Jerry Goldsmith - Seven Days In May / Maurice Jarre - The Mackintosh Man (New Intrada CD)

[Jay 46,241]

INTRADA Announces:

SEVEN DAYS IN MAY

Composed and Conducted by JERRY GOLDSMITH

THE MACKINTOSH MAN

Composed and Conducted by MAURICE JARRE

INTRADA Special Collection Vol. 235

John Frankenheimer’s emphasis on realism in the 1964 production Seven Days in May provided composer Jerry Goldsmith with an unusual challenge. Goldsmith gave the film what is likely his shortest score for a feature film—only a handful of cues totaling eleven minutes in the finished film. After a tense main title (with drums evoking the role of the military as the film’s “bad guys”), Goldsmith’s music appears only occasionally, and always to help maintain tension. He contributed longer cues for two major sequences: a suspenseful scene of trailing to a secret rendezvous and exciting music for a daring escape from a secret base. His score features simple motifs and distinctive rhythms rather than fully developed melodies, using similarly sparse orchestration, featuring only pianos and percussion; its closest cousin in the Goldsmith oeuvre is his music for the “Time Out” segment of Twilight Zone: The Movie. Intrada's release features the premiere release of the score in stereo, including a few minutes of score not used in the film and an alternate main title, all totaling 17 minutes.

As Seven Days in May unfolds, a series of seemingly innocent messages among top U.S. generals about the upcoming Preakness horse race leads Col.“Jiggs” Casey (Kirk Douglas) to uncover a military plot to overthrow the U.S. government. Casey and beleaguered President Jordan Lyman race against the clock to foil the imminent coup, finding obstacles at every turn.

For the 1973 Warner Bros. film The Mackintosh Man, Maurice Jarre provided a distinctive and memorable main theme reminiscent of his then-recent score to another international espionage thriller filled with moral ambiguity, Alfred Hitchcock’s Topaz. The theme has a strongly European flavor befitting the setting, with prominent use of the cimbalom, a zither-like instrument whose unique sound has been a memorable part of the soundscape of such spy films as The Ipcress File. For the first part of the film, the music glides along dispassionately, but once Paul Newman's hero Joseph Rearden's mission goes south, Jarre drops the detached approach and lets his music reflect the hero’s state, providing eerie, unsettling variations on his main theme.

In the film, Paul Newman plays Joseph Rearden, an intelligence agent working for an English spymaster named Mackintosh. Under Mackintosh’s orders, Rearden assaults a London postman in order to steal a fortune in jewels—and ends up (as intended) with a twenty-year prison sentence. It is in prison that Rearden’s real mission begins. He encounters an infamous double agent named Slade and a gang of criminals called “the Scarperers,” whose specialty is breaking out long-term prisoners. The Scarperers help Rearden and Slade escape together. To confirm his suspicion that high-ranking politician Sir George Wheeler is a double agent, Mackintosh informs him of Rearden’s mission to expose the Scarperers. The plan works too well—Rearden is severely beaten by his “rescuers,” and Mackintosh is put in the hospital by a hit-and-run driver, ultimately dying of his injuries. Rearden manages to escape from the Scarperers, and with the help of the beautiful Mrs. Smith, Mackintosh’s daughter and assistant, he tracks Wheeler and Slade to Malta.

INTRADA Special Collection Vol. 235

Retail Price: $19.99

Available Now

For track listing and sound samples, please visit

http://store.intrada.com/s.nl/it.A/id.7974/.f

SEVEN DAYS IN MAY / THE MACKINTOSH MAN

Label: Intrada Special Collection Volume 235

Date: 1964 / 1973

Tracks: 26

Time = 53:31

World premiere release of two outstanding thriller scores by legendary Academy Award-winning composers, both in stereo! SEVEN DAYS IN MAY is John Frankenheimer film about attempted military overthrow of U.S. government, written by Rod Serling, starring Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas. Jerry Goldsmith provides stunning, albeit brief (15 minutes) tour-de-force for impressive array of both melodic & non-melodic percussion, including two pianos, vibraphone, marimba, bass marimba, xylophone, multiple snare drums, tympani, chimes. Inventive score offers melodic motifs for left-hand piano, marimba, xylophone, balances with stark rhythms for snares, tympani. Goldsmith also created two main titles, one featuring actual chime melody at start, the other featuring just snare drum rolls with snares tuned to different strengths to start. Latter version features in film. Both versions are included on CD. Complete score presented in dynamic stereo audio from original three-channel stereo masters courtesy Warner Bros. Second score on CD features hypnotic score by Maurice Jarre for John Huston thriller with Paul Newman, James Mason. Jarre uses array of exotic colors (strings, keyboards, cimbalom, accordion, ondes Martenot, balalaika, mandolin, bouzouki) to create basic theme, then repeats in variety of moods, tempos while generating hypnotic effect similar in style to legendary THIRD MAN score by Anton Karas. Score mixed in stereo from 1" master elements with demo "single version" mixed from 2" 16-track master courtesy Warner Bros. Douglass Fake, Lukas Kendall produce, Scott Bettencourt provides informative notes, Joe Sikoryak designs dramatic package. Jerry Goldsmith conducts first score, Maurice Jarre conducts second score. Intrada Special Collection release available while quantities and interest remain!

SEVEN DAYS IN MAY (Jerry Goldsmith)

01. Main Title (Original Version) 2:10

02. Pickets 1:20

03. First Sign Of Trouble 1:07

04. Prentice Spills The Beans 0:28

05. Midnight Rendezvous 1:06

06. The Meeting Is Over 2:17

07. Casey Is Caught 0:29

08. Secret Rendezvous 2:55

09. Escape From Ecomcon 1:58

10. Scott Defeated 0:35

11. End Title 0:12

The Extra (Seven Days In May)

12. Main Title (Film Version) 1:59

Seven Days In May Total Time: 17:00

THE MACKINTOSH MAN (Maurice Jarre)

13. Main Title 2:19

14. Postal Thief 2:36

15. Meeting In Prison 1:24

16. Loose Talk 1:44

17. Clean Laundry 2:02

18. Drugs For Rearden 2:58

19. The Pursuit 3:01

20. Escape Route 1:29

21. Party 1 4:50

22. Party 2 2:56

23. Rendezvous With Wheeler 3:14

24. End Title 2:08

The Extras (The Mackintosh Man)

25. Loose Talk (Alternate) 1:31

26. The Mackintosh Man (Single Version) 4:04

The Mackinosh Man Total Time: 36:23

Jerry Goldsmith / Maurice Jarre

Price: $19.99

Also Lukas Kendall has chimed in, in regards to the rejected score for Seven Days In May

In case people are wondering: the rights to the rejected David Amram score for Seven Days at May were returned to the composer (except for a juke box source cue which is in the movie, but of little musical interest). The studio has no tapes. Perhaps an enterprising producer can contact Amram to see if he has any tapes, and interest in releasing. Incidentally, the Goldsmith masters for Seven Days at May were stored at Paramount, where the film was theatrically released, although the rights later went to Warner Bros. as part of the Seven Arts catalog. I am very glad Intrada was able to release this one, as well as The Mackintosh Man, which seemed like an interesting companion.

Lukas

http://filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?threadID=95437&forumID=1&archive=0