December 10, 2018
New Orchestral Recording of THE BRIDE WORE BLACK and Expanded Release of WARGAMES among Quartet’s End-of-Year Titles
Quartet Records has announced an amazing bundle of seven special titles to wrap up its superlative list of 2018 soundtrack releases. Of particular note are these two genre favorites: a new digital recording of Bernard Herrmann’s complete score to THE BRIDE WORE BLACK, in honor of the 50th anniversary of François Truffaut’s esteemed Hitchcockian thriller, with Fernando Velázquez conducting The Basque National Orchestra; and a remastered 35th-anniversary, 2-CD expanded edition of Arthur B. Rubinstein’s celebrated score to John Badham’s WARGAMES.
Herrmann’s THE BRIDE WORE BLACK, the second of his two collaborations with François Truffaut (FAHRENHEIT 451 was the first), has been eagerly sought after by collectors and film music fans around the world for many years, but the search for the score’s complete original elements has proven unsuccessful. The orchestral sessions conducted by André Girard and Herrmann himself in Paris in 1968 are either destroyed or lost. “So how can we recover this music, a prime score from Herrmann’s last years?” the label wrote. “The only solution was to record it again and bring this music back to life in state-of-the-art digital sound.” With access to Herrmann’s original, fully orchestrated score, painstakingly reconstructed by Rubén Villar, the label was able to restore the score respecting every note the composer had written. “We were thrilled to discover a lot of music not used in the final edit of the film: from the 35 minutes of score heard in the film, we have now more than 50!” the label added. A 24-page booklet includes extensive liner notes by Frank K. DeWald, who discusses both film and score as well as providing a track-by-track analysis.
“Rubinstein, Badham’s usual composer, provides a dynamic action score with incredible sweep and colorful excitement, the label described. “With no single main theme, his score for WARGAMES is a veritable feast of themes and motifs, many of them cleverly interrelated.” Dedicated to the memory of Arthur B. Rubinstein, who passed away in April 2018, Quartet’s expanded edition of the composer’s WARGAMES score contains the score sequenced in film order and sounds as it is heard in the film on the first CD, while the second includes, for the first time, the reissue of the original Polydor LP, whose mixes were a bit different from what was prepared for the film, and included songs and dialogue bits from the movie. The album also includes alternates and cues not used in the film. John Takis provides detailed liner notes in a 20-page full-color booklet.
In addition to these genre releases, Quartet’s end-of-the-year releases include: 2-CD expanded edition of Nino Rota’s score for Fellini’s 8½, 2-CD set of Jerome Moross’ classic Western film score, THE BIG COUNTRY, 30th Anniversary Remastered Edition of Ennio Morricone’s beloved score to CINEMA PARADISO, 30th Anniversary Premiere Edition of Bernardo Bonezzi’s score for the iconic Spanish comedy WOMEN ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN in both CD and vinyl editions, and a 4-CD set/world premiere release of Antón García Abril’s music for the TV documentary series EL HOMBRE Y LA TIERRA (Man and Earth).
These releases are available now. For much more detail, see quartetrecords
