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David Newman adapting Leonard Bernstein - WEST SIDE STORY 2021


Jay

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The soundtrack album is coming from Hollywood Records this December, likely on digital formats only but who knows

 

David Newman talks about his role on this episode of of "Score: The Podcast" hosted by Robert Kraft and Kenny Holmes, starting about 61 minutes in (the play button below should take you right to it)

 

 

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Wow it's really annoying and rude how Kraft starts interrupting him there with the singing and thinks he's being cute.

 

Newman does clarify for me why JW didn't do this movie (mostly because there really wasn't much original to do)

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2 hours ago, Disco Stu said:

Wow it's really annoying and rude how Kraft starts interrupting him there with the singing and thinks he's being cute.

 

Newman does clarify for me why JW didn't do this movie (mostly because there really wasn't much original to do)

 

I'd heard that bit back when the video went up, and a) that's where my comment in the other thread came from about Newman not having much creative work, and b) yes, the one other thing I remembered about it was Kraft being almost offensively annoying.

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I saw the one with JNH a month or two ago, and it was reasonably insightful, but yeah, I didn't like how Kraft get interrupting or essentially fawning over the composer, saying score ABC was amazing.

 

In that sense Schweiger is a good interviewer, as he just asks a question and sits back, or at least backs off if they both start talking. I'm not sure who else would've gotten Horner's epic Troy/New World rant.

 

And yes, I vastly prefer it when interviewees talk candidly, honestly - you learn more stuff. In that sense, JW's interviews are useless :P

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Shameless plug: https://goldsmithodyssey.buzzsprout.com/159614/1000935-odyssey-interviews-david-newman

 

I do my best not to be obnoxious, and David Newman has never been more candid! He was in the midst of work on West Side Story at the time we recorded.
 

Yavar

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16 minutes ago, Thor said:

I've interviewed Newman too, and (unlike his shy brother) he's so vocal and talkative about most things, you can basically just let him go off on a tangent. There's no point of much interuption.

 

Robert Kraft mustn't have gotten the memo. 

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  • 3 weeks later...
4 hours ago, Disco Stu said:

Yes, I'm pretty sure that's Ramiro Belgardt standing with Spielberg and Dudamel.

 

It's Matthew Sullivan. Producer and Music supervisor. It says at bottom of the second pic.

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1 minute ago, p0llux said:

 

It's Matthew Sullivan. Producer and Music supervisor. It says at bottom of the second pic.

 

Ha!  It helps to read :lol:

 

He does look kinda like Ramiro if you're not paying close attention (which I obviously wasn't)

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  • 2 weeks later...
7 hours ago, crumbs said:

Wonder how much underscore will be included?

 

Would the songs account for most of the CD running time? Never seen the film or play.

Probably. In the film from the 60's the only underscore were the Overture, Prologue, The Dance At The Gym, The Rumble (fight scene) & the End Credits.

 

And a few very very short tracks in between the songs as transitions.

 

I actually hope we get a Deluxe Edition with all the songs and score pieces + Instrumental versions of all the songs. I would spend my on that. It happens more often these days. Look at the releases of Frozen 2, Encanto & Mary Poppins Returns

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"Hollywood Records has announced the official soundtrack album Steven Spielberg’s new film adaptation of West Side Story. The album features the songs from the movie originally written for the stage musical by Leonard Bernstein and with lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. The record is produced by David Newman who arranged and adapted Bernstein’s original score for the film, Jeanine Tesori who supervised the cast on vocals and music supervisor Matt Sullivan who serves as executive music producer. Gustavo Dudamel conducted the New York Philharmonic during the first recording sessions in 2019, with additional recording by the Los Angeles Philharmonic done the following year. The soundtrack will be released digitally this Friday, December 3 (in two version, including a Dolby Atmos Music edition) and physically next Friday, December 10. Visit Amazon to pre-order the CD version, which features liner notes by John Williams who served as the project’s score consultant. A vinyl edition is set to come out in early 2022. West Side Story is written by Tony Kushner and stars Ansel Elgort, Rachel Zegler, Ariana DeBose, Mike Faist, David Alvarez, Josh Andrés Rivera, Corey Stoll, Ana Isabelle, Brian d’Arcy James and Rita Moreno. The movie musical will be released in theaters nationwide on December 10 by 20th Century Studios.

