve called it �A Son.� The second missing track is sadly not on the album. It occurs immediately after the Intermission, where we see a troubled army officer looking at bodies floating in a river. He turns away to give orders to his men, and then he walks off into the forest, lies down, and shoots himself. It�s an atmospheric cue with an eerie whistling sound mixed in. It�s a bummer that it�s missing.
Two other tracks on the isolated score are missing partial sections of music. The first is the �Art Lesson� cue where the princesses are painting in a forest and start throwing paint at each other. The isolated track has the opening and closing sections of this cue but not the middle. Again, we�re lucky enough to have the complete version on the original album (�The Princesses�) so I was able to use that here. The second track with missing music is �The Front�: the iso score misses the quiet opening section as Nicholas reads a letter on the train, and instead begins abruptly when the scene shifts to two starving soldiers skinning a rabbit. I�ve been able to restore the opening from the album track �Journey To The Front.�
Finally, the End Title on the isolated track is surprisingly damaged, with very audible �wow�. I replaced this with the End Title lifted from the standard Blu Ray track.
The isolated score also contains all the source music arranged by Christopher Gunning. I haven�t included any of this because most of it has massive volume dips that would need correcting, and often the dips are so low that hiss becomes very loud when the volume is raised. If you really must have the source music, the link to Beardmoen�s version (Thread 137565) is still active.
1. Main Title (2:22)
2. A Son (1:28)
3. You’re Too Gentle (1:26)
4. The Royal Palace (1:45)
5. The Baby Is Bleeding (1:03)
6. The Children Play (1:34)
7. On The Beach (1:13)
8. Lenin’s Lament (2:10)
9. Damn Them All! (0:51)
10. The Art Lesson (2:21)
11. Rasputin’s Return (2:38)
12. War Fever (6:34)
13. Intermission (2:46)
14. The Front (1:06)
15. Rasputin’s Death (1:34)
16. The People Revolt (1:23)
17. The Abdication (1:52)
18. The Family In The Garden (1:06)
19. Leaving The Palace (2:27)
20. Rise Of The Bolsheviks (1:37)
21. Dancing In The Snow (2:07)
22. Photographs / Departure From Tobolsk (2:34)
23. Angry Mob / Another Prison (1:41)
24. End Titles (1:45)
PM FOR LINK.
Thank you so much for your great work!
Is the quality of the End Titles track superior on the isolated score, apart from the wow? If so it would be worth repairing the wow. I have a copy of Celemony’s Capstan which makes short work of such repairs; I’d be happy to process it for you if that helps.
Edit: I also notice that your upload is in mono – including the segments drawn from the soundtrack album – but as far as I know the original soundtrack album is in stereo. Can you elaborate a little, please?
Cheers 🙂
TT
Cheers 🙂
TT
I suspect that the iso source is mono, so the OP converted the album stereo tracks to mono for consistency sake.
If the soundtrack album is indeed superior to the ISO score, surely it would make sense to use the ISO score only for passages not present on the soundtrack album, instead of the other way around? (Unless it’s not, or it’s a re-recording and OP has patched the ISO score with it purely for the sake of completeness which I would understand… but the old procedure of re-recording scores for soundtrack release didn’t really happen outside the US, because there was no point – it was done primarily to save money by avoiding cripping union fees that would result from issuing the original film recording; as a British score from the start this would not have happened.)
EDIT: Wikipedia says that the Bluray isolated score is stereo. The plot thickens…
This is glorious, anyway. It’s a gorgeous score, but then it’s RRB so that’s a given. 🙂
The original album differs slightly in arrangement and tempo on some tracks, and combines a few shorter cues. With this upload I simply wanted to present the Isolated Score as a comparable version, not as the "definitive" version.
And Tangotreats – I can’t really hear a huge amount of difference between the two versions of the End Titles, besides the audible damage. I’d be more than happy to give you a link to the damaged version just to see what you can do with it. I’ll have to extract that cue again and get back to you a little later.
Curious, according to what I’ve read the actual film was only ever available in mono, so it’s hard to figure the mixdown of the score wouldn’t be in mono, unless they acquired some iteration of the original stereo session tracks.
Thank you. 🙂
Gururu – the article (we now know is wrong) says that even though the film mix was mono, the isolated score was stereo. Since feedthecats mentions wow on the ISO score that’s not present on the film tracks (and given the clear difference in quality we can hear between that cue sourced from the film track and the rest of the score sourced from the ISO) we can deduce that they came from different sources. We know the score was recorded in stereo as it’s in stereo on the soundtrack album and we know that the isolated score wasn’t sourced from the film mixdown… So the plot thickens even further!
And Tangotreats – I can’t really hear a huge amount of difference between the two versions of the End Titles, besides the audible damage. I’d be more than happy to give you a link to the damaged version just to see what you can do with it. I’ll have to extract that cue again and get back to you a little later.
Thank you! At your convenience, of course. 🙂
Edit: I just downloaded Beardmoen’s edition for comparison and I can definitely hear the damage. I wouldn’t call it wow (wow happens over a longer period) – it sounds like the tape was sticking to the heads as it was transferred. It’s catching about once every 0.8 seconds which co-incides with one full revolution of a tape reel… It’s a pity as the sound is markedly better otherwise; high frequency response is much, much better. I’m working on his FLAC version of the ISO score as we speak.
That, or the tapes Twilight acquired for the ISO are indeed from the original 1971 mixdown master or a generational copy which now, almost four decades later, evidence the sort of distortion resulting from tape stretch?
The album tracks do sound quite different in places. "Elegy" on the album ("Angry Mob/Another Prison" on my version) is missing some restless snare drumming throughout. The album "End Titles" has a longer lead in. The album track "The Sunshine Days" is a seamless blend of three tracks from the isolated score: "The Children Play", a reworked reprise of "You’re Too Gentle", and the first half of "On The Beach." The Russian choir at the start of "War" is much less distinct on the album than the film version (which is also three minutes longer.)
I don’t think it’s too dangerous to assume the album is a re-record.
The God Abandons Antony
When suddenly, at midnight, you hear
an invisible procession going by
with exquisite music, voices,
don’t mourn your luck that’s failing now,
work gone wrong, your plans
all proving deceptive—don’t mourn them uselessly.
As one long prepared, and graced with courage,
say goodbye to her, the Alexandria that is leaving.
Above all, don’t fool yourself, don’t say
it was a dream, your ears deceived you:
don’t degrade yourself with empty hopes like these.
As one long prepared, and graced with courage,
as is right for you who proved worthy of this kind of city,
go firmly to the window
and listen with deep emotion, but not
with the whining, the pleas of a coward;
listen—your final delectation—to the voices,
to the exquisite music of that strange procession,
and say goodbye to her, to the Alexandria you are losing.
Translated by Edmund Keeley/Philip Sherrard
Welcome 🙂
I normally send the link when people use the PM (Private Message) function to contact me. But since you’re new your PM function hasn’t activated yet and will only activate after you’ve posted a few more messages. However, I have sent the link to your Visitor Messages box, which you can access if you look in your own profile.
I normally send the link when people use the PM (Private Message) function to contact me. But since you’re new your PM function hasn’t activated yet and will only activate after you’ve posted a few more messages. However, I have sent the link to your Visitor Messages box, which you can access if you look in your own profile.
My God, I have no words to thank you for this! I have the LP, but I’ve been looking for a CD of this marvelous soundtrack for years. Thank you! Thank You! Thank you!
Link received. I have added a reputation mark. Thanks again!!
Many THANKS, dear feedthecats! 😉