 

Here’s the album track list:

 

1. Prologue
2. La Borinqueña (Sharks Version) – David Alvarez & Sharks
3. Jet Song – Mike Faist, Kyle Coffman, Kevin Csolak, John Michael Fiumara, Patrick Higgins & Jets
4. Something’s Coming – Ansel Elgort
5. The Dance at the Gym: Blues, Promenade
6. The Dance at the Gym: Mambo
7. The Dance at the Gym: Cha-Cha, Meeting Scene, Jump
8. Maria – Ansel Elgort
9. Balcony Scene (Tonight) – Rachel Zegler & Ansel Elgort
10. Transition to Scherzo / Scherzo
11. America – Ariana DeBose, David Alvarez, Ana Isabelle, Jennifer Florentino, Natalie Toro, Arianna Rosario, Ilda Mason, Jeanette Delgado, Annelise Cepero, Tanairi Sade Vazquez, Jamila Velazquez, Edriz E. Rosa Pérez, Melody Martí, Gaby Diaz, Juliette Feliciano, Isabella Ward, Maria Alexis Rodriguez, Yesenia Ayala, Gabriela M. Soto, Sebastian Serra, Julius Anthony Rubio, Ricardo A. Zayas, Yurel Echezarreta, Kelvin Delgado, Ricky Ubeda, Carlos Sánchez Falú, Adriel Flete, Jacob Guzman, Carlos E. Gonzalez, David Avilés Morales, Andrei Chagas & David Guzman
12. Gee, Officer Krupke – Kevin Csolak, John Michael Fiumara, Jess LeProtto, Ben Cook, Kyle Allen, Myles Erlick & Patrick Higgins
13. One Hand, One Heart – Ansel Elgort & Rachel Zegler
14. Cool – Ansel Elgort & Mike Faist
15. Tonight (Quintet) – Mike Faist, David Alvarez, Ariana DeBose, Ansel Elgort, Rachel Zegler, Jets & Sharks
16. The Rumble
17. I Feel Pretty – Rachel Zegler, Ana Isabelle, Ilda Mason, Annelise Cepero, Jamila Velazquez, Andréa Burns, Tanairi Sade Vazquez & Yassmin Alers
18. Somewhere – Rita Moreno
19. A Boy Like That / I Have a Love – Ariana DeBose & Rachel Zegler
20. Finale
21. End Credits"


http://filmmusicreporter.com/2021/11/29/soundtrack-album-for-steven-spielbergs-west-side-story-announced/

 

West_Side_Story_Digital.jpg

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It's a pet peeve of mine when a music album calls one track a "Version", but then there isn't another version on the album (or a previous one).

 

Why is track 2 called "La Borinqueña (Sharks Version)", instead of just "La Borinqueña"?

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7 minutes ago, Jay said:

Why is track 2 called "La Borinqueña (Sharks Version)", instead of just "La Borinqueña"?

 

Probably because it's not a "normal" version of the Puerto Rican anthem, but the Sharks' take on it?

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1 hour ago, TheUlyssesian said:

Still a bit amazing that David Newman does not make the cover but the conductor does.

 

Quote

Gustavo Dudamel conducted the New York Philharmonic during the first recording sessions in 2019, with additional recording by the Los Angeles Philharmonic done the following year. 

 

A good copywriter would assume it's voiced so ambiguously to hide the fact Dudamel did just enough circus horse parading to get his name on it and the LA guys then did the real work, but i have no idea if that was the case.

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Well, you can watch David Newman talk about having to finish recording in LA instead of NY because of covid here, or read my transcription of what he said here.

 

He clearly says "I did not conduct this, Dudamel did", though later when talking about LA, he does simply say "We ended up then going back and recording the Prologue which we hadn't done yet, that's what was left outside other little things, which we did at Fox and finished up", without specifically saying Dudamel was still part of the "we"

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Yeah, and you muddied it up further. Who knows. Who cares. I just pointed out that the press release did raise my suspicion. It doesn't matter much, though, since both conductors certainly are most capable.

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51 minutes ago, publicist said:

 

 

A good copywriter would assume it's voiced so ambiguously to hide the fact Dudamel did just enough circus horse parading to get his name on it and the LA guys then did the real work, but i have no idea if that was the case.


It is very explicitly phrased to say that Dudamel only conducted the NY sessions and someone else conducted LA sessions but who?

Why are even basic credits some kind of mystery these days. Like is there some racket? Why can't they just objectively list who did what. There is always this lawyerly phrasing. 

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Does Dudamel live in NY or LA?  If he lives in LA, he probably recorded those sessions too

 

Again, when David Newman was explicity talking about the process in that podcast, he wasn't like "Dudamel conducted in NY, then covid ruined things and I had to conduct in LA", he said "I did not conduct this, Dudamel did"

 

But yes if anybody else conducted any part of it they will be listed in the CD booklet

